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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
(HTM) Jason Scott [Sadofsky]
Jason has gone on to create great things like:
(HTM) textfiles.com
(HTM) The BBS Documentary (SDF is in it!)
(HTM) 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,
(HTM) NSFNet
via
(HTM) NYSERNet
simply because it wasn't around until just after I graduated.
Instead I had access to
(HTM) BITNET
And on BITNET I was a class four sysop on the
(HTM) 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.
(HTM) 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.
(HTM) 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:
(HTM) RMHAM
In 2019 I left Canonical and joined Platform.sh. You can find more
about my work history by visiting LinkedIn
(HTM) 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