Interests

Programming

I share the belief that computers change my life for the better. Using computers is about being efficient. I am a hobbyist programmer and enjoy writing small & useful casual tools in Python.

Since 2003 I've been using various distributions of Linux as my primary operating system. My computers run xUbuntu and I cannot imagine my computer without bash and Emacs. Emacs is much more than just a text editor for me due to an fascinating addon called org-mode which I use to organize my life.

Computer Networking

My interest in computer networking grew alongside with Linux as a hobby: modern computing is to a large part about networking. In 2011 I took two university courses of networking and started taking Cisco certifications.

Currently I am preparing for the Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP). For this purpose I built a small networking lab at home with multiple Cisco switches and routers.

Languages

I've been a language geek since the age of 10 when I took up studying German. Later on, languages became a more serious occupation, which eventually resulted in my choosing translating and interpreting as profession.

My primary interest in this field is computer-aided language acquisition. In autumn 2004 I began using Supermemo, an amazing piece of software implementing spaced repetition method. In early 2006 I developed my own program called qmemorizer which implemented several important extensions. qmemorizer evolved in early 2010 into a bigger project, boomeLang.com.

In October 2004 I took up studying Swedish and Dutch. Studying these two languages has been an invaluable experience for me. I am now living in Sweden and use Swedish as primary working language in day-to-day life.

I've been studying the Norwegian language on my own since late 2008. In June-July 2009 I was conducting a summer course of Russian at Litorina folk high school, which was a unique teaching experience.

Philosophy and culture

Philosophy has been my hobby since my early university years, when I first learned of ancient Greek and German philosophical traditions.

I'm an convinced adherent of the concept of linguistic relativity coined by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf and developed by George Lakoff. Metaphors we use predefine our way of thinking. Our language shapes the way we perceive reality.

Music

I grew more and more interested in music since I was ten, when I first heard The Beatles. My favourite style nowadays is modern jazz. I also adore microtonal music.

I am an amateur bass player and enjoy playing my two basses: a 1981 US Stuart Spector NS-2 and a no-name Korean 7 string fretless.

Time and money management. Investing

Efficiency in everything I do means a lot to me. I tend to think of time and money as being equable commodities. clockingIT - an online-time tracking tool - helps me a lot to manage my personal time. In early 2009 I began making my first steps in investing my income in assets like mutual funds and stocks.