Intro: I used to be a Geek
 

Hi ya'll

Guess that tells you where I'm from - South Carolina - I'm a rebel by blood - my great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather fought in the revolution and my great, great, great grandfather fought in the War Between the States. I'm a full-blooded Scot and hard-headed as my ancestors.

I used to be a Geek at USC Computer Services Department - Systems Guy on a 370/168 running Hasp - that may or may not tell you how old I am :rolleyes: Being a 19-year-old mind in an old body has it's rewards and drawbacks as you might imagine.

I've lived all over the world and helped start up (sales/marketing) two companies in our collective world in the 80's - Microsoft and Novell. Since then I've run my own company in Silicon Valley for ten years and worked in the wireless infrastructure market in Europe and Africa (lived in Barcelona, Spain) for the last 9 years. I've just moved my family back to the US and...we're back in SC.

In the middle of all of this, I'm an amatuer archaeologist, elected member of The Explorer's Club of NYC, mountain climber, diver, 1000 meter target shooter and cartridge designer and reloader, poet, and general want to do everything before I kick off nut.

However, I've forgotten most of what I know about technical computer stuff and much of it isn't applicable. I just use them now but would like to get caught up in most of this stuff you guys are talking about.

I have 5 computers networked together on a simple net with a Linksys wireless g router hooked to Roadrunner. I'm working on two notebooks because they're the fastest puters I have and the rest are scattered through the house for my wife and two kids. Two of them have a Spanish version of W2K so that's a challenge for me at times. The change from my DSL provider in Spain to Roadrunner here has produced a few problems that I'm trying to fix.

I look forward to participating as much as I can, given that I still have to work for a living, and welcome any input from anybody. So far I've met a few of you through a couple of problem-solving sessions and I like what I see. I appreciate what you guys are trying to do here and am happy to be a part of it. I don't know how much I can contribute to the general knowledge base but will do what I can...you guys are pretty smart from what I've seen.

zeroth

Re: Intro: I used to be a Geek
 

Hi, I thought my life was shit before I read this .....

Pass me the gun please ...

Re: Intro: I used to be a Geek
 

lol, I like, pie....

Re: Intro: I used to be a Geek
 

Hey, welcome aboard!

I always like hearing people's "back in the day..." stories. Feel free to chime in at any time!

Re: Intro: I used to be a Geek
 

Well......Hi.....anyways.....Marty when your done Im next.

Re: Intro: I used to be a Geek
 

OK, OK you guys, don't give me that grief...

But I do have some good stories - as the years pass they accumulate...

Most of my life has just been luck, some good, some bad. I was looking in the newspaper one day for a job and ran across an ad for an obscure company in Washington State. Not many people had heard of it but I just happened to have a couple of computers and was one of a few people around that knew computers and could sell something (kind of like brushing your teeth while chewing gum). When I went to work for Microsoft, there were just 40 people working there. Job didn't pay much at first. I got lucky when we came out with MS-DOS. But who could have predicted what has happened...

Same with Spain. I met my wife over the internet and we exchanged email for two years before I went over to meet her. I know, it's a modern love story - but we got married and had two kids. We made a deal that we would live there for 5 years (stayed a little longer) and then move back here, which we just did at the end of the year.

But along with good things like this, there's been a lot of BS as well, let me tell ya!!

zeroth

Re: Intro: I used to be a Geek
 

Did you happen to invest in microsoft then?

Re: Intro: I used to be a Geek
 

I had some shares...but I spend quite easily. In fact, somehow I end up spending at the same level as my income, no matter what that is at the time...

Re: Intro: I used to be a Geek
 

You didn't keep any of the shares? If you did you'd be rolling in dough.

Re: Intro: I used to be a Geek
 

I dream about the possiblities often. Maybe one day I'll write a book about those times and make it that way...uh, well, I had better do it soon, no?