Me

Who I am

I'm Stephen Booth. I was born in 1970 on the same day the Apollo 13 launched (the 11th of April for those people who aren't up on their space history). This was a pretty good indication of the way the rest of my life has been going (a "Successful Failure"). I currently live in England but am looking to move to the US within the next 5-10 years.

Actually I am a Reverend

On Satuday, First September 2001 I was ordained as a Minister by the Universal Life Church of Modesto, California. Apparently this means that I can bless/sanctify marriages but not conduct legal weddings.

My 'aka'

I chose 'Stephen Booth aka Buffy' because I am really into the show 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' so picked up the nickname at work of 'Buffy'. I am not, nor do I seek to pass my self off as, a very attractive young woman with the ability to kick the stuffing out of supernatural creatures before impaling them on sharp pieces of wood.

My Work

I am an Oracle DBA currently working in the public sector. I mainly design datamodels and set up servers for testing. As well as the database work I also work on networking, design standards, advise on Human-Computer interfaces, supervise junior staff and provide general technical consultancy. I am a member of a small team of 'Technical Top Guns'. A major part of my work is oriented towards acieving the central government mandated deadline of 2005 for getting all local government services available to the citizens online.

My Education

I studied a joint honours degree in Biochemistry and Electronics at University of Keele from 1989 to 1993 (including one year Foundation Year). Along side my principal degree I studied Subsidiary Degrees in Engingeering Mathematics, Economics and Computer Science. In 1996 I gained a NVQ Level 2 in Software Production.

My Hobbies

My spare time is mainly spent on the Internet talking to friends via Yahoo! Instant Messenger, mailing lists and writing entries in my online journal on Live Journal ( http://www.livejournal.com/~stephenbooth_uk/ ). I frequently go to the cinema and spend a lot of time at home watching videos. The only TV show that I watch on a regular basis is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", although I do watch channels like "Discovery Channel', 'History Channel' and 'BBC Knowledge' quite a lot. I get most of my news coverage from the web as I've found that there is less overt bias and where there is bias by reading multiple sites the bias tends to cancel out (sites will be biased in different directions so by reading them all it's possible to get a reasonable approximation of the truth).

Languages

I am currently learning Spanish at a local Language school (Brasshouse Centre for those of you who know Birmingham) using the 'Sueños' book (produced by the BBC), the title translates to 'Dreams' I don't know why that was chosen and I keep meaning to ask. I also speak some German, French, Afrikaans, Zulu and Latin; of these only German is one I know enough to get by in. Actually the German has come in very useful to me as I have to travel to London fairly frequently and stay in hotels for a few nights. Thus far I have never been able to check in in English as all the hotels in London that I've stayed in seem to employ Eastern European exchange students on their front desks who, due to a combination of their lack of fluency in English and my strong Birmingham accent, don't understand me. However as German is a common second langyage in Eastern Europe and I speak German with a Viennese accent they can understand me when I speak German. Life is funny sometimes.

Due to the no foriegn languages rule I doubt I'll be using any language other than English, ever, on this site.

Some Latin (well it would be)

There are a couple of Latin aphorisms I wanted to put on this page but don't want to run afoul of the 'No Foriegn Language' rule so I'll put the English translations instead. The first is "Every lover is a warrior.", the second is "If you love, you are insane". I think that they lose a lot in translation, especially the second one as there is only one letter difference between the Latin for 'Love' and for 'Insane'.

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	Journal Entries		Most Recent Conversations
	Welcome to this Researcher's Journal. If you'd like to comment on anything they have written here, just click the relevant 'Discuss this Entry' button. Disapearing URLs (Jul 11, 2001) It seems that this place doesn't allow URLs in journal entries (the instructions/rules don't say one way or t'other) but the one in my previous entry got moderated away so I guess it's not allowed. On rereading the house rules there's a strong implication that you are allowed to post URLs in your 'Introduction' (or at least that's how i interpret: QUOTE so if you want to link (say) to your own personal website, please do so from your own Guide Entries, and preferably your Personal Space. UNQUOTE I can't really see anything else in my 'Personal space' that they could be refering to. They explicitly refer to guide entries and conversations. We'll just have to see. Click here to discuss this (No replies)		From h2g2 Really deleting entries (Posted: Sep 23, 2002) (Last reply: Sep 23, 2002) From h2g2 Unhelpful URL Restrictions (Posted: Jul 11, 2001) (Last reply: Dec 18, 2001) From h2g2 A few suggested corrections/additions (Posted: Jul 13, 2001) (Last reply: Sep 9, 2001) From h2g2 Hi (No Posting) (Latest post: Aug 4, 2001) From h2g2 Who are the moderators? (Posted: Jul 12, 2001) (Last reply: Jul 30, 2001) From h2g2 Standards (Posted: Jul 17, 2001) (No replies) From h2g2 How can I find out why my entry was hidden (Posted: Jul 12, 2001) (No replies) From h2g2 My space gone for about six weeks now - entry gone for four (Posted: Jul 12, 2001) (Last reply: Jul 12, 2001) From h2g2 Disapearing URLs (Posted: Jul 11, 2001) (No replies) Click here to see more Conversations

	Most Recent Guide Entries		Most Recent Edited Entries
	These are all the Guide Entries this Researcher has created. If you'd like to read them, click on the link, and if you want to talk about them, use the 'Discuss this Entry' button when you get there. From h2g2: A663932  Livejournal (Nov 28, 2001) From h2g2: A594858  Fanmail Addresses for Cast and Crew of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" (Jul 14, 2001) From h2g2: A591923  Review of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Season 3 Episode 2 (Jul 11, 2001) From h2g2: A591914  Review of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Season 3 Episode 1 (Jul 11, 2001) Click here to see more Guide Entries		This Researcher hasn't had any Guide Entries picked for editing, yet... but we're sure they soon will.

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