Uh ... Hello. My name's Wim, and I'm a hacker.(clap clap clap)
Uh ... (nervous grin) I guess I should tell you my e-mail address. I've got a couple of e-mail addresses, really. Actually I have more than a couple. I know that one address is all I need, but I just can't help myself.(encouraging noises)
My address is wiml@netcom.com. (deep breath) I pay Netcom for an account.
But that was a long, long time ago. Now, because of support groups like these, I've learned that being a hacker is not wrong. It's not a disease, and it doesn't mean you're a bad person.
In fact, I've turned what was once a terrifying compulsion into a comfortable way of life. No longer do I spend my nights at home, alone in a dark room, my face illuminated only by a glowing screen as I sit hunched over the keyboard, shaping the electrons into mystical patterns of significance only to me and a few other tortured souls. No longer do I subsist on Na-Cheez-Itos and Coke, listening to the same records over and over as I manaically work on my latest twisted masterpiece.
No sir! I now work for Omni Development, here in beautful rainy Seattle. I spend my nights at work, in a warmly lit room, listening to the cozy crackling of the fire and the companionable clattering of my co-workers' keys as I recline in a comfortable chair and direct my cybernetic creations to ever greater accomplishments, with an efficiency of motion matched only by some desert plants. Delicious and varied foods are prepared by Omni's talented and sunny cook Amanda, and I have rack after rack of CDs to choose my music from as I manaically work on my latest twisted masterpiece.
The best part is, they pay me for this.
Anyway, in between creating twisted masterpieces for Omni, and creating twisted masterpieces for myself, and twisting up other peoples' masterpieces, I, uh, sleep and stuff, and I entertain myself with books, bikes, soldering irons, sailboats, and the 'net in all its various manifestations. Someday I intend to travel. . .
Of these, the only one that I can display here is the Web. I keep a sort of index or bookmark page to nodes which I look at frequently or want to be able to find later. Of course, my non-Web interests are reflected in my choice of URLs to place on that page. Many of these references would, I think, be of interest to other people out there who might share my proclivities. So go check them out.
There is, of course, more to me than can be written into a few kilobytes of text; at least, I like to think so. If you're really all that curious, I suggest you mail me. Besides my aforementioned netcom address, I can be reached at Omni (though I prefer to keep that for work-related stuff), and at home. I even have some web pages at home.
Meantime ... destiny calls.
Wim.