Dumbledad's Introduction

[Tim Regan]

Hi All,

Wow, how exciting – an invitation to join a secret society. That 
doesn't happen every day. Do we have a special handshake? I've 
rolled up one trouser leg in preparation for my first post. Here 
goes ...

***Name:
Tim Regan

***Nicknames/IDs:
Kropotkin or Bakunin (on AlphaWorld, OnLive, CommunityPlace etc)
fourthirtythree (on the Zone)
Darth Timmy (on xbox Live)
tim_regan82 (on hotmail and messenger)
11720668 (on ICQ)
dumbledad (on yahoo, nntp, plus anything else recent)

***Age & Birthday:
Born September 27 1965, so I'm 37. A nurse at a blood donor session 
whose birthday was the end of September told me that she saw more 
people born then than she would expect. When I pointed out that it's 
nine months after Christmas, she blushed.

***Family:
I started dating Kate (my wife) when I was 17. We have two kids 
(Megan was born in February 1993 and William on Christmas Day 1994). 
They are all HP fans. My Mum and Dad were teachers but are now 
retired. My brother and sister live in London. My sister-in-law and 
her family are HP fans too. 

***Homes, Education, & Jobs
I grew up in Essex. Moved to Yorkshire for my first degree in Maths. 
Then off to Sussex for a terrible year as an accountant (but the 
people were fun). Stayed in Sussex for my doctorate in Theoretical 
Computer Science and then moved to Suffolk to work in British 
Telecom's research labs. I moved to the Seattle area to work for 
Microsoft Research in December 2000. Most of my research has been on 
social software. Now (well on August 7) we fly back home to England. 
I've no job lined up and feel alternately brave / wise / foolish / 
scared depending what mood I am in. I guess Woodbridge in Suffolk is 
where I've felt most at home as an adult.

***Other things we might want to know about you:
Ovo-lacto-vegetarian; raised a Quaker but left in 1994 to live more 
honestly as an atheist; left wing but affected by Thatcher and a 
childhood belief in anarchism. 

***Posting habits:
Very spasmodic. If I'm snowed under at work, with important 
deadlines looming, I tend to start posting a lot as an avoidance 
tactic! My first posts are: HPFGU 23 April 2002 #38069, HPFGU-
OTChatter 15 July 2002 #11325, and alt.fan.harry-potter 23 Jan 2002. 
I feel an imposter here – but thanks for the invite :-)

***First contact with Harry Potter:
Just after PoA came out a Scottish uncle of mine, who lives in 
Edinburgh, bought my kids the first three books. Megan read the 
first at school and at home and started the second (I don't think 
she finished). Then the film came out and we all went to see it. I 
was amazed at how good the story was so read the books to myself and 
as bedtime reading for the kids. I love reading them aloud to the 
kids, though I wish I was better at some of the accents (my Hagrid 
accent drifts worryingly towards Pakistan via Wales) and I wish I 
hadn't chosen so many raspy voices. Sections with Dobby, Sirius, or 
Mad-Eye in leave me horse! My Dumbledore and Snape voice are stolen 
from the film. The kids really love my Trelawney voice and my Dobby 
voice. Meg recons I'm better than Stephen Fry and Jim Dale :-)

***Favourite Potter things:
I like PoA best. Then there are great things about PS, GoF, and OoP 
so I cannot choose between them. Although I love CoS too, it's my 
least favourite. Even though the films are pale reflections I 
enjoyed them. I preferred the first. I have great hopes for Cuaron. 
My other favourite Potter things are HPfGU, HPfGU-OTC, a Dumbledad 
beard made for me by Kate, some pensieves I did as a craft project 
with the kids, and some chopsticks we use as wands when dressing up.

***Other interests/activities:
Running, cycling, swimming, cooking, hiking with our dog, camping, 


***Current/recent reading:
Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" graphic novels, Dicken's "Great 
Expectations", Neil Astley's poetry anthology "Staying Alive", plus 
some work stuff: "The Myth of the Paperless Office" 
and "ActionScript for Flash MX: The Definitive Guide".

***Current/recent listening:
Britten's opera "Gloriana", Fatboy Slim's "Halfway between the 
gutter and the stars", Robbie Williams "Escapology", a Gong 
compilation CD, "Late Junction" on BBC Radio 3, and "Critical List" 
on BBC Radio 2.

***Current/recent viewing:
Tour de France. Favourite TV ever was GBH starring Robert Lindsay, 
and the Clangers. Favourite recent film was "Frida".

Cheers,

Dumbledad.