Growing Up Geek: Vlad Savov

Welcome to Growing Up Geek, a new feature where we take a look back at
our youth and tell stories of growing up to be the nerds that we are.
This week we have our very own Associate Editor, Vlad Savov.

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Yes, I grew up in the monochromatic nation of Bulgaria. As geek starts
go, I doubt anyone could come up with a more unlikely one than being
born in a village in the southwest corner of a country known more for
its sporting and culinary exports than any sort of technical
expertise. That's not to say that Bulgaria was a tech backwater, but
it's the sort of place where you spent more time reading about gadgets
than actually using them. Fortunately for me, my mother worked in a
local computer club, where the bright youth of the day would gather to
use Pravetz machines -- finely crafted Bulgarian Apple II KIRFs -- and
it was a spot that I would inevitably retreat to after a thoroughly
regimented school day. That's another thing about growing up in the
former Communist bloc: education was intensive and rigorous, though
you shouldn't let that rebelliously turned up collar in the image
above fool you, I was madly in love with my studies (as any true nerd
should be). Somewhere between that boy pushing buttons and tearing
down floppy diskettes for fun and the current London-based cynic
pumping out copy for Engadget during the American night shift, my life
happened.