Cast
First Appearance: 04 July 2002
Our intrepid main character, Joel broke out on his own at the beginning of the strip to become yet another self-employed software engineer. Being a prototypical geek with the social skills to match, we're not sure if that was an all-together good idea.
First Appearance: 10 July 2002
Walt is a mentor figure for Joel. He's been around long enough that nothing seems to phase him. Walt is the rock in the storm. The Voice of Reason. The wise old(er) man. You get the idea.
First Appearance: 10 July 2002
Harv is a counterpoint to Joel and Walt. Confident in his business sense and engineering skill to the point of bravado, Harv is out to become a self-made success, no matter what -- or even who -- stands in his way. Since he took an in-house consulting job with a large telecom, we haven't seen much of him in the strip. Probably because he's working insane hours.
First Appearance: 28 February 2003
Harv's girlfriend. Her shtick is that you never completely see her face. We came close on Thanksgiving 2003, but a glass used in the toast saved the day. Since we don't see much of Harv any more, we don't see much of Cheryl, either.
First Appearance: 09 April 2003
Walt's daughter. She's a self-employed accountant, although she seems to excel at everything she chooses to do. Except, perhaps, cooking. She's an avid cycling fan. Her productivity drops dramatically in July when the Tour de France is running.
First Appearance: 25 August 2004
The daughter of two physicists who had a strange sense of humor, Joules is charmed by Joel. She may be the only character with a 'real' job. Presumably she's working her way up from the bottom to the top. The lack of mention of her career choice might lead someone to believe she is down with that. Or this character description could be somewhat contrived to place physics puns into a rather dry cast page for flavor. Joules is the owner of two hypoallergenic cats named Achoo and Gesundheit.
Recurring Characters
First Appearance: 20 July 2004
Chief salesperson at the local Lotus dealership. Joel thinks he's Santa Claus.
