Self Introduction

Hello Hive, Hello World!

My name is Nuno and I was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1979. I live with my wife, my son and two female cats I rescued 11 years ago. Although I’m not patriotic, I like my country and I like living here. It’s a beautiful, small and secure country, that usually enjoys 250 days of sun every year. And that is a perfect match with our many beaches or backcountry. The downside of living here… we´re incredibly poor when compared with other european countries. Portuguese people tend to see themselves as “moderately happy”. If you ask a portuguese “how´re things going?”, the most probable answer is “moreless” or “not bad”. And in our native language, we have like 100 different ways of saying this.

Peaty and Misha, my two old mates

I love music!

As a gen-X’er, I grew up listening to hardcore and punk rock bands. Bands like Black Flag, Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys or Suicidal Tendencies, to name just a few. And 30 years later, punk and hardcore still make most of my playlist.
Later, in mid 90’s, I started listening to some trip-hop but mostly hip-hop. By hip-hop I mean that oldschool rap with nice samples and lyrics about how hard is life in the hoods, not the auto-tuned crap about how wild was last night’s party.
In my late teens to mid 20’s, I went deep into house music and techno (and in raving and clubbing). I learned how to DJ and still made some gigs back in 2002/2005. Now, I just play records for fun.
To complete the my playlist, add some jazz, world music, thrash metal, funk, blues, down-tempo, ska, rocksteady, and some post-hardcore stuff like Fugazi, Nirvana or Sonic Youth.

Drop me some bass

I love bikes!

To a teen in the 1990’s, action sports were also in the package. In the 90's there was no way around committing to an action sport like skate, surf, snowboard, BMX or mountain biking. Mountain biking was the one I fell in love with, and never stopped riding since then. Well, there was a hiatus in my mid 20's, with less hours on my bike. You know... partying hard at night and getting up early to ride just don't match!
Mountain bikes are a huge part of my life and huge part of my soul. I really find inner peace when alone in the woods or when riding that hard downhill trail. Some people find their spirituality in a church, I find mine in the woods. Nothing describes better what mountain biking means to me than the catch phrase “Into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul”.

Portugal's highest point: "Serra da Estrela"

I love(d) technology!

I’ve had a PC in my house since I was a kid. My father worked in IT, and I had a close relationship with it since I was a toddler. So, it didn’t came as a surprise that I chose an IT career as well. Although I have been an hardcore gamer back in the 90’s, I’ve always regarded technology as mean, not an end by itself.
I’ve had 9 to 5 job most of my life as an IT engineer, in the corporate sector, in an major insurance company. Whilst in the first years it was appealing, mostly because it was well paid and supported my way of life, I soon realized that was getting more and more tedious, year after year. In fact, an IT career never has been a choice made with my heart, but instead, a rational choice, in my quest for financial independence. My tech skills are mostly layer 2 and 3 networking, digital security, process integration and voice networking.

I love beer!

I quitted my 9 to 5 job in 2017 to start my own business: a brewery! I always liked beer, but it wasn’t my weapon of choice until I got in touch with craft beer. I had the luck to be in touch with some "portugal craft scene" pioneers that brought all those new kinds of beer to Portugal some 15 years ago. Many of them opened their own breweries and succeeded, and so, I followed their path. I really enjoy brewing, and I often describe it as a mix between cooking and working in a lab. The labor is sometimes physically hard, but extremely rewarding. IPAs, Double IPAs, Triple IPAs, Imperial Stouts, traditional or experimental, I love’em all. Expect lots of beer related posts in this blog.

So, what to expect here?

I signed to hive because it seems to be a nice and strong community, with lots of knowledge sharing, just the way internet was intended to be. So, I’ll try to keep up with this. I’ll share beer recipes, food recipes, DIY projects, experiences and points of view. Let´s make internet great again!

@traciyork @lovesniper