Background.

Before getting into whats currently going on in my life, and after having explained the blog, I think I should provide a little bit of my history - mainly the history that put me into college as a comp sci major. Maybe to put things in a little more context, maybe because I like the idea of recording it for myself. Either way, here goes: It all really begins with my parents, who, to put it simply, are nerds. That is, they both work with computers and seem to work a lot. Neither of them started out that way. My mom began as a phys ed teacher, but decided she hated teaching kids (I think) and started to work with computers. She now works as an IT manager, really about as close as you can get to programming without actually doing it. My father studied physics, so I guess the seed was always in him, but he didn't start really working with computers until he went to grad school. Now he manages programmers at a telecom company (I think - we're not very close). We've had computers in my house for as long as I can remember. Lots of them. Racks of them in the living room, basement, bedrooms, etc. I once took apart a computer and explained its parts for a class presentation. We're that kind of family, except for my sister. She's very bad with computers, very good at writing.

I think that my enjoyment of math and logic must be inherited from my dad. We don't really get along - possibly because we think too much alike. One of the few memories I have of getting along with him was when studying for the SAT math section in high school. It seemed like we were speaking the same language for once. Although I believe that I get my programming aptitude from my dad, the real seed of programming comes from my mother. When I was probably ten, she showed me how to write simple programs in BASIC. I loved being able to create my own software, and spent many late nights hacking away at my own simple programs. I really, really wanted to be a programmer. This lasted several months, but like many whims and desires that I went through at an early age (and still do) I burned out on it and lost interest. This interest lay dormant until my senior year of high school, when I decided to take AP computer science. I think I took the class partially because friends wanted me in it and partially because I thought it might be fun, recalling my early foray into BASIC. We learned C++, and I was amazed at how quickly I picked up on the logic of programming again. What also surprised me was how much fun I was having. It was a key turn of events. I decided that I was going to be a programmer. Again. This time, however, I actually committed myself to it by enrolling in the major. Believe it or not, I was planning on being a psychology major. I've taken a psych class, and let me be the first to say - thank god I did not major in psych. Sure, I appreciate analysis and all of that, but I had no idea the statistics and oh god the boredom.

Anyway, this is how I got to be where I am today. Maybe there's some detail left out, and maybe it doesn't explain everything - like my school choice - but if you're curious, just comment.
Thats all for now. Next time: ambitions!