I remember one of my first ISPs was run out of the basement of a guy who was a professional baker by day.

When I lived in Minneapolis in '94, there was no ISP in the city that offered internet access - AOL was the only way. Then some ISP started that was available only to UM grads, so my roommate could get online but not me. For a while I'd get online via a BBS in San Francisco, which gave me text-only web access.

DH got a decent annual raise and a pretty generous bonus today. It feels weird because other industries and companies are reeling and not giving them out. So many people have been fucked over and are hurting financially. We have a bit of survivor's guilt.

I didn't get online until 1999!

My XT clone died while I was in San Francisco in '95, and I didn't get a computer to replace it until '97. So I generally consider that as when I got on the web - at least it was the first time I could browse the web with graphics!

I got online in 95 when I started grad school and got a computer of my very own. I think I was mostly on Salon and Eastenders message boards for a long time.

The first time I had my own account with an ISP wasn't until around 1997. About a week later I discovered slash fanfic (X-Files, Mulder/Krycek). Mmmmmm, good times.

DH got a decent annual raise and a pretty generous bonus today. It feels weird because other industries and companies are reeling and not giving them out. So many people have been fucked over and are hurting financially. We have a bit of survivor's guilt.

Don't feel weird. If he deserves it, good for him. Part of the problem is everyone thinking that everything is going downhill and then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Wow, we just had a (shortlived) power outage here. I think lightning hit pretty close by, since immediately after the lights went out, a big clap of thunder struck. We were only dark for a few minutes, but I really cannot recall another instance of power being out more than a few seconds in the 17 years I've been here!

I konw I tell this story every time we do this, but can't resist. I hacked my Vic20 modem to work with my C64. There wasn't much out there at the time, mostly telnet stuff, so I didn't bother for long.

And yeah, when I got back on it was Compuserve. I miss Compuserve. I just found some old song lyrics I'd written about the wonders of online communities. Hee. Anyway, I had a little notebook where I kept track of log time so I could balance out my multiple accounts to get the most time for my money.

Mostly chat and gaming in those days. I followed my game to AOL and finally to the web. Which indirectly led me here because they interviewed me about it for Salon and I got a job with the gaming company and spent my spare time hanging out at TT.

I remember seeing modems back when I had my C64, but I had no interest in one.

Hmmm.... I didn't really get the urge to go online until I read this article in some mag (PC Computing?) about The Well (back in '90 or '91), and a guy who was a big part of that community until they got mad at him for all his unpaid bills, so he went and deleted every single one of his posts, then killed himself.

What, me morbid?