To shed some light on how I arrived here, you should know some of my backstory.
I’ve always been intrigued by technology. I’ve never been much of an athlete, or into sports. I had a lot of screen time as a child. Television programs and motion pictures involving robots and spaceships fascinated me through childhood. In my teen years, the movie WarGames frightened me, then films like Weird Science and Real Genius stimulated me. I realized then, that technology would have an enormous impact on the future. And I was determined to play more than a walk-on role in my production.
My first computer was an Apple IIC with a monochromatic “green screen” monitor. Like most kids, I used it mostly to play games. It was through sharing games with my friends that I first learned how to be a hacker. In order to copy games, we first needed to load a special floppy disk that would allow us to bypass the copy protections. This is where I first learned the fun of breaking stuff.
Fast forward to the 90’s. I first became a power user in Windows 95, showing off what few keyboard shortcuts I knew. File sharing through LimeWire and Kazaa (then later The Pirate Bay, Demonoid and a number of private trackers) was a major turning point in my plotline, because it opened my eyes to the magnitude of information that was available. The sheer volume of games, movies and applications was staggering. I soaked up as much of it as I could. And in doing so, I corrupted my computer many, many times. Through this frustrating experience, I taught myself how to investigate, diagnose and repair my own PC’s. When you break enough of your toys, you have to learn how to fix them.
And this was the most important lesson of all. Not how to investigate, diagnose and repair broken and corrupted PC’s, but rather, how to learn new skills as needed. Over time, I became pragmatic in my approach to most things. I took up gardening, and learned to create my own compost. My approach to fitness has been centered around bodyweight and kettlebell exercises. As I explore each new domain of interest, I am intrinsically motivated to discover the fundamentals. I like to learn what makes stuff work. This approach empowers me to utilize new knowledge and skills efficiently.
Among my friends an family, I developed a reputation for being the “go-to guy” for all tech problems. When anyone was afraid their PC was broken or hacked, I’d get the call. And I’d fix it. Sometimes it would take days or weeks, but no challenge was presented to me that I didn’t resolve. I’ve removed backdoor trojans, repaired system registries, repaired broken databases, and more.
This wee bit of context into my story might help to inform the reader about what makes me tick. Armed with this knowledge, perhaps my ramblings about my various projects, ideas, successes and failures might seem more relevant. Enjoy the blog.