[Shooter]

I took some computer classes in junior high school (BASIC with numbered lines, flow charts, etc.), but it never really grabbed me. My teacher's dream job was to be a mainframe programmer for IBM. Imagine a fat guy that sounded like Ben Stein (and wore an actual pocket protector!) dreaming of IBM mainframes...we called him Mr. Excitement. I just didn't see the attraction. The teacher told me programs were like executable math, which turned me off even more. I hated math.

Then I became somewhat of a science geek...Westinghouse, ISEF, etc. At the science competitions, there was a large number of stereotypical nerds (socially awkward, overly interested in grades, suck-ups, etc.) and a small group of people that were into 'hacks.' The smaller group tried to outdo each other with 'applied science pranks.' They always had informal competitions and awards programs that ran alongside the actual competition events. I wanted to compete, so I started learning how to program and how to do some chemistry-oriented pranks. I was goal-oriented.

My first year at one of the international competitions, I won my event at the real awards program, and then I won the 'hacker' competition. (I programed all the hallway, elevator, and atrium lights in our hotel and convention center to strobe. It was the largest hotel in the city, so it was...noticeable. It made the evening news on all the local channels, and one of their national channels had a human interest piece about "What happens when you put a couple hundred science geeks in a single hotel.") I was hooked.