2010
Well, here we are in 2010. The year we make contact. Sure, we don't have jetpacks, but we do have some amazing technology - among other things, the ability to bring up information on just about any subject by typing a few words into a computer, not to mention that many people have access to this everywhere through their cell phones.
Five years ago, I had recently returned from Croatia as a member of the world champion puzzle team. Even more recently, I had returned from a white Christmas in Corpus Christi, a Christmas which would be my father's last after his long battle with cancer. Today I'm home in Salem, MA, cleaning up about a foot of snow that fell over the weekend. I haven't been back to the WPC due to my greatly improved competition on the US team, but I haven't stopped trying.
Ten years ago, I was preparing to attend my first MIT Mystery Hunt. Now, I am preparing for my eleventh, the second time as a member of the constructing team. (This is also why there has been so little activity in this blog the last six months or so - too much of what I have been doing is boring stuff or stuff related to puzzles you won't see for two more weeks. But post-Hunt, there will be lots to write about those puzzles.) Also at that time, I had recently (within the preceding 15 months) discovered some nice math-puzzle web sites: Mathpuzzle.com, Math Magic, and Ponder This. These sites are all still around ten years later, an eternity on the web. I also joined the National Puzzlers' League, which has been around more than a century, so it is no surprise that it is still here.
Fifteen years ago, I had installed Linux and started using it as my primary operating system. I still run it, though there have been many, many hardware and software upgrades since then. I did, however, only just retire the last piece of the hardware I was running that Linux system on - its keyboard. I kept this keyboard for so long because I had so much trouble finding one I liked. I eventually decided on a Logitech, though not just any - it must be flat, with full-depth keys, and not too spongy.
Twenty years ago, I had completed one semester of college at Rice. Now, I have completed more than ten years as a technical writer primarily documenting Aspen Plus, a product I had not yet used 20 years ago, but which I would encounter before finishing my degree at Rice. Also at that time, my parents had just taken in a pregnant cat whose daughter would survive until less than two months ago.
Just a bit less than twenty-five years ago, within the same month, my dog died, and I attended the regional MathCounts contest that would begin my trip to nationals. This was not my first math competition, but it would be the first to take me far from home, and it would be the first of many.
Thirty years ago, I had read my first issue of Games Magazine (Jan/Feb 1980), as well as some other puzzle magazines. Through Games (though not from this issue), I would learn about the Mystery Hunt, the National Puzzlers' League, the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, and the World Puzzle Championship, though it would be many years between the time I learned of these events and the time I participated in them.
Five years ago, I had recently returned from Croatia as a member of the world champion puzzle team. Even more recently, I had returned from a white Christmas in Corpus Christi, a Christmas which would be my father's last after his long battle with cancer. Today I'm home in Salem, MA, cleaning up about a foot of snow that fell over the weekend. I haven't been back to the WPC due to my greatly improved competition on the US team, but I haven't stopped trying.
Ten years ago, I was preparing to attend my first MIT Mystery Hunt. Now, I am preparing for my eleventh, the second time as a member of the constructing team. (This is also why there has been so little activity in this blog the last six months or so - too much of what I have been doing is boring stuff or stuff related to puzzles you won't see for two more weeks. But post-Hunt, there will be lots to write about those puzzles.) Also at that time, I had recently (within the preceding 15 months) discovered some nice math-puzzle web sites: Mathpuzzle.com, Math Magic, and Ponder This. These sites are all still around ten years later, an eternity on the web. I also joined the National Puzzlers' League, which has been around more than a century, so it is no surprise that it is still here.
Fifteen years ago, I had installed Linux and started using it as my primary operating system. I still run it, though there have been many, many hardware and software upgrades since then. I did, however, only just retire the last piece of the hardware I was running that Linux system on - its keyboard. I kept this keyboard for so long because I had so much trouble finding one I liked. I eventually decided on a Logitech, though not just any - it must be flat, with full-depth keys, and not too spongy.
Twenty years ago, I had completed one semester of college at Rice. Now, I have completed more than ten years as a technical writer primarily documenting Aspen Plus, a product I had not yet used 20 years ago, but which I would encounter before finishing my degree at Rice. Also at that time, my parents had just taken in a pregnant cat whose daughter would survive until less than two months ago.
Just a bit less than twenty-five years ago, within the same month, my dog died, and I attended the regional MathCounts contest that would begin my trip to nationals. This was not my first math competition, but it would be the first to take me far from home, and it would be the first of many.
Thirty years ago, I had read my first issue of Games Magazine (Jan/Feb 1980), as well as some other puzzle magazines. Through Games (though not from this issue), I would learn about the Mystery Hunt, the National Puzzlers' League, the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, and the World Puzzle Championship, though it would be many years between the time I learned of these events and the time I participated in them.