When I was growing up I was taught that one of the things that we did on Thanksgiving day was to give thanks. Well as I got older I was always thankful for my family, my home, and so on, which continues through this day. This year I want to list my thanks for the technology which fascinates me. The first computer time I was allowed to play with a computer was in 1975, at the Weyerhaeuser Tech Center in Longview, WA. I was a junior in high school, member of the high school science club, on a tour of the Tech Center where they let us play Star Trek on the Tech Center. In order to interact with the computer we had to use punch cards to input the commands. At the time it was one of the high points of my life. Well, ten years pass and I finally decide to get serious about college. I attended Southern Oregon State College in Ashland, OR, and my first major was Computer Science. What an eye opening experience. We had gone from a limited computer using punch cards, to a Harris 500 system and the higher level programming languages like FORTRAN, BASIC, COBOL, etc. I felt like a 6 year old at Disney Land with unlimited rides. What a rush. While I was in school we saw the introduction of "C", LISP, and Old and the technological beat went on. Well, life being life I was unable to complete my degree and it was again ten years later when I became involved with computers and software development. The Internet was in it's infancy, the browsers all had the 1.0 suffix and the technology was exploding like a fission reaction. I was able to hang on and went to work as an Internet consultant and it was one of the biggest thrills of my life. I have seen the Web go from a hobbyist back corner to one of the cornerstone of our economic life and a great means of communication and research. We are looking at the birth of Web 2 architecture with Blogs, IM, and all of the multimedia presentations. The future can be as exciting as the recent past and we will continue to move forward. So as you can see the primary career interest I have is more than a way to make a living, but also one of my life long passions. I am so thankful that I live in a time when what I love continues to grow and the innovation continues. So to all of those who have brought us this far a very large Thank You. |
