About, Everything...
Oh Lord, if I try to think of all of the different aliases that I've gone by over the years, I'd likely end up wearing the letters off of my keyboard (well, those that aren't already worn off...
When I first got started with playing with computers in the 80's I needed to come up with a way of identifying myself to others without saying "hey, my name is James Corthell, how's about you look me up in the phonebook and call me up and tell me how much of a meanie I've been to you in this AOHell chat room!"... So, I got to thinking...
At the time, the Gremlins movies had been an absolute favorite to me, back then the action was bar none and was quite enjoyable (and playful), one of few movies I still find enjoyment in today (and would even let my children partake in at that).
Well, I settled on "Gizmo" as a call of choice, not only was he cute and cuddly (like myself lol) but he had a temper on him when he got pushed too far (just like me lol)... Not to mention, I always love tinkering with new toys! So, marks the beginning of an era of my terrorizing the internet, one terminal at a time ;)...
For some time I had found web design interesting, how mere structured text could change the way different aspects of a simple text document displays visually to the user just seemed cool to me... After a while of playing with it I found a local web design group who was working on a project to digitize the menu systems of our local restaurants to create a delivery service that was a one stop shop for many places (1995)... The idea was great in theory, but bombed in practice... I think in the future it'd be a great point to touch again, but back then, I don't think it was its time...
I always found user groups and BBS' quite fun to meddle in from time to time; but I never could quite find one which I felt comfortable enough to call home; until about 1998 when I stumbled on UNDERGROUNDNEWS. I felt this place was different, helpful staff, quite active, so I stayed...
And stayed I did, I became staff and helped out where needed (heck, it was a news site, so I posted tech news!) and quickly stayed around until some differences with some of the other site staff. After some irresolvable issues, some friends and I set out on our own endeavor and started The Hackers Tavern (which was semi popular in it's hayday) but it just wasn't the same... I always longed for my home back with UGN.
Time went on, and I eventually came back to UGN (2001), the owner had decided that he could no longer cope with the costs of operating the site and that he just didn't have the time to continue with updates, so he put the site up for sale... I thought to myself, well, this could be my turn to give back to the community that I had all those fond memories with, and eventually made an offer which was accepted... I now owned one of my favorite sites!
The old staff I had previously had issues with where still around, and I had even taken the chance to offer them positions at the newly reformed sites; however their permissions would be scaled back as the type of access vs. maturity that they held where obscene. Of coarse this meant backlash, and they had parted the community; however, since issues with the previous administration had been resolved by them leaving, a lot of the old members who had fled begun to come back.
After taking over UGN I ended up getting substantially immersed in web development; I had worked some design for quite a while, but never really delved into the development side of things; it ended up getting pretty fun... Especially when I got involved with the Ultimate Bulletin Board folks :).
In 1999 I met a group of like minded individuals on DalNet, it wasn't long before we formed a kinship and ended up doing a lot of activities together and talking fairly constantly (conferences, phone calls, irc chat, yadda yadda). Eventually several of us formed a group called UPIN (United Phreaks Intelligence Network), which in its heyday (hey, nearly 3 years is a long time lol) we got to be pretty substantial in size... If you know much about tech "clicks" you'd know several of our members (Gizmo, Khecka, Weeve, Lucky225, The Purple Haze, etc).
In 2003 I married a long time friend, Samantha Menard; we married in a court house in Beaverton on April 11th, 2003. We didn't have many friends or family there with us, but those we did have we did cherish.
In 2005 Trey was brought into our lives; I couldn't ever be happier... He looks just like his daddy you know ;)... God help him :x...
Eventually, we lead up to today; a life full of coding, gaming, and full time daddy; I wouldn't change it for the world...
A lot of the folding of my character has been molded by the people I've met online, I could have never learned one iota of what I have without the friendships that I have made from people all over the world. I thank my friends for keeping me sane, for without you, I truly would be in a padded cell... ;).