About me
I'm Wawrzyniec, or Wawrzek for short, Niewodniczański, happy husband and father of two. I live with my family in Ely, one of the smallest British city, defined as a town with cathedral, not far from Cambridge in UK. I was born in Poland in Bolesławiec, nice town in Lower Silesia region. Two years later my parents moved to Lubin, when I spent my happy childhood. I studied Material (Molecular) Engineering for my master degree, and (Quantum) Chemistry for the doctorate at the Wrocław University of Technology. During my "academic years" I authored or co-authored 7 articles in international academic journals.
Important part of quantum chemical research is computing, which happens on powerful Linux and Unix systems. I enjoyed that bit of my academic work a lot. I loved having Linux on desktop as well. I even bought a few Linux games from Loki! (For a younger readers, first editor of proper commercial games for Linux). After finishing my study I realized that Linux might bring me more fun and definitely more money. I moved from academia to business to worked with company like Booking.com, Mimecast, Citrix or R3 to scale computing system up, out and deep. On a way I managed to author 1 patent.
Going after Linux and Open Source software was a good choice. I built a successful career with them. They also have given me a lot of fun after work. I keep a set of software ports for Crux, mess around with new or old software, and sometimes hardware. In general, enjoying learning all types of things related to Open Source. Sometimes on my own, sometimes with my children.
But it's not all about serious stuff. For example playing games on Linux is so much easier, nowadays. I do it from time to time, especially enjoying Elite: Dangerous, Civilisation VI, Stellaris or other Paradox games. Sometimes it's more than just playing. For Elite, I even have started to work on software to prepare nice stars charts. I not always play on my own. I share Civ/Paradox interests with my son. However, he is more EU IV guy. (Now it's more LOL or CS:GO). This year my children convinced my to grab a copy of Minecraft, so we can play together. Recently, my daughter got a Mindstorm Lego robot, and that's another pile of fun.
Computers are not the end of the world. We play a lot of board games as a family. COVID-19 ups and downs we celebrated saving humanity with Pandemic Legacy Season 1. We also spend time in front of TV or in cinema. Sometimes as a family. Watching Attenborough's documentaries together is a tradition. More often it's a "parent time" for me and my wife. Moving pictures are great, but nothing beats good book. I especially, enjoy good Science-Fiction and Fantasy, but historical or popular scientific books can keep me from doing virtually anything else. I wish I had more time for it.
Twisting your brain eats most of my time, but I also enjoy physical activates. One of the nice aspect of COVID pandemic was that we had more time to walk together. My kids getting older, and riding bikes with them starts to be real fun. However, my preferred sport is basketball. I play for the East Cambs Warriors.