General
I'm a 39 year old man from Norway. On the nerdy side, I'm into computers, web technology, video games (when not playing by myself, I also stream on Twitch; see the About page for schedule), rational discussions, and literature (mainly popular science for non-fiction, and science fiction on the fiction side; check out my Books page to see more).
On the non-nerdy side, I enjoy hiking, downhill skiing, and music.
Various ways of contacting me exist.
In real life I'm a teacher of mathematics and physics.
My various names
My real name is Håvard Skjæveland. My Norse name (from which my real name is derived) is Hávarðr, and means high guardian.
Online, I go by Hermiene. It's an old German female name that I really like the sound of (sorry, it's not a Harry Potter reference). Things were messy before. When I first learned of the concept of online handles, I chose Fenix, which was a reference to a hero character of the Protoss race in the computer game StarCraft. Later, I changed it to Phoenix because it sounded cooler (it was never a conscious reference to the mythological bird as it was only later I learned about it). Later still, when I discovered that Phoenix was an over-used handle, I shortened it to Pho. I never really liked Pho, so I eventually changed it to Havard, which resembles my real name. This was ok, but I wanted something that was not so close to my real name, which is why I now go by Hermiene.
So there's the whole messy story of my online handle.
Appearance
I look like your typical nerd, I suppose, in that the typical nerd usually doesn't care what he looks like, as long as he looks acceptable (or alternatively, doesn't look repulsive). My hair is black and I like to keep it short, I wear glasses, and I'm slightly thinner than I'd like to be (though I'm in good shape). I have facial hair, but I like to shave. I like t-shirts and loose pants; I loathe tight-fitting clothes. Here's an image:
