JIM GRIFFITH - MY INTERESTS

There are a few passions which rule my life:

• Music - I am one of the lucky few people whose work lets him listen to music non-stop, and I take advantage of that fact every chance I get. One of the greatest highs for me is churning out code while listening to Pink Floyd's "One Slip", Genesis' "Squonk", or Bruce Hornsby's "Rainbow's Cadillac". The only "perfect moment" in my life that I can remember is driving home from Berkeley at one in the morning when "Comfortably Numb" came on the radio. My tastes are pretty conventional - Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Bruce Hornsby, and a few others. I have a reputation at work for being the company's music lending library, because I keep my entire collection there.

• My work - In college, I managed to join a student computing group called "The Experimental Computing Facility" (the XCF), which gave students computer access provided they work on a group-approved project and help other students who use one of the nearby terminal rooms. I spent the last two years of college working with some of the best engineers of my generation - people who were closely involved in the development of BSD and more popular Internet software, such as Xtrek and multi-player Empire. When I graduated, I was hired by a company which had already hired most of my XCF friends, and I got to spend another three years learning the correct way to engineer software. I have a great respect for well-engineered software (which may explain both my respect for All Things UNIX and my complete disdain of Lord Gates and anything with the Microsquish trademark). Because of this, I have a reputation at work for being a Purist and a Code Cop (I should point out that this isn't necessarily considered to be a good reputation).

• The Internet and USENET - I discovered the Internet and USENET my freshman year of college (shortly after The Great Renaming), and I've been on it ever since. The initial attraction came from newsgroups such as (then) rec.arts.tv, rec.arts.movies, and rec.arts.startrek, which told me of news of upcoming events long before any of my friends or family knew about them. My family thought I was nuts to rave on and on about "this Internet thing", until my dad (who lives in Austria) discovered that he too had Internet access, and he could email me and avoid long-distance phone bills. Shortly before graduating from Berkeley, people became interested in what was to become rec.arts.startrek.info. I'd always had a great respect for Brad (rec.humor.funny) Templeton, Peter (comp.risks) Neumann, and David (news.announce.newgroups) Lawrence, plus a great love of All Things Trek, so the moderator's job appealed to me. Last year, I became moderator of rec.humor.funny. I view moderated newsgroups as one of the most positive services that USENET has to offer.

• Driving - Every year, I drive cross-country as my big vacation. I own a '91 Dodge Stealth, which already has 130,000 miles on it. My first trip was from home to LA to Galveston TX, to Ames IA, to Chicago, to Evansville IN, then back home. My second was home to Chicago, to DC, to Galveston, to LA, then back home. My third was home to Chicago, to Durham NC, back home. My last road trip was home to Galveston, back home. I held my very own, private party when the national speed limit was repealed.

• Lemurs - Don't *even* ask me to explain this one. I'm not sure I could. Let's just say that they're cute, they're fuzzy, they're intelligent, and they're endangered, through no fault of their own. I support the Duke University Primate Center, a facility which conducts captive breeding of lemurs. I also read alt.fan.lemurs.