Pictures From College

I think of my "College period" as lasting from the Fall of 1986, when I entered Hampshire College, until I moved to New York in Spring of '92 and started working for Fusion Systems Group. That includes a total of almost two years where I wasn't fully enrolled as a student, but it's all part of the same thing so far as I'm concerned.

My grandmother, Christmas '91		Same holiday with my cousins Susan (left) and Nicole (right)

These two images are as close as I can find to when I first started wearing a pony tail. That tail would continue until the first half of 1997, when I decided that I just didn't have enough hair left on top to support it. And of course, after six years and more I was ready for a change. These photos were taken in my apartment in Northampton in the Fall of '91. While I wore my hair down around town, I almost never did so after I moved to New York in Spring of '92.

In late Spring of 1991 I left my job at MIT and worked for a company nearby in Kendall Square (Cambridge, MA). It was fun, it was my first consulting gig, and fiscally it was to be a disaster because of my ignorance of the tax implications. But while it lasted, it was great fun. This photo was taken one morning where I actually showed up at about 8-8:30AM - unheard of in my position at MIT. Stephen Kampmeier took this photo and wrote the caption that appears in the uncropped version (click here). Stephen, where are you?

Life at Hampshire was exciting. A constant life or death adventure where the adrenaline never stopped flowing. Or something like that. As you can see from this photo, the action never stopped in the on-campus apartment ("mod" in Hampshirese) I lived in for three semesters. The guy on the left end of the couch is Dave Changar, a good guy whom I've fallen out of touch with over the intervening years. I still owe him (and his folks) for helping me out when I relocated to New York. This photo was taken sometime in '89, I think it was early in the Fall semester.

Well, actually, that semester was a busy time for me. I had spent the summer working at MIT, and was on notice from the Advising Office that I had to make good progress that semester. I wasn't on probation, but I wasn't that far from it either. In this photo I believe I'm trying to get MINIX working correctly on my PC/XT clone. Yes, that's MINIX - the inspiration for Linus Torvald's kudzu-like operating system, Linux. No flames intended, I'm glad Linux has taken off and helped spark the Open Sources movement. I just have to get my digs in where I can, and practice for my future role as curmudgeon.

Well, the photo collection is a little sparse so we jump to the Fall of 1987 and my second year at Hampshire. Here I am standing at the door to my room, preparing to write something witty at the suggestion of my hallmate Ann. Can't remember Ann's last name at the moment, but eventually I'll pull out the Frog Book for that year and look her up. Since you never know when someone will graduate (or otherwise leave) Hampshire, they publish a book of photos when you matriculate for the first time. At least, they used to...

Mom (left) and Aunt Barb (right)	My cousin Nicole

Here we have some photographs of my first Christmas home from college. I'm not sure what was going on in my head at the time, I think I was happy to be home and at the same time eager to get back to campus. It was a pretty exciting period for me, even though it had been pretty hard adapting to college life. Of course I was being a real character - I had let my hair grow, and mugged for the camera every time it was pointed my way.

I think I only have two pictures of myself with my grandfather. If I haven't forgotten the dates, Pop didn't make it to the following Christmas before his heart gave out. He was a hell of a guy, and taught me a lot about life without my realizing it. I still miss him, guess I always will.