Bruce Zimmer

Old Enough To Know Better, Too Old To Care

In the "100 Things" format that some folks enjoy:

1. Husband
2. Grandfather
3. Father
4. Son
5. Brother
6. Geek
7. Born in the early 50s
8. As a child, remember flying a kite with my father
9. Spent formative years in the Empire State (New York)
10. Graduated from high school in New York state in the early 70s
11. Graduated from college in Michigan in the early 70s
12. Married high school sweetheart in the mid 70s
13. After getting married, moved to Southern California
14. First new car: Datsun B210
15. Favorite son was born in the early 80s
16. Favorite daughter was born in the early 80s
17. Moved to Northern California in the early 90s
18. Currently live in a redwood forest, hence the blog name
19. After college, showed my father the Popular Electronics issue with MITS Altair 8800 on the cover. The revolution begins!
20. Old enough to know better
21. Too old to care
22. My oldest surviving web pages date back to 1995
23. Myths, religions, and superstitions prove that Abraham Lincoln was right.
You can fool some of the people all of the time.
24. Wife and I were empty-nesters, but not any longer
25. Worked in aerospace industry in the mid to late 70s
26. Worked in retail computing chain (The Byte Shop) from late 70s to early 80s
27. Worked in semiconductor industry in the early 80s
28. Worked in aerospace industry in the mid 80s to early 90s
29. Worked in semiconductor industry from the early 90s to the present
30. Enjoyed many pets over the years; currently have long-haired Chihuahua
31. Some authors I enjoy: Issac Asimov
32. Tom Clancy
33. Robert A. Heinlein
34. Dean Koontz
35. Jerry Pournelle
36. John Scalzi
37. Currently connect to Internet via Comcast cable modem
38. Ran my own moonlighting programming business for about 18 years
39. Built Imsai S-100 computer
40. Was regular visitor to first BBS (CBBS), which was created by Ward Christensen and Randy Suess in Chicago
41. Was a regular visitor to Trevor Marshall's Thousand Oaks Technical BBS
42. Among many other system, owned two Apple ][s
43. One had an 8" floppy drive and Microsoft Z80 coprocessor
44. Still own Processor Technology SOL-20 terminal computer
45. Owned too many other computers to detail
46. Before children, commuted 100 miles/day in Los Angeles area on a 4-cylinder 450cc Honda motorcycle
47. Learned to program in APL during high school in the late 60s
48. Programmed in xBase languages for about 20 years
49. Learned basic SQL in 2001
50. Switched from DOS to Windows around 1986 or 1987
51. Installed both Redhat Linux and Ubuntu Linux on a laptop, but never spent much time with either one
52. Installed MojoPac on several test devices.
53. Liked the first few albums by Boston
54. First IBM clone PC I owned was 4 MHz
55. The first PC I used at my present company was a 386/25; slower than the system I used in my moonlighting business.
56. Reality TV sucks. Don't tell me "reality" means "unscripted". Maybe you also think pro wrestling is a "sport" and is "unscripted"?
57. Rap is not music. If all you can do is recite words to a beat, you're not a musician. I don't care if millions of people purchase your records. William Shatner can recite words to a beat. Get over yourself.
58. Explored steam tunnels under my college campus.
59. Shot my first gun, a .22 caliber rifle, in summer camp as a child.
60. Depending on how you measure, my guns are both larger and smaller now.
61. Involved in various aspects of information security on and off for over 30 years
62. Had gas-powered model airplane as a child; so noisy it scared me. I only flew it once or twice
63. Like to ski
64. Have not skied in many years
65. Still married to first wife ;-)
66. Drove 1965 Mustang 289 high-performance fastback during high school in late 60s. Still own it.
67. Don't play computer games any more; never played much in the first place.
68. Enjoyed the Myst game series.
69. Favorite food: pizza. God's food. All the basic food groups. Hmmmmmm
70. Second favorite food: Chinese
71. Favorite mixed drink: Long Island Iced Tea
72. Favorite wine color: red
73. First 35mm SLR camera: Hanimex Praktica in the early 70s
74. Second 35mm SLR camera: Pentax Spotmatic II in the early 70s. Big step up. Accumulated multiple lenses over the years.
75. Third 35mm SLR camera: Konica. It was cheap and had both standard and the 28mm wide-angle I wanted.
76. Fourth 35mm SLR camera: Minota Maxxum 7000. Standard lens and 100-200mm zoom. I loved how that rig felt in my hands!
77. First digital camera used: Canon S20
78. Second digital camera used: Nikon Coolpix 990
79. Third digital camera used: HP Photosmart 850
80. Owned some Novatron portable studio lighting equipment in the 80s
81. Sold my studio lighting equipment in the 80s
82. Started using email in 1991; first VAX-based, then PC-based
83. Started using PGP encryption in early 90s
84. Not good at staying in touch with anyone
85. Flying a kite was very soothing at several points in my life
86. Have not flown a kite in several years
87. Want to rent a jet ski
88. Flew, once, in a hot-air balloon
89. Had one mud bath as an adult. Uncounted are the less formal baths of mud as a child.
90. Flew, once, in a three-person glider
91. Flew, once, in a two-seat airplane
92. Think Microsoft produces great software
93. Think Microsoft produces terrible software
94. The latter opinion is confirmed on a nearly daily basis.
95. My antics are still cheap entertainment for my wife
96. Currently write web log with Radio UserLand TypePad
97. Neither a prolific nor articulate blogger
98. RSS news aggregator freak
99. Found generating this list more interesting than expected
100. Have better things to do than come up with item #100