__ ___ ___ | |
/\ |\ | / ` | |__ |\ | | | |
/~~\ | \| \__, | |___ | \| | | |
__ ___ __ __ | |
|__| | /__` | / \ |__) \ / | |
| | | .__/ | \__/ | \ | | |
So you're interested in learning more about me? I'm honoured. Not | |
much to learn really. But since you came, I might as well spin you a | |
short yarn. | |
______________________________________________________________________ | |
The BBS Years: | |
I used to be the sysop of a NY BBS called "Operation Shadowfire". | |
It ran on an IBM XT with a TXM/10-II 8088 Main Board @ 10 MH. | |
It was a waffle BBS running under IBM DOS 3.3. | |
During that time I befriended a gent in a nearby town who shared my | |
passion for BBSs (he ran the "Octothorpe BBS") and interactive | |
fiction. | |
He took this passion and became an archivist and film maker. His name | |
is | |
Jason Scott [Sadofsky] | |
Jason has gone on to create great things like: | |
textfiles.com | |
The BBS Documentary (SDF is in it!) | |
Get Lamp (A film about text adventures) | |
If you haven't seen his work before you should absolutely investigate | |
it. His films are amazing and evoke deep nostalgia in everyone. | |
An interesting aside is that we both used to frequent the original SDF | |
BBS. | |
______________________________________________________________________ | |
The BITNET Years: | |
When I was in college we didn't have access to ARPA's successor, | |
NSFNet | |
via | |
NYSERNet | |
simply because it wasn't around until just after I graduated. | |
Instead I had access to | |
BITNET | |
And on BITNET I was a class four sysop on the | |
RELAY Network | |
In fact, I was the publisher of "Class Four Relay Magazine". RELAY | |
predates IRC by a few years but with the demise of BITNET, RELAY is no | |
more. I also ran the Emergency Services List (EMERG-L) and the | |
Collegiate Emergency Services List (CEMS-L). These last two were | |
merged into misc.emerg-services circa 1991. Google remembers some of | |
my posts and I am embarrased reading them now. :-) | |
It was during this time that I wrote a BBS system entirely in | |
Fortran77 that ran on the MUSIC/SP system. | |
MUSIC/SP | |
Also during this time I was (as you might have already guessed) a | |
firefighter and EMT. I was active both in my home town as well as | |
re-founding the College's EMS. | |
______________________________________________________________________ | |
The 90s: | |
I spent most of the 90s working on mainframe systems using languages | |
such as APL, PL1, C, REXX, and 370 Assembler. It makes me sound like | |
an intelligent nerd I know but I really wasn't. I just did what had | |
to be done. At the beginning of the 90s I also became a ham radio | |
operator. Yes, I had to learn Morse Code. I'm still very involved | |
with the local Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) team to this | |
day. | |
ARES | |
Also during this time I did air and ground search and rescue. If | |
you've ever seen the movie Cliff Hanger, that will give you an rough | |
idea. | |
______________________________________________________________________ | |
2000 (or so) to present: | |
I became a Unix convert. I ended up working for Canonical, the | |
company that makes Ubuntu, for 10 years. | |
I probably would have been a full convert in the 80s had I only had | |
exposure to it. Instead I had what was available, IBM technology. | |
This era has been punctuated by Project Management, Python, | |
AppleScript, Mac OS X, Ubuntu, Launchpad, IRC, and SDF. I got paid to | |
work on FOSS and use Unix (Linux mostly). In my spare time I used to | |
help build autonomous air and ground robots. These days I spend my | |
time supporting a large mountain network of emergency repeaters and | |
computers linked via gigahertz radio from Cheyenne, WY to Sandia, NM | |
and into the Colorado mountains. For more information see: | |
RMHAM | |
In 2019 I left Canonical and joined Platform.sh. You can find more | |
about my work history by visiting LinkedIn | |
In February 2021 I moved off SDF.ORG over to Tilde.Team and I am very | |
happy with the setup. | |
In August 2022 I got my Ph.D. in Information Technology. | |
____________________________________________________________________________ | |
Gophered by Gophernicus/3.0.1 on Ubuntu/22.04 x86_64 |