Vincent Lammens - omg.lol Interview Series

Vincent Lammens

OMG.LOL Interview Series #3

Find Vincent on omglol: @Vincent!

Table of Contents

The Interview

Can you share a bit about yourself with us?

I’m Vincent, If I have to describe myself in a few words: I’m a Weather nerd and IT-hobbyist from Belgium. I have a motor function disability and some severe fatigue issues, which forced me to drop out of college. Being forced to drop out of college wasn’t easy, I got in a pretty severe depression for quite a while, my future plans got shattered because of something that’s outside of my control.

In an interesting turn of events though, I eventually started volunteering at a hospital and learned I actually like actually working with people. It’s helping people that pulled me out of my depression for the most part. I still have times I feel a bit sad because I don’t have a college degree, so I am playing with the idea of studying to become a nurse or something like that. It’s quite different from IT, but I think it might fit me more than a job in IT.

What motivates you day to day?

Helping people. Ever since I started volunteering at the hospital I noticed that I’m driven by helping people.

We are all different. Keeping in mind your context and mine (I’m a white cis-het American dude in his 40s) what is one thing you want me to know?

Keep appreciating the small things in life. In a world where consumerism is the driving factor, where you have everything you might possibly need or want, we tend to forget to appreciate the small joys in life, those that money can’t buy.

What are three favorites? (It can be anything like food, books, media, etc; share a few sentences about each though and each one can be a different category, ie, a favorite food, a favorite book and a favorte album)

• “Hete Duivel” is definately my favorite food. Ut’s an oven dish with minced meat, applesauce and mashed potatoes. It’s one of my comfort foods.

• Neck of the Woods by Silversun Pickups also sticks out, it’s one of those albums I can play on repeat without becoming bored of it.

• The TV series “Midsommer Murders”, It’s a bit of a tradition with my mom that we watch the episodes together.

What is one quote that you can’t get out of your head?

“Lucky to be here”, a quote from Stephen Jay Gould (Evolutionary biologist).

Saw this quote on a wall in a museum in Denmark about the “doomsday” comet that ended the dino-age. Dad reminds me of it sometimes when I have a bad day, because it’s true: I’m lucky to be here.

How did you find omg.lol?

I literaly typed in “omg.lol” one night, expecting to not find anything.

Promotion time: What do you want us to know about and check out?

I run Skyz.be, a local (and currently still dutch-only) weather platform. Main focus currently is collecting data from weather stations across my area and displaying it on a map. It’s currently being rewritten entirely though.

What is one thing you’ve discovered that someone else created that you’d like to promote?

Robb Knight’s Echofeed, He’s also a fellow omg.lol member. It’s a great little tool.

Find Vincent online!

@ His website/blog: https://vincentlammens.be/