Some people wonder who I am. Those people are right to wonder. So long as their thoughts don’t wander too far away.
I go by RIUM+, or riumplus, or Mike Ando, and I currently reside in sunny Brisbane, Australia. By day, I help to make buildings more Energy Efficient. By night, I’m a Professional Geek for hire. I drive a DeLorean, I collect radioactive isotopes, I used to have my own personal satellite until it executed its controlled atmospheric re-entry, and my favourite food is potatoes. I do love me some taters.
There’s a running joke amongst my friends that I’m a Time-Travelling Mad Scientist. This assessment of me is more true than false, so I just roll with it.
In my spare time I invent, build, create, repair, re-purpose or upgrade things. These range from building computers inside antique books, to constructing mechanical and electric 25-hour clocks (because who doesn’t want an extra hour in the day to take over the world?), to restoring a 6-foot fully-automatic popcorn popping & dispensing vending machine, to 3D printing all sorts of decorative & functional stuff, to crafting custom jewellery, to creating all manner of video game and movie props (particularly from the Myst and Back to the Future universes), to lovingly restoring or upgrading the electronics inside original screen-used tv/movie props.
Aside from my DeLorean, the other vehicle I regularly drive with work was one of the first privately-owned, non-converted, 100% electric cars sold in Queensland. I’ve done consulting for CSIRO, the Australian Building Codes Board, a bunch of global multinationals I cannot name due to NDAs, and I’ve personally written some lines in Australia’s National Construction Code.
My DeLorean and myself are available for hire for functions, weddings, corporate events, high school formals, photo shoots, filming use, birthdays, or whatever scenario you can come up with, both with and without various costumes & props. In the past I’ve been hired by Fortune 500 companies and my DeLorean has been on display inside most of the more prominent event & meeting facilities in both Brisbane and the Gold Coast. I’ve given talks to crowds numbering from dozens to hundreds on a wide range topics including Electric Vehicles, Introductions to Electronics, Advanced Integrated Electronics, Building Thermal Performance, 3D Printing, Amateur Radio, how to pick up Satellite signals, high-power lasers, high-voltage demonstrations, mechanical clocks, and all sorts of other random stuff.
Once upon a time I was on the reality TV show Beauty and the Geek Australia. And before you ask for juicy gossip details – what happened in Fiji, stays in Fiji. 😉
Should you need me, you know where to find me.
This is heavy.
