The Question and Answer Board

[Bob Zumbrunnen]

When Karl Schmidt and I worked on creating XMODEM for the Vic-20 and then C=64,

Huh? You were one of the developers of XModem?

Lordy, it seems like eons ago since I heard the word "xmodem". The old reliable standby you could use when ZModem just wasn't working, although ZModem was generally preferable for speed on large files, and the ability to resume a download.

Hobbiests just got pushed aside.

Then you have some of us hobbyists who bailed out when they saw the writing spray-painted on the wall, only to show up again to do an "on steroids" version of their hobby.

Pinned to part of my desk right above my monitor (the part that holds the requisite stereo) is a picture of me about 15 years ago almost exactly as I am right now: shorts and a t-shirt, sitting at the computer, interacting with users on my BBS.

Oh, heck with it. I just scanned it.

http://www.investorshub.com/boards/bbs_bob.jpg

Now is it sad that 15 years later I'm socializing at the computer still, or is it cool that 15 years later I'm still doing what I love, and I still get to pretend I'm "doing it for a living"? I think the latter.

Edit: Or is it sadder still that my future partner in crime hadn't yet made it to kindergarten when that pic was taken. <g>