There have been a few moments in my geek-life that stand out above the rest. These moments fill my <3 with joy. Of course, like every geek, I enjoy getting the latest and greatest gadget and playing with some new tech. But, often times these moments are unremarkable against a lifetime of geek moments. There are a few that stand out above the rest, that I can look back on with fondness.
Of course, close to the top, if not sitting at the very top is the first time I dialed into a BBS. This was the first time I was able to see a computer as something other than a tool. As something more than a way to type essays, or crunch numbers, or play videogames. The computer was a communication medium. I was able to communicate with people whom I never would have had the opportunity otherwise. Through the 300 baud modem attached to my Commodore 64 computer, I was able to debate politics, shoot-the-shit, and make friends with people whom I had never met. All because little bits were able to travel across a wire. I even managed to convince a BBS SysOp to let me manage my own message board on his BBS. Certainly a grand moment for me.
Another moment around the same time, was when I went to a local Commodore users club meeting. It was held in the conference room of a Stop & Shop, and was basically a dozen guys trading warez. How l33t.
Similar to the first time I connected to a BBS is the first time I used the Internet. No, silly, not this graphical wonderland called the World Wide Web, but the first time I connected to the non-colorful, non-graphical Internet. This was probably in 1993 or so. Although, I don’t remember the specifics, I remember it was using Gopher. And, much like when connecting to a BBS for the first time, this was more a moment where the scope of computing as a communication medium was expanded. I could find documents and files in South Africa or wherever they were in this world. There were no more boundaries.
This, of course, leads us to the World Wide Web. Although, I don’t recall much of when I first connected (sometime in 1994-95), I do remember the first website I actually created. It was nothing special, much like the thousands of other sites popping up at the time. Very little graphics, over-use of the <HR> tag, and a lot of information about myself that no one else could care about. But, I was able to do anything I wanted with it (with the help of Netscape’s web-design app). That was pretty neat.
A recent moment that stands out above the rest is when I received an invite to Gmail. Even though I wasn’t even close to receiving an invite during the first round of invites, I did happen to receive one when they were still in high demand. What it shows is that I have some geek cred. This validated me as a geek. Also, there was a coolness to it. A hipness. You knew Google was going to have a major impact on email as we know it, and it was cool to be there (fairly) early on.
These are the quintessential moments of geekiness in my life. The things that have shaped my geek-itude. I still have that Commodore 64. Even though it is missing keys, missing a power-supply, and just plain filthy, I just can’t bear to part with it. It signifies the beginning of my geek life; where this Boston Geek was born.
<cue violin music>
NERD!
My moments of geek:
1- Reloading Dos 6.2 and Windows 3.1 for the first time ever, with no prior experience with the OS, on a Compaq Presario 486DX 66 in 1995. It took 3 days to figure out. And it began my love affair with cursing.
2- Learning how to program in BASIC. In 1983. On a Commodore VIC20. I was 8, and having the computer ask me “How are you?” and waiting for an input was an incredible feeling.
10 PRINT "How are you?"
20 INPUT A$
30 IF A$="Fine", GOTO 50
40 IF A$"Fine", GOTO 70
50 PRINT "That's good to hear,";A$
60 GOTO 80
70 PRINT "Aww, cheer up,";A$
80 PRINT "Bye now!"
Admittedly, a little cludgy and simplistic, but I was suitably impressed with my 1337 h4xx0r skillz.
3- First time I read Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
4- First time I saw an AD&D 2nd Edition Player’s Handbook at the library and checked it out.
5- First computer I ever purchased on my own, for about $1400, in 1997.
6- First time I modded a case.
There are more, but these stand out.
huh, it edited out the ‘greater than’ and ‘less than’ symbols all by itself in Line 40 above… why’d that happen?
Dude, cuz < and > when used in that order are used to enclose HTML tags.
There were alot to choose from, for instance, I left out the first time I wrote my own text adventure for the Commodore using Adventure Writer. Do you get that I just think the Commodore 64 was a great computer?
My first QBasic program was simple program that moved an image from one corner of the screen to the opposite.
My first geeky read (other than some ‘choose your own adventure books) was the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy while I was working at the local library in highschool.
When actually storing computer magazines from the 80’s, and posting an ad from such a magazine to my blog. Later the same day reading your post actually made me realize….
btw :
Commodore 64 video rental system
Great pic… thanks for sharing.