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Eclipse Committer Profile Series: Kim Horne - September 2005

The Eclipse Committer Profile Series lets you get to know individual committers on Eclipse. In-depth and personal interviews deliver back stage access to the people that make Eclipse possible.

Kim Horne is a committer on the Platform/UI project in Ottawa, Canada. I knew Kim from newsgroup and bugzilla postings for a couple years before I actually met her at EclipseCon 2005 earlier this year. When I first got the idea of doing profiles on interesting people involved with Eclipse, Kim's name was the first that popped into my head. I'm happy to say that Kim has agreed to answer a few questions for EclipseZone.

Kim and Cthulhu

[Ed] Welcome Kim, thanks for joining us. I'm dying to know, how did you get the nickname "pookzilla"?

[Kim] About 8 years ago I decided to get a pet rat. At the time I was really fascinated with the Pooka, a type of spirit from Irish folklore, so I decided to name her Pooka. I was also becoming involved with various online communities and was in desperate need of a moniker. With Pooka in hand I decided to borrow her name. Unfortunately, the name was popular. Popular enough that people kept taking it. So I began perturbing it in an effort to find a variation that people weren't likely to steal. I went through Pooka, Pook, Pooks, Pookz and eventually Pookzilla. Pookzilla was the one that people didn't bother stealing so it stuck. The name has lasted far longer than my rat did.

Any pets and funny pet stories you would care to share?

I have a very demanding cat named Cthulhu (aka: The Boyfriend). I'm afraid if I relate any funny stories involving him without his consent he'll rip my throat out in my sleep or pee in my shoes.

In my experience cats don't really need an excuse to do that. But isn't naming your cat Cthulhu kind of asking for trouble?

It is, but I was a real risk taker in my youth. I also once spit into the wind and stepped on a Superman impostor's cape.

I noticed your personal web site is titled "Bees are on the what now?". What's that refer to?

It's a line from The Simpsons. In this particular episode, Homer finds a load of sugar laying on the side of the road and takes it home. This causes bees from neighboring beehives to migrate to his backyard. Disgruntled beekeepers come looking for him, offering to to buy his sugar pile to get their bees back. Dimwitted Homer doesn't understand what they're saying and declares "Bees are on the what now?" I sometimes use the phrase when someone is talking to me and my brain utterly fails to understand their gibbering as intelligent speech.

So do you see yourself as more of a Homer or a Lisa or ...?

I am so totally a closet Flanders. I love Flanders.

What was the last good book you read?

I recently managed to find a book from my early childhood that I absolutely ADORED entitled A Jar of Dreams by Yoshiko Uchida. It's the story of a young Japanese-American girl growing up in California during the great depression. Needless to say it touches on themes of racism and discrimination. It's a wonderful book for any young kids out there or nostalgic old bags that were once young kids.

How about the last good movie?

Movies nowadays are so incredibly poor. I don't recall the last movie I walked away from thinking "wow". It's a few years old, but I watched Gosford Park again for the billionth time the other day. I adore that movie. It's so incredibly well acted and richly detailed - every time I see it I spot some detail or nuance that I missed previously.

It's interesting that both "A Jar of Dreams" and "Gosford Park" are set in the 30's. Is that a coincidece or are you drawn to that era for some reason?

It's not a coincidence. I love that period. I'm a huge fan of the gangsters, classy dames, and dapper gents. I adore Poirot and other mysteries set in that era. I think a lot of it comes down to the fashion of the period to be honest. Everything looked so sexy, especially the hats.

Abaddon The Despoiler

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I used to do a lot of figure/model painting but I think I've managed to burn out on that for the time being. Hopefully I can get back into it because I have probably $1200 in unpainted Warhammer crap in my cupboard at home.

I play a lot of video games - I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Nintendophile. I'm not much of a shooter/race/sports fan but every other genre I can get into. Right now I'm really enjoying Sid Meier's Pirates! for XBox and I am slavering at the prospect of Nintendogs. I am in negotiations with The Boyfriend for permission to get a real dog so in the meantime it will have to do.

The internet has made me a grade-A infoholic. I'm always farting around online trying to find new things to digest. I am particularly fond of metafilter.com - almost everything of interest I come across online I come across via metafilter.

So are you into role-playing or just fantasy in general?

I was a roleplaying nerd in my youth. I still collect a lot of game books but it's been several years since I've had any chance to use them and even then it was online and not in person. Oh to have free time with like-minded nerds again...

A lot of people who work with computers seem to be into fantasy and/or sci-fi, I wonder why that is?

I chalk it up to complete and utter social ineptitude. At least, that's what I blame it on in my case. :)

Kim in WoW

How about online games, MMORPGs? Ever get hooked on those?

As of last week, yes. I fell into World of Warcraft and I'm afraid I might never get out. :( Thankfully, I did it at the urging of several friends so we're going to make it a point of playing together so that we can at least fool ourselves into believing it's a legitimate social activity. (Extremely cute Level 14 Gnome rogue, btw. Green hair on a short girl is a fine match.)

So now that the Million Download contest is over, do you feel it was a success? How did it make you feel being involved in that?

I think any impromptu fundraiser that manages to gather several thousand dollars as well as days worth of volunteer time can be considered a success.

I'm flattered that my idea was chosen, but it will give me pause next time people are looking for suggestions for something of this nature - I had to do work! <grin> Joking aside, it was a great experience. It was refreshing to interact with the community in a way separate from my normal role as developer/committer.

From the outside it seems like the Platform UI team is a pretty close-knit group, is that true? Ever do things socially together with your coworkers or do you try to keep your work and personal lives seperate?

We are a pretty tight team in general. We don't spend a whole lot of time outside work socializing, but it has been known to happen particularly after a milestone or release. We usually make it a point to do lunch every day though just to shoot through the breeze and commiserate, however.

What is it with you guys and curry?

Spice makes our work possible. The spice must flow.

For more information

You can find out more about Kim Horne on her Work blog, "Kim's Eclipse musings" or her personal journal, "Bees Are On The What Now?".