On numerous ocassions I’ve said, “I should really do an intro thread.” The reasons for that aren’t ego, it’s that I’ve got a ton of stories from a life lived on the edge. My life has been pretty great – but I admit that I’m rather biased!
If you’re not actually interested in my intro, please scroll down and read the last four paragraphs. Those paragraphs are actually a little important.
I was hatched in 1957 and poor behavior got me sent away to a ritzy private boarding/prep school. It was there that I realized that mathematics was a language and that would guide much of my life.
While I was younger, I begged my parents to let me buy a guitar. Eventually they capitulated, but the agreement was that I’d study classical guitar. This too was yet another aspect that would heavily influence my life.
In school, we actually had some really neat computers and a connection the mainframe at Dartmouth. I avoided the two of them as much as I could. We did have an observatory and I used to smoke weed and look at the stars.
Anyhow, I’d graduate and attempt to start a band. We did alright but we were young and things fell apart in a spectacular fashion rapidly. This meant I’d join the Marines and use the GI Bill to go to school.
I was first an EE major with a math minor. I liked math, so I’d go to grad school with Applied Mathematics being my goal. Between undergrad and grad I’d once again enlist as I had no way to pay for grad school and the school wasn’t all that helpful with funding.
Yes, I’m technically entitled to the honorary of Dr. KGIII.
My thesis was about modeling vehicular traffic. Simplified, it was about applying values to the metrics to make accurate outcome predictions in traffic throughput and conjestion. This was accurate enough to enable me to start my own business. There, my company would expand to modeling all sorts of types of traffic, from pedestrian to fleet vehicles and more.
During this time, I’d play in many bands ‘cause I needed the money. That tells you how poor I was, ‘cause musicians don’t make very much money. Only a very select few make serious money, the rest are lucky to average out to make minimum wage.
I’d move, open more offices, and travel a great deal. Throughout it all, music was a constant companion. Though I studied classical guitar, I played everything but. It was great and I even embodied the musician lifestyle.
That was pretty complicated to pull off, as I had two kids at home. I was a single parent for reasons too long to detail in this intro post. But, if you put it all together, you’ll see that it was a hectic life. There were not many moments where I didn’t have something to do, when I didn’t have some obligation to fulfill.
That life would continue until the year 2007. That’s when the economy went to hell in a handbasket. Our government (United States) declared they’d solve everything by stimulating the economy. Among the stimuli was billions of dollars to be spent on the highway infrastructure.
This made my company even more valuable and I was offered a sum that I simply would have had to have been stupid to refuse. At the time of the sale, I employed about 235 people. I spoke with many of them and it was generally agreed that I’d have to be an idiot to not take the money and run. So, I did.
Today I’m happily retired. I live in a very remote area of Maine. I still play guitar, sometimes even performing. The differences are now I have a giant guitar collection, don’t need the money, and can easily afford all the gear.
I also have a collection of cars that I’ve been accumulating over the intervening years. They’re assets that I appreciate and they’re assets that appreciate. So, I appreciate them. What I like about collecting cars is that there’s always so much more to learn. Even the history of automobile manufacturing is complex and interesting.
Linux… How about a little information about how I got there?
My career required heavy use of computers, sometimes doing things that were unheard of at the time. By the late 90s, we were working with data sets that were a full terabyte in size. This required giant disk arrays and racks upon racks of clustered servers. On the desktop, and in an business admin role, I used Windows. However, my previous experience was with Unix.
When I retired, I was no longer beholden to others. I didn’t need interoperability. I was able to decide which OS I preferred and that OS was various Linux distros. Once I was able to, I switched exclusively to Linux and haven’t really looked back. I did spend far too long learning to use distros and not learning to use Linux. If I could go back and change that, I would. I’d have spent more time understanding what was going on under the hood rather than learning to use all the bits and bobs added onto the system by the distro devs.
Finally, and the final action that motivated me to write this introduction is that I’ve been offered, and have accepted, a volunteer position here on the site as a moderator. I wanted to touch on that and explain how I view this position.
First, a moderator is just a glorified janitor. So long as it suits the forum’s rules, I do not care. I would never censor or delete a comment because I don’t like it. I will delete spam. I will move threads to the right sections. For example, I will intervene when the action is a clear rules infraction. I will intervene when a thread is in the wrong section of the site. That sort of stuff.
I think my existing history is a good indicator of what I’ll be in the future. I see the role of moderator as being asked to be a janitor. I consider it an honor to be asked to perform this role. If, at any time, you wish to question my actions then I invite you to do so. However, I don’t actually anticipate there being any reasons to do so. Basically, this just means I have to flag fewer threads/comments and can simply deal with them myself.
Also, I’ve moderated large forums before. I’ve just never moderated with XenForo. It can’t be that much different behind the scenes. I do ask that you be lenient with me for the first couple of days. I’ll be erring on the side of caution – choosing not to act immediately until I know for certain what the outcome will be when I press a button. So, have some patience and I’ll be up to speed in short order, and thank you for reading this novella.
If you’re not actually interested in my intro, please scroll down and read the last four paragraphs. Those paragraphs are actually a little important.
I was hatched in 1957 and poor behavior got me sent away to a ritzy private boarding/prep school. It was there that I realized that mathematics was a language and that would guide much of my life.
While I was younger, I begged my parents to let me buy a guitar. Eventually they capitulated, but the agreement was that I’d study classical guitar. This too was yet another aspect that would heavily influence my life.
In school, we actually had some really neat computers and a connection the mainframe at Dartmouth. I avoided the two of them as much as I could. We did have an observatory and I used to smoke weed and look at the stars.
Anyhow, I’d graduate and attempt to start a band. We did alright but we were young and things fell apart in a spectacular fashion rapidly. This meant I’d join the Marines and use the GI Bill to go to school.
I was first an EE major with a math minor. I liked math, so I’d go to grad school with Applied Mathematics being my goal. Between undergrad and grad I’d once again enlist as I had no way to pay for grad school and the school wasn’t all that helpful with funding.
Yes, I’m technically entitled to the honorary of Dr. KGIII.
My thesis was about modeling vehicular traffic. Simplified, it was about applying values to the metrics to make accurate outcome predictions in traffic throughput and conjestion. This was accurate enough to enable me to start my own business. There, my company would expand to modeling all sorts of types of traffic, from pedestrian to fleet vehicles and more.
During this time, I’d play in many bands ‘cause I needed the money. That tells you how poor I was, ‘cause musicians don’t make very much money. Only a very select few make serious money, the rest are lucky to average out to make minimum wage.
I’d move, open more offices, and travel a great deal. Throughout it all, music was a constant companion. Though I studied classical guitar, I played everything but. It was great and I even embodied the musician lifestyle.
That was pretty complicated to pull off, as I had two kids at home. I was a single parent for reasons too long to detail in this intro post. But, if you put it all together, you’ll see that it was a hectic life. There were not many moments where I didn’t have something to do, when I didn’t have some obligation to fulfill.
That life would continue until the year 2007. That’s when the economy went to hell in a handbasket. Our government (United States) declared they’d solve everything by stimulating the economy. Among the stimuli was billions of dollars to be spent on the highway infrastructure.
This made my company even more valuable and I was offered a sum that I simply would have had to have been stupid to refuse. At the time of the sale, I employed about 235 people. I spoke with many of them and it was generally agreed that I’d have to be an idiot to not take the money and run. So, I did.
Today I’m happily retired. I live in a very remote area of Maine. I still play guitar, sometimes even performing. The differences are now I have a giant guitar collection, don’t need the money, and can easily afford all the gear.
I also have a collection of cars that I’ve been accumulating over the intervening years. They’re assets that I appreciate and they’re assets that appreciate. So, I appreciate them. What I like about collecting cars is that there’s always so much more to learn. Even the history of automobile manufacturing is complex and interesting.
Linux… How about a little information about how I got there?
My career required heavy use of computers, sometimes doing things that were unheard of at the time. By the late 90s, we were working with data sets that were a full terabyte in size. This required giant disk arrays and racks upon racks of clustered servers. On the desktop, and in an business admin role, I used Windows. However, my previous experience was with Unix.
When I retired, I was no longer beholden to others. I didn’t need interoperability. I was able to decide which OS I preferred and that OS was various Linux distros. Once I was able to, I switched exclusively to Linux and haven’t really looked back. I did spend far too long learning to use distros and not learning to use Linux. If I could go back and change that, I would. I’d have spent more time understanding what was going on under the hood rather than learning to use all the bits and bobs added onto the system by the distro devs.
Finally, and the final action that motivated me to write this introduction is that I’ve been offered, and have accepted, a volunteer position here on the site as a moderator. I wanted to touch on that and explain how I view this position.
First, a moderator is just a glorified janitor. So long as it suits the forum’s rules, I do not care. I would never censor or delete a comment because I don’t like it. I will delete spam. I will move threads to the right sections. For example, I will intervene when the action is a clear rules infraction. I will intervene when a thread is in the wrong section of the site. That sort of stuff.
I think my existing history is a good indicator of what I’ll be in the future. I see the role of moderator as being asked to be a janitor. I consider it an honor to be asked to perform this role. If, at any time, you wish to question my actions then I invite you to do so. However, I don’t actually anticipate there being any reasons to do so. Basically, this just means I have to flag fewer threads/comments and can simply deal with them myself.
Also, I’ve moderated large forums before. I’ve just never moderated with XenForo. It can’t be that much different behind the scenes. I do ask that you be lenient with me for the first couple of days. I’ll be erring on the side of caution – choosing not to act immediately until I know for certain what the outcome will be when I press a button. So, have some patience and I’ll be up to speed in short order, and thank you for reading this novella.