Timeline

The other day I thought of Jorn Barger's timelines (on various topics) (no linky because his site is still down) and I decided to make one for my life. If you haven't talked with me for a while then I hope this will help you catch up quickly. I wrote it in-between toddler tantrums, so if there is one thing I am sure of is that it's incomplete. I want to add some links in this list eventually.

I wrote this by hand in notepad. View->source and laugh at my crappy html!

1992 -- My uncle Bob introduced me to Electrical Engineering by giving me a circuit to build for a high school physics project. Sixteen years later I sold that circuit, an amplifier, and a speaker I accidentally purchased (don't ask) to a friend; I used the money to buy more electronics parts.
1993 or 1994 -- Dad gave me his old SLR (Minolta Maxxum 5000, still have it; most pictures I took in college and high school were taken with that camera)
1994-1995 -- learned about computers on weekends from a guy named Kip, don't remember his last name. Every week I would disassemble and re-assemble a computer all the way down to the case. Took hours, because those old computers were not meant for end users to take apart.
June 1995 -- graduated from high school
September 1995 -- started college at Michigan Technological University, majoring in Electrical Engineering
November 1995 -- Met some people online that I'm still friends with
November 1996 -- Started an online relationship. In 1996! Yes we met in real life and no it didn't work out, but I learned a lot.
March 1997 -- Met Peggy (future wife) for the first time. I do not think I heard her say a single word for an entire year; she communicated almost exclusively with nods and gestures.
April 1997 -- Decided I needed to hang around Peggy less because I didn't want her to get the wrong idea and think that I liked her. Because you know, I'm such a stud. <---- THIS IS SARCASM!
June 1998 -- started a weblog (hey you kids, get off my internet!)
September 1999 -- changed my major to Computer Science
June-August 2001 -- went to Africa for 6 weeks to build water supply infrastructure; create a computer network
September 2001 -- Wrote the funniest e-mail in my entire life, but I wasn't keeping copies of my sent mail so it is lost forever
October 2001 -- A friend, while looking at my Africa photos (taken with a cheap point and shoot camera (15 bucks, film, still have it) said "If you can take pictures this good with a crappy camera, what kind of photos could you take if you had real equipment?" This is quite possibly the most welcome compliment I have ever received in my life.
October 2001 -- Peggy makes a list of guys she likes and doesn't put me on it because "he's crazy and his life is a mess"
November 2001 -- I start thinking about asking Peggy out on a date.
December 2001 -- went to see Lord of the Rings with a group of friends; "just happened" to sit next to Peggy. Had quite possibly the longest conversation with Peggy ever (5-6 sentences; discovered we read at about the same speed). Somehow I avoided putting my arm around her during the movie, which is a good thing because she was just talking with me to practice social skills.
January 2001 -- started exchanging books with Peggy, a few a week
Summer 2002 -- completed my degree in Computer Science at Michigan Tech
September 2002 -- started "dating" Peggy, although we lived in two different states so I don't know how you could call it dating.
October 2002 -- started working as a correspondent for the Chisago County Press. Living at home, I made just enough to pay for gas and food.
December 2002 -- got my first digital camera
September 2003 -- Peggy moved to Minnesota, started getting her (now abandoned) masters degree in Computer Science
February 2004 -- started working at Warranty Management Technologies, we made software to help new home builders manage new home warranties. Because you know, home builders were building so many homes they were losing track of all of the two year warranties they had to take care of.
March 2004 -- proposed to Peggy
September 2004 -- Peggy and I got married
October 2004 -- I got laid off from WMT (day after we came back from the honeymoon)
December 2004 -- My car died in the middle of Wisconsin, read the five part story here
August 2005 -- moved to St. Paul (Frogtown neighborhood)
September 2005 -- started working at AppDev; we make training materials for (mostly) Microsoft computer programmers; I'm the director and sometimes editor for the video shoots
July 2006 -- got my first digital SLR (a Canon 20D)
October 2006 -- daughter Caroline born
July 2008 -- moved to Eden Prairie Minnesota (only 3 miles from work!)
October 2008 -- finally met Noah Grey (fellow photographer) in real life when he came to visit
January 2009 -- created a facebook page (hey you kids, get off my internet!)
April 2009 -- second child due

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© jpw. (e-mail: feedback at jowilson.org)

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modified/used/exploited with permission.