Once apprenticed to a comedic band of international guerrilla actors, Nic has moved out on his own to begin plotting the ruthless demise of Things That Aren't Funny. He inherits some of this from his father, Carl, who manages a comedy club and is himself a stand-up comic.

Crystal Pepsi and parents

A few years ago, Carl won a fabulous prize during the weekly Gay Bingo night - a makeover by a local drag queen. Carl didn't want to take it on because he would have had to shave his beard, but Nic, always ready for anything, snapped up the chance. He looked stunning in his new persona as "Crystal Pepsi."

We first met Nic in 1995 when we called a computer friend at Reed College (the lovely and exciting Dr. Marvin Dunn) and asked him if he knew of any Reedies in Seattle for the summer who might help us set up a Macintosh email server (Reedies are very savvy about Macs). "Sure, Nic Warmenhoven would be perfect." And so he was. At the time, Nic was a senior at Reed and when we asked him what he wanted to do after graduation, he replied, "I'd like to get involved in World Wide Web work, if there will be any left by then." Well...

Black Rock Spatial Delivery

We (and our clients) love Nic because he's one of those rare individuals who's not intimidated by much and seems to have learned that he can do pretty much anything he sets his mind to, be that production work, proposal writing, tinkering with various servers and software complexities, street theater, local arts and politics, cooking, ad infinitum. At the ripe old age of 24, he even learned to drive!!

In part this was due to the pressure he felt when friends had to do all of the driving on those long car vacations he likes to take (see Utah and Baja). Regardless of when he may, or may not, be in town during the rest of the year, all of the rest of us here at CR, and especially the "schedulers,' know that Nic will be out of town every year for the last two weeks of August. This is when he and some of his artsy friends head down to the Burning Man festival held annually at a "temporary" site-Black Rock City-in the Nevada desert. Nic returns with wondrous tales of life among the pagans. (For further exploration, please see the carefully edited photographs elsewhere on this page.)

Uncharacteristically dapper

Nic spent four years with us before he was lured away to help start a foundation for artists. However, he soon discovered that not all employers allow multi-week vacations at will (well, when the production schedule permits), and to take Fridays off, so now he's back at the ranch with the rest of us. His ultimate plan is to teach high school, and he will be fabulous. He's currently dipping his toe in the water every Friday at Puget Sound Community School.

Of course, Nic may discover that a career teaching, which only gives him three months off in the summer, is too restrictive, but we assume he will work it out, perhaps by convincing the Seattle Public Schools to adjust their calendar. We know that, as always, he will find a way.