I was born into a family of engineers and entrepreneurs. Being exposed to that kind of stuff growing up really makes an impact. In 1968, when I was only four, one of my brothers built a television camera and transmitter and put little old me on TV. Our family basement was a playground for all things technology. From making sand cast molds and making parts out of molten metals to bending Plexiglas and flame grinding it to perfection to drawing plans for our next project on a real drawing board using mechanical pencils and protractors to developing a small audio electronics company while in junior high school, building a graphic equalizer and audio noise reduction systems including full metal cases and front panels with professional labeling and high-tech finishes to photography, making our own chemicals and experimenting with new imaging technologies, to running a manufacturing plant in our garage making tools for injection molding machines. To be able to try to do anything you could think of and most of the time actually succeeding! Cool!
And then along came computers, less physical and more virtual. My first program in 9th grade was a BASIC program to help design audio amplifiers. It was run on the teletype of school systems connection to a shared regional mini-computer. My second was an AI like system on top of the audio amplifier program which would interview the user and interactively design the amplifier circuit. I remember running a Timex Sinclair ZX-80 until in melted calculating various mathematical functions for weeks at a time. Computers were cool.
As the years have raged on I have been there from the first Macs and PCs and getting them to talk to each other right down to today where computing is becoming so ubiquitous, I have a computer in my car that helps me manage my life proactively.
