| Name: | Sid Páral. Well, Sid it is not my real name, but it is at least close. The name my parents gave me is Zdenek, don't try to pronounce it, others tried and failed, trust me. You can call me Sid, Sidney, or Hippo; is it not easier? |
| Nickname: | Hippo. Originally, it was not based on the shape of my body, though later, my proportions adjusted to it. I matured (i.e., I stopped growing on both ends and started growing in the middle). Typical weight 290 lb, typical height 6'3". |
| Born: | 1965 in Brno, Czechoslovakia. My home town has about 1/3 million people and it is a regional center of Moravia in today's Czech Republic. |
| Status: | Married, two children. Life is what happens while you keep making plans. |
| Residence: | San Jose, California, U.S.A. In America since 1994. |
| Education: | Graduate of VUT Brno, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, specialty Instrument Electronics - (M.S.E.E. equivalent 1989). Surprisingly accepted and useful here in Silicon Valley. |
| Occupation: | Senior Firmware/Electrical/Systems Design Engineer |
| Previous jobs: | export manager, distribution manager, software engineer, software/hardware designer, inventor. |
| Hobbies: | Computers (PC & embedded systems, programming, graphics, Internet); cryptography, ciphers, hashes, security scenarios; digital photography, mostly lanscapes, wildlife, family; travel, long road trips, hiking, rock climbing, horseback riding, camping in scarcely populated nature, shooting; flying hot air balloons; sci-fi, books, movies, rock, new age, celtic music, English. |
| Web pages: | American Journal (English &
Czech)
days in California, through my wife's eyes weekly updated = recent Carol & Sid (English & Czech) what one vacation did with my lonelines... :) A Hopeful Year (English & Czech) some thoughts and images of one (already past = 1999) year of my life; Voyages (English & Czech) some records of my trips & pictures (made in 1998); How I See America (English & Czech) a few photographs (made in 1996); Norwegian Diary (Czech only) very special 1991 vacation records; Hippo Gallery (English) image collection; |
