I see that TomDart wants us to trip (but not stumble) down memory lane,

Can you tell a little of your first intro to computers? 

The first computer I had access to and first learned to program was the Lincoln Labs TX-0. 

That computer had 4096 words of core memory -- 18 bits per word ... a number, or 3 characters, or a computer instruction.  It had a fast paper tape reader, typewriter (keyboard, printer, paper tape punch), a 512X512 point raster display.  Programming was done in assembler (symbolic) code or binary machine code. 

Since that time, I have programmed about 24 additional kinds of computers ... and in about 30 different computer languages -- mostly in assembler language ... sometimes machine code ... sometimes high level languages such as Fortran, COBOL, Pascal, TAL, APL ... sometimes the way I 'solved' the application was even to create a new computer language. 

I didn't begin to use personal computers until the mid 1980's ... I purchased my first notebook PC in the early 1990's ... and purchased my first effective desktop PC in 1998. 

Not long after that (March 6, 2000), I began running the SETI analysis client ... but then built and operated a small SETI farm of about 14 PCs ... until November 4, 2004 and contributed over 30,000 completed Work Units to the SETI project. 

Actual SETI stats ...

SETI@home classic workunits 30,064
SETI@home classic CPU time 306,342 hours

BTW, those numbers were enough to put me into the 99.913th percentile, but that was only enough to get me into the top 4,555 contributors out of 5,233,954 total participants (my stats as of Nov, 2004). 

That's the highlights of me vs. computers ... final score not yet in. 

BTW, computers is not my only interest ... I am also interested in Science Fiction (or Fantasy, if you prefer), Classical music, cooking, photography, history (specifically, the SCA), electronics, Hi Fi (now home theater), Telecommunications (both voice and data), hiking, art museums, and architecture. 

Ohhhh yeah ... BTW, thanks to TomDart for asking. 

--
Martin