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About Me

Yep.. it's me folks. You can also find me on Facebook if you have an account there.

Born 9 September, 1947 at Sacred Heart Hospital, Moreland, Melbourne

  • Education - Brief though it was. Did okay but got restless

  • Why "MOSS"? - More people know me as Moss than as Michael, Mike etc.

  • Hobbies - What I do

  • Likes - Things that bring me peace of mind

  • Dislikes - Things that get right up my nose

Education

Did I go to school with you? If so please get in touch - I'd love to catch up.

  • St Agnes primary school - Highett, Vic - 1953 to 1955

  • Sacred Heart primary school - Sandringham, Vic - 1956 to 1959

  • Sandringham Technical College ('Sandy Tech') - Sandringham, Vic - 1960 to 1964

  • Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology - Melbourne, Vic - 1965 to 1966 (part - then bailed out and started work).

Why "MOSS"?

I've been called "Moss" by many of my friends for nearly 30 years for which I can thank a former workmate.

Way back in 1971 I started as a PIT (Programmer-in-Training) with the (then) Department of Works in Hawthorn, a suburb of Melbourne. We did our programming by writing onto coding sheets which were then transferred to punched cards. One of this person's tasks was to distribute our coding sheets and the cards back to us for checking before they were taken by courier to the computer centre for compiling and (if you were lucky enough to get a clean compile) testing. Before she knew our names, she was distributing the cards and my sheets simply had my initials ("MOS") on top.

"Who's this MOSS then?" she asked. It stuck, probably because its a damn site shorter than Michael O'Shaughnessy.

Hobbies

Bird Watching

Not so much of the formal bit with binoculars and notebook but just watching them in my yard and elsewhere. There is quite a variety of species frequenting my backyard and each species has its own behaviour patterns.

I also enjoy watching for birds as I jog or walk around the local lakes or hills. It gives me a good excuse to stop in the middle of a jog.

For more info on my bird interests and links to more authoritative sites see my Bird Watching page.

Graphic Design

Recently I have gotten into manipulating graphics on my PC. As an example, I have dummied up this picture of one of my ancestors.

Genealogy

I am interested in sharing information on my paternal family name (O'Shaughnessy) and maternal family name (Browne). See my genealogy pages.

Likes

Nature

The simple things. Watching clouds grow, thunderstorms. Walking around Canberra's lakes or through the forests (used to enjoy jogging but the knees have packed it in).

Techo

Stuffing around with graphics, programming and MIDI music on the PC. Keeping in touch with friends and family via e-mail and Facebook.

Music

Most styles except for heavy/aggressive rap, modern jazz and most opera.

Dislikes

The presence of the queen in our Constitution

Who is that woman and what is she doing in our Constitution? After 100 years of Federation it's just plain bloody silly to retain our links to the British Monarchy. The queen does nothing for us and should be sacked. See Republic Oz and the ARM site.

Plastics

I use cloth and enviro-friendly reusable shopping bags and refuse the plastic bags wherever I can.

Tail-Gaters

Whenever I'm driving I hate the way people sit right on my bum, their bonnet up my exhaust pipe. It's dangerous, stupid and unnecessary to drive so close to the car in front. Leave a 2 second gap!!

Cats in my backyard

My yard is for native birds and frogs. It is not for neighbours' cats to trap, crap and scrap in. Responsible cat owners do not allow their cats to roam night or day - others should not.

 

Last updated: July, 2008