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, and a father of two. (And, for completion's sake, a husband of one wife.)
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 (and have since 2006).
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:
