BIO
I was first introduced to computers in ancient times, when all you got when you turned on your machine was a black screen with gray-white text and the operating system — MS-DOS — was “barely and operating system”. The cryptic mystery of that ancient command-prompt sparked a life-long fascination with these magic boxes.
In the early 2000s I was a young high school student reading a book on how to build a website with tables and inline styling during the dark days of Internet Explorer 6. But it was sold to a Geocities and MySpace market, and that era inspired many of the web developers of today.
Around 2009 I was also introduced to Linux, another important technology for the web but at the time for me it was just a cool toy — an alternative operating system, useful for revitalizing old XP machines left behind by the upstart Windows 7. It was a fascination for a tinkerer like me who grew up with MS-DOS and Windows 95.
I have other interests. I enjoy trying new and unusual foods and experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen. I play video games and I like watching the birds outside do their bird things.
I also have some experience as a writer. It was another fascination of mine in high school, and ultimately led me to working at the local newspaper.
I enjoy history and watching edutainment programming. In the old days it was History Channel — before it became the channel of Pawn Stars and Ancient Aliens. Today it’s YouTube and Curiosity Stream.
But the allure of computers never went away, and I have continued to learn. It’s no longer such a mysterious magic box to me. It’s a machine that we can use — with just a little know-how — to do cool things and solve hard problems, and that’s even better.