In case you're interested to find out more about me, well ... this is definitely the right place to be!

So, let's start with the beginning then...

I've been born a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, in the city of TURDA, county of CLUJ, in the heart of TRANSYLVANIA (yes, Dracula land!) in the beautiful country of ROMANIA.

The first thing my parents said when I decided to show up in this world was: 'Oh, the Force is strong with this one!' Should they have patented that line, before the "Star Wars" people had a chance to reinvent it, I would be filthy rich by now ... Oh well! ... I guess some people just have to work for living... DOH!

Needless to say, like any responsible baby, I have carefully planned my arrival to make sure it falls under the astrological sign of Libra (or Tiger, should you prefer the Chinese calendar) ...

EDUCATION

(1998) First Class Hons BEng in Communication Engineering (Electronics) from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

(1999) First Class Hons MSc in Communication Engineering from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. My MSc dissertation was on "Turbo Coding", and this project was carried out at the University of Plymouth, United Kingdom. This was possible thanks to a studentship funded by the European Union's Socrates programme.

(2002) PhD degree from the University of Plymouth, United Kingdom. Now just in case you're wondering about the topic of my PhD thesis, here is the title: "Spread Spectrum-based Video Watermarking Algorithms for Copyright Protection" which rest assured doesn't have anything at all to do with our precious bodily fluid...

(2005) Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE), from the University of Kent, United Kingdom.

INTERESTS

Computers - I just love to fiddle around with computers (both hardware and software).

My recommendations:

   ✓ Intel i7 and i9 processors are amongst the very best and offer some excellent performance.

   ✓ Asus ROG motherboards are amongst the best and my all time favourite motherboard brand. Like always, reading a bunch of reviews beforehand is highly recommended!

   ✓ NVIDIA graphics, offering one of the best drivers around and great performance.

   ✗  I've promised myself that I'll never buy an ATI card again after having countless troubles with their "drivers" and their so called "technical support". Luckily they have been acquired by AMD back in 2006, but I still prefer NVIDIA graphics.

   ✓ If you're after a great BluRay Writer, then go for the Pioneer BDR-207M or BDR-208M series if you can still find one. If not, a BDR-209M series drive should be OK too. The LiteOn iHBS112 (or one of its many clones) is also not a bad choice and they can also be used for BD-R quality scans. Alternatively the LG BH10LS3x/BH12LS3x/BH14NS4x or BH16NS4x series are also good value for money.

For a slimline BDRW writer the best choice would be a Pioneer drive or a Samsung SE-506AB/BB/CB drive.

Speaking by slim drives, avoid Matshita (aka Panasonic) drives like plague! Why? The reason is encoded in their name, if you catch my drift...

Most importantly, do yourself a favour and buy good quality media!