A Precarious Balance

...and probably didn't want to know. But I was tagged by Julian, so here goes:

1. My software engineering career started in high school. A friend of mine was going away to college and he helped me get his job at the local newspaper. We lived in Evansville, Indiana. The Evansville Courier and Press had come up with a program named Newspapers In Education. It was a novel concept: Give teachers free newspapers to use in the classroom for educational purposes.The kids should then be more likely to read newspapers when they grew older. As part of that program, I would write new computer games that tied in with using the newspaper. I also converted old Commodore black and white games into Commodore 64 games with color and sound. We'd hand out the games to the classrooms.
   
2. During high school, the Apple computer came out. The only one in the school was in the office of our biology teacher, Mr. Schwengel. He'd let some of us play with the computer during lunch break. While he was away, I put on a display of my programming prowess by writing a little program. It was an infinite loop that displayed "Mr. Schwengel is a gump!". I proudly showed it off to those gathered around. And then he walked into the room and saw the screen.
   
3. During college, I lived at home. I'd work at the newspaper and go to school. My cooking skills were minimal. One time when my mother was out of town on a business trip, my step father and I were trying to figure out what to eat. I happened to see a big, black army ant crawling on the floor, picked it up, and suggested we should eat it. He dared me. Not being one to back down (at least on this particular dare), I plopped it in my mouth. That's when I discovered that live army ants have sharp mandibles.
   
4. My wife and I discovered that we had previously been at the same place twice, before we officially noticed each other. The one place I'll talk about is at a halloween party. I was dressed as the Jolly Green Giant. I had painted my skin green and crafted some shorts and shirt-like thing that was covered with leaves. She was dressed as a harlequin doll. I remember her saying "Hi" and complimenting me on my costume. But when I was a kid, I had watched a movie with an evil harlequin doll. So I stayed away from her. I was more interested in the girl who had dressed like Sprout.
   
5. One Labor Day weekend while living the bachelor life in St. Louis, I decided to go backpacking in the Irish Wilderness. That's one of the areas in Missouri where motorized vehicles are prohibited. I had been reading books by Tom Brown. He's some guy who would go out in the woods with a knife and live off the land for a while. So I get the gumption to hike into the forest, with only some food, water, knife, and a blanket. No sleeping bag. No tent. After beating my way along a trail covered with spider webs, I climb up a wooded, leaf-covered hill, set up a shelter, and plop down in front of it. While peeling an orange, I hear footsteps on the other side of my shelter. They're walking towards me. My mind starts to freak out. Who's up here on this hill with me? The steps quicken. Then they run. I jump up with my knife. The wild turkey finally notices me and takes off mid-run, flying down the hill.

Hmmm. Who should I tag? I don't know many bloggers who know me well enough to even noticed I tagged them. So I tag Jerilyn and Phillip Blanton (you were already tagged by Julian but haven't written yet).

--
Sean Winstead

Tags: Life