21 Jan
1998
21 Jan
'98
5:25 a.m.
I'm 30 now, started playing with a Bell+howell apple][ in junior high
school. Bought my first computer, a Timex Sinclair 1500 in 82, my freshman
year in H.S. Everyone thought I was a big weenie and I was never socially
accepted. in 85 I finally got an XT, I wanted an Apple][ but they were
going by the wayside so I decided to get the XT scrictly based on software
availability. I was a manager at Pizza Hut, things were looking grim for
my future, I couldn't afford to go to college and was married. Then I got
sick of all this and joined the Coast Guard, went to MST School in Virginia
for the Coast Guard, 30% of MST's are system managers of some sort. I
thought I might get lucky, I did, I scored a 99% on the computer section of
the course and was made System Administrator of the 4th floor of Coast
Guard Headquarters in Washington DC. I then got out of after my tour, I
now collect older systems as a hobby, im way past 40 systems now, I have no
idea how many I have, my new wife , hehe, another long story, tolerates it,
and Im a network engineer for the Dept of Labor. I owe all this to Sir
Clive Sinclair and my mom for encouraging my interest. I make about 43k a
year, own my own home, not too bad for 30 and not a day in college.
Good luck, and don't give up.
Bill Girnius
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From: Wirehead Prime
<wirehead(a)retrocomputing.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: PDP-8/Es available
Date: Wednesday, January 21, 1998 10:45 AM
> Ahh, that sucks! My parents have control of my money again, so I'd
never
get away with spending
> $50 on old computers... (They're trying to
discourage me from playing
with
computers, and
being about as subtle as a jackhammer...)
I'll leave this public since it might be useful to someone...I'm 29 now
but when I was 16 or 17 my parents expended GREAT energy trying to get me to stop playing with computers because my dad thought
they were a FAD
(hahahahahahahahahahaa) and my mom thought it was unhealthy for me to
hide in the basement all the time like some brain-damaged monster.
Tell your parents that today I have a college degree, have been out on my
own working productively since I was 20 (with VERY
little external
support), earn twice the median income in my state, started a successful
business, own my own home, am married and honoring my parents by living
an upstanding and productive life. Playing with computers all those
years created that for me. And playing with OLD computers made me
self-reliant enough that in the last 9 years I've been unemployed a total
of about a week.
My parents realize their mistake now...my father tearfully gave me his
gold retirement watch, which I accepted reluctantly, to show how proud
he is of me. My parents are happy with me and I'm happy with myself all
thanks to my tinkering all those years in the basement.
> it'd be meeting the trashcan in a hurry. But if I tell them I got it
free,
> they may not care. My parents (Esp. my stepdad)
have a thing for
tossing
> whatever I have that they don't like [Like my
copy of Sailor Moon manga
#13])
My brother tossed out a perfectly good 11/34a, some RL02s, a DecWriter
and a Franklin Ace 1200 from my parents' basement because he wanted a
weight room and my stuff was in the way. Pretty self-righteous of him
considering *I'M* not the one who's 42 and still living WITH mom and dad!
BUT I'M NOT BITTER!!! =-D
(Isn't it odd that if you get it free, they'll let you keep but if you
spent money on it they want to throw it away?)
When I was 18 I waited until my folks were gone to move an 11/23 and two
RL02s downstairs to my bedroom. I made sure it was all racked up before
they got home...so it'd look too big and heavy for them to carry outside.
=-) I LOVED that machine! I put it behind the door sort of...so that
you could only open the door about 18"...kept my mom out of my room. =)
Anthony Clifton - Wirehead