The Real Casey and Andy

	Casey Grimm: In real life, Casey is a Senior QA Engineer and my best friend. We have known each other since high school. Like in the strip (but to a lesser degree) he likes to take things apart to see how they go, try to invent things (like our hovercraft), and does have kind of an evil streak in him which the Dr. X character is based on. His greatest love is computer gaming. He's very liberal and I'm somewhat conservative, so we argue quite a lot about politics, the weather, and whatever else pops in to our heads. We're every bit as competative in real life as we are in the strip, if not more so.
	Andy Weir: Well, this is me. I'm the author and artist of the strip. In real life, I'm a Senior Software Engineer. When I'm not making the strip, I like to harass Casey on the phone, make up new games, program old games, and just generally goof off. I've just recently ended a whopping 3 years being out of work. My friends will tell you I'm not quite as insane as the Andy in the strip, but I'm close. I really do hit people with weird hypothetical conversations. Like Casey, I like computer games. I also like art, making up games, and arguing with people. I love arguing with people. Casey will confirm this. Unlike in the strip, I am not Casey's roommate. We live across town from each other. In fact, we see each other in person only once or twice a week, but see each other on line in various games practically every day. About Satan: I'm not a devil worshipper or anything. In the early days of the strip, I thought it would be a good one-off gag to have Andy bring home Satan as a girlfriend. As often happens, the one-off gag became a running gag, and Satan just kind of became a main character. The same thing happened with Quantum Cop. He was supposed to be a one time gag. But in that case, reader demand made me bring him in more.
	Mary MacTavish: Her actual name is Mary Smith, but she likes the name MacTavish, so that's what her character is named. In the strip, Mary is portrayed as the "normal" one. In reality, she's much more abnormal than Casey or I ever are. She is, in fact, a bisexual kindergarten teacher. She (like Casey) is polyamorous, meaning the two of them can have any number of other partners that they like, so long as they get permission from each other first. I could never live in a relationship like that. But they could never live in a relationship that wasn't. Her hobbies are many and varied, but they include birdwatching, geology, California history, and online chatting. In the strip Andy and Mary hate each other, but in reality, I quite like her. You can check out her site here.
	Jenn Brozek: In reality, Jenn used to be Casey's roommate, and long before that, she, Casey, and I all attended high school together. She is a Senior QA Engineer, but her true love is writing. I also like writing, but unlike me, Jenn is a published author. I have to admit I don't know her that well. She mentioned to me once that she had a dream she was in a C&A strip and had - this seemed to be important to her - purple hair. I was in need of a character to be Casey and Andy's unfortunate neighbor, so I went with it. If you would like to see her writing, resume, or any of a number of other tidbits about her, you can check our her sites here and here.
	Lord Milligan: Ok, so he's not really an evil strangely obsidian Japanese Lord. In reality he's Jim Milligan, Tech support, Software design, and QA guy. Jim was my best friend through Junior High School, whereupon I moved to a new city and didn't see nor hear from him again until a few years ago. We picked up where we left off and game together now. He is, like all my friends, a geek of the first order. He has been involved in the creation of several published roleplaying suppliments. I moved back up to the Bay Area only a couple of years ago. Aside from Casey and Mary, almost every friend I now have here I met through Jim. This is due to a combination of factors: First off, Casey and Mary's friends are mostly online, with rare in-person appearences, and seccondly because Jim seems to have an endless supply of friends. I guess he's just a likeable guy.
	Cujo: Yes, I really do have a cat named Cujo. He is a pretty big cat, weighing in at about 20 pounds. I got him when he was a wee kitten, and named him Cujo because I thought it would be a funny name for a harmless little kitten. Then he grew... and grew... and grew into the behemoth that he is today. So the name became relevant. I actually have 2 cats. The other is named Blofelt. I didn't think the strip had need of two cats, so Blowie didn't make the cut. Cujo's interests include sleeping, eating, and crapping anywhere but the cat box.

In closing, let me leave you with this pic of Casey and me at a halloween party.
We went as Casey and Andy. Man we're dorks