I know how much some of you have been waiting for this one. Funny how it falls on the day of my PLI exam (Joel was my tutor for this subject). So those of you who know Joel will probably know whats coming. Those of you who dont will probably recognise some of these traits from some of your other friends but you have probably never seen them all rolled into one strange strange guy.

Joel == root. Joel is Mr Sys Admin like you have never seen them before. He is a linux nut. He insists on doing things "right". He is not a huge people person but you put him in a room full of computer geeks that know less then he does and you cant stop him.

Joel is the kind of person who obeys the Uni's 40km/h speed limit coming out of campus. He does everything by the book even when it makes no sense or would be heaps easier not to.

Joel loves to spend his spare time playing star craft and settlers and reading the svn manual. He also watches House and Dr Who (as all true geeks do). He has a kiwi finger puppet that is holding a sheep.

Joel is the cardboard tube master that controls the monkeys of the lab. If they misbehave they have to wear the shrek hat of shame. Joel is also the list king of the lab. Every meeting he has a "short" list of things to mention.

Never EVER try to out geek Joel. Someone recently made this mistake in a CCN lecture and got tottaly taken down by Joels intimate knowledge of Sci-Fi (red shirts hey...).

Joel HATES having his photo taken, so he always carries a camera. This might not seem logical at first but because he ahs a camera there is no need for anyone else to have one so he doesnt end up in many photos. And when he does "need" to have a photo taken they are.... well look below. Yes that is his official team photo.

Joel has the messiest car. I have never been in it I have just seen him getting something out of it one day and... yeah, I thought my car got bad when I was on a road trip.

Joel lived WITH Val. That isnt entirely true I just love his reaction when you say it like that. He lives in the same unit complex that Val used to live in. So all up he lived WITH one of my mates, was my supervisor on the team and my tutor for one of my subjects. Now he is my lecturer and tutor for a subject! Needless to say I get my fair share of Joel's time.

As you can imagine from what I have said Joel and I have our differences but he is a good bloke.

Msg to Joel: Shouldn't you be doing work for your PHD? How's that going btw? ;) Thanks for everything you have, despite my best efforts, taught me a lot over the past couple of years and I will never forget that. As a sign of gratitude I decided to not mention matrix operators.

I suppose someone should tell him about my blog so he can read this!

Spaß haben.