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It was not your normal interview. We did not go to a coffee shop and order specialty drinks to sip while we talked. It was not in his office with his list of achievements hanging on the wall in their frames. Instead the interview was more appropriate. I sat at my desk and he sat at his across the country and we both logged into our instant messengers. This is the way I interviewed Winston Ewert. It was fitting to interview Winston in this manner because Winston is what is known as a computer nerd.

Winston’s career in computers began when as a young child he picked up a dos manual and began to read it. His father tells the story that instead of finding his young son with a comic book beneath the covers, he would find Winston with a dos manual. From reading this manual sparked the desire to understand and program computers in Winston. He knew he wanted to learn how to program, but he was not sure how to go about it until he came across a section that taught him how to write batch files (a rudimentary programming form). From then on he was hooked.

At ten years old Winston would go to the local library and borrow their books on computer programming. It was from these books that Winston learned QBasic which is what he defined as his “‘real’ programming language.” This was 1996 and British Columbia was going through provincial elections. How the voting system worked fascinated Winston. He used his QBasic skills to create a simulation of the government elections. The program also allowed you to control what the government did. This was his first QBasic program. Voting systems still intrigue Winston today and he has created many programs that show this.

When asked what interests he had outside of computers, Winston answered “what makes you think there are any?” To Winston, computers are a career, a hobby, and a way of living. At a very young age, he had saved up enough of his money to buy his own. Now if you go into his room he has two monitors and a laptop. He is only interested in other things as they relate to computer. Fiddling and fighting with his computer, trying to make the computer do what it is supposed to is a frustration for most; however, this is Winston’s favorite pastime. His parents have long depended on Winston to help them when the computer stops working.

With this love a computers comes a desire to perfect. “Every program I write is hopefully better then the one before” Winston says, “So my favorites are the one that I still could be perfect because I haven't written them yet.” What Winston remembers about a finished program is not what he thought was brilliant. Instead he remembers the flaws. He uses that memory to help him avoid repeating the same mistakes in his future programs.

What does this make Winston then? Is he completely obsessed with computer and perfection that he has no social contact locked away in a basement somewhere? Is he a computer nerd? Winston himself admits he can become obsessed with projects; however he credits his faith for giving him a more balanced life. A Christian life requires that you focus on others both those in the Christian community and those outside. It requires a balanced life rather then a life of obsession. Winston has learned this lesson well and refuses to allow himself to become completely obsessed with his computer.

Admittedly, Winston is still a bit of a nerd. “I take a certain odd pleasure with being abnormal,” Winston explained. “It’s not like I can do anything to avoid it anyways.” Winston is a likeable character, but many will put him down to odd but smart. At this time, he is working on getting his masters at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. There he studies intelligent design through computer simulations with one of the faculty there.