on february 10, 1986 i began my odyssey of making noise here at sgi. at that time the hotline consisted of 2 sw & 2 hdw types + marjorie zupmore who filled-in as call-coordinator and everything else. we were in the downstairs of bldg. 2, and the company totaled about 350 populants. it was a REAL eye-opening experience for a rat straight out of college (about 9 years late).

the sw engineer overlords infested the entire upstairs of bldg 2. initially it was very intimidating to go "upstairs" and try to pry any information out of them. they gave the impression of not wanting to be bothered by some punk from downstairs. in time i discovered that with perseverence and being kind of raucous--making sure people knew i was in the immediate area, without being totally obnoxious-- seemed to make them react to me with something approaching friendliness, or at least amusement.

the sense of this place that i felt for about the first two years has changed in certain fundamental ways, but even so, it still rates "pretty amazing" to support my continued insanity-cruise from santa cruz. being able to make lots of noise is one of the measurements used to test the pulse of sgi. so far it still allows my verbosity and that IS amazing. if, at some future point, this becomes verboten, well all things do change.

thru the years i have developed an amazingly rich and diverse set of very special friendships with alot of creatures in this place. i never imagined an "industrial company" could contain such wide range of types and still survive. for all of those who were around at the end of january, 1988, when ronnie made his last state of the union, you may remember the one-of-a-kind discussion that raged over the "all" e-mail alias for about 2 days regarding "Move over George Orwell--here comes BIGGE grand-daddy!". for me, it was one of the high water marks of being here. although such a forum is definitely gone in the minds of some--certain current populants do not kindly regard "unwarranted access" of the "all" stand-in, referring to such encroachments as improper--i will certainly continue to pour forth to it no matter how ridiculous the claims that "this isn't the appropriate place for such agitprop". being able to have such cross-dimensional access makes this place what it is, and thus being at sgi continues to feel hopeful as a place to do more than simply make a living.

therefore, i would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge _some_ of the beings i have encountered while "hotlining-it" here who certainly have made a positive difference in my life: (please excuse any mis-spellings)

  pedro "the knot" broadwell: 
  --for teaching me how to never give up.
     orginally my ace-in-the-hole to get a foot in the door here and always 
     ready to help in a multitude of ways at making life MUCH more engaging,
     pedro to me embodies the sine qua non of what sgi is:  extremely caring,
     sensitive, compassionate, empathic, tolerant, and very wonderful to be
     around.  a rare jewel of the human spirit.

  terry-berry! drasny:
  --for his keen perceptions and insights re:  living life more fully
     terry-berry has provided me with on-going examples of the ways one can
     live life to the fullest by incorporating a solid body of knowledge of
     the state of things as they are throughout this world and our society.

  paul "sawbwa" (laotian for feudal prince) A.K.A. "SA-poa!" haeberli:
  --for his ability to create the most fascinating "projects list"s
     mr. sapoa is in a universe all by himself.  NO ONE has every provided 
     as much counter-energy to bounce off of as he.  his irreverence and
     cutting sardonic wit match the original olympian god-types.  YEAH!
 
  larry "mongo" (and "oatmeal") kaplan:
  --for his advanced capacity to convey & express humor beyond accepted limits
     originator of the survival game "Chernobyl" ("call me comrade cherni"),
     this being left while the getting was good, and has quietly slipped back 
     in for an indeterminant period of time for reasons unknown.  VERY SPECIAL.

  cliff "the giant" thompson:
  --for his abilities re: coining phrases like "vicious and shameful lying dog"
     my foil to the BIGGE grand-daddy extended conversation, this creature 
     lives by his own rules and certainly will do more than die by them.

  rob "brother buzz" myers:
  --for his example of learning and living by deeds not words.
     big grand loveable is a rare incarnation of human spirit indeed.  his
     approach in part seems based on finding out how others see things and
     if something is there that's intriguing, run with it.  when not taking
     the measure of others, its off to design space.

  greg "mojo" chesson"
  --for his ability to cool the jams & jam the tunes to extra-expressive degree
     greg-baby prides himself on being able to edit using cat and programming
     in assembly.  much more than just a living treasure of the computer lore, 
     mr.  chesson embodies a type of renaissance man with many and varied 
     interests and pursuits.

  glen-baby williams:
  --for his gentle nature that includes a "toss 'em to the wolves" capability.
     glen-baby has lots of time-log under his belt.  considering one of the
     most difficult of nemisis's with whom he spared with here (whom is he has 
     outlasted), his tolerance of "annoying knats" is admirable to extreme.

  bill "bill-bog!" strangman:
  --for his gentle and engaging nature.
     bill-bog is living proof that even someone who grew up in orange county
     can transcend the shackles of ignorance and fear and develop a very keen
     awareness of the true state of the world.

  mietta "the champeen" rigali:
  --for her abilities in settling for more than a rich guy to marry.
     mietta is tireless in her pursuit of giving her all to this place, and
     in spite of the costs of this approach, she appears to remain 
     irreplaceably herself.  found a piano yet miet?

  bigge-kevin-baby gurney:
  --for his ability to be ALMOST as obsessed with a woman he's never met as i am
     bigge-kevin-baby has a certain fire of spirit that is eternal and always
     bound to be dynamic and insightful.  don't underestimate this one.

  wave "WAVEY!" dilliams (switch the first letters of each name):
  --for his uncanny sense of where to find the right stuff.
     wavey! is an old three doodies junkie after my own heart.  slot cars, 
     ping pong, bongs, risk, CD's, and hanging out are pursuits of mutual
     pleasure.

  wendy-baby chin:
  --for her unquenchable curiosity and generosity.
     wendy-baby is always bubbling over with ideas, questions, and insights
     that are infectious and tend to crank up the energy flow of those in 
     close proximity to her.  

  eva-baby manolis:
  --for her undying loyalty and reverence for all things girafe'.
     eva-baby never stops trying to carve out a better slice of space to 
     pursue her quest for the ultimate ____________ within.  (the blank can 
     have MANY descriptive meanings inserted interchangeably.)

  darrah-baby brown:
  --for his throw-away humor that can really capture the essence of whatever.
     darrah-baby, a long-time veteran of this establishment, clearly has what
     it takes when it comes to staying power and outlasting the miscreants.

  blanca-byrd "birdie" campos:
  --for her perpetual good nature and balanced approach to things.
     blanca-blyrd came on in the middle of 1986, if i remember correctly, and
     she has exuded a consistency and steadfastness that sets her apart.

  gary "cooper" griffin:
  --for his appreciation of what it takes to survive on the hotline.
     gary-baby always has reminded me of the lion in the wizard of oz.  perhaps
     thats why he has an avid fascination with all things pertaining to oz.

  diane-baby wilford:
  --for her unwavering loyalty and honesty towards her friends and associates.
     diane-baby, one of the first, (if not the first) "employees", clearly
     demonstrates an uncanny ability to "get along" by doing much more than
     simply "going along".
  
  dave "dr. cement" ciemiewicz:
  --for his distinctive "spin" of contemporary thematic currents
     dr. cement has always been exceedingly helpful to hotline slaves which is
     appreciated VERY deeply down here in the company's barometer mechanism.

  tom-baby davis:
  --for his ever-ready mathematician's zeal for solving problems.
     tom-baby helped me squeek thru my first and only graduate course at UCSC
     in Algorithmic Complexity (with a little lying cheating and stealing on 
     the side by me alone).  not a pleasant experience by any measurements,
     mr. math provided me with exceptionally helpful suggestions and methods
     to beat the odds.  also an invaluable resource for hotline fires.

  greg-baby boyd:
  --for his biting laugh:
     "don't quit dave--this place wouldn't be the same without you".  such were
     the kind words of advice bequeathed to me once from greg-baby during my
     first year's trial by fire here.

  byg-jym-baby terhorst:
  --for his inimitable "ssssssssss" laugh:
     originally greg-baby's fortran/dbx/edge grunt, byg-jym-baby once provided 
     unmatched irreverence for anyone on the hotline about how to deal with
     customer's:  "just tell 'em to debug their own programs themselves".

  grant-baby! dorman:
  --for his unsurpassed capacity to qualify as # 1 mr. nice guy
     pamela gordon and i were told a little less than 2 years ago that there
     was this guy working for john quinn and that this position was being axed
     and we basically were expected to take him.  we were apprehensive before 
     the interview, but when we both checked with each other afterwards, we
     realized we had hit the jackpot.  not only is grant a heavy-weight as far
     as breadth/depth knowledge goes, he is an extraordinarily nice man.

  chris-baby wagner:
  --for his unquenceable energy flash-feed:
     chris-baby is another one of these high-voltage types who clearly won out 
     as spirit of der sgi fuehrer because of his unstopable capacity to drown 
     the object/person of his attention with a direct current energy/info 
     transfer-link.  beware the flood from the info-beast.

  rick "rick!-ling" nahass:
  --for his ability to stick it out despite the odds.
     rickling came on-board trailing me by just a few days.  he found after
     a spell that he HAD to do something else besides the fowns and bailed
     into the frying pan.  he has heroically been trying to flip himself out
     of it ever since.  keep at it rick-ling!

  michael "the toy" toy:
  --for his unflinching tolerance of my queries and his love of basketball.
     michael-baby never rebukes me for trying to bend his ear regarding the
     mysterious complexities of PostScript and NeWS.  his support of my 
     endeavors in these areas wrt 4Dgifts provides SGI and its customers with
     a forever under-rated resource and potential.

  jeff-baby becker:
  --for his insatiable "news houn'" instincts.
     jeff-baby always is looking underneath the rocks that shield the slime.

  kurt-baby akeley:
  --for his "inside" support of hotline causes.
     mr. GL-god knows what to accept and what to reject.

  jeffery "hauschwitz" hausch:
  --for his cutting, inflamatory humor.
     mr. hauschwitz never passes up an opportunity to get in a few cheap digs.

  ian-baby clements:
  --for his ability to always see both sides of an issue.
     ian-baby has been a solid pillar of support for hotline and for me for as
     long as i can remember.  another mild type on the outside who seethes 
     inside.

  george-baby kong:
  --for his mild-mannered clark kent attitude that obscures his iron will.
     george-baby has always been quick to respond to catastrophies brought on
     by customer's experiences with the GL beast.  long live king kong!

  jeff-baby doughty:
  --for his loyal support fighting to improve all that makes life on the line
    so hot.
     jeff-baby is a real true-blue comrade when it comes to standing shoulder
     to shoulder with the foot soldiers of sgi.

  jeff-baby wallace:
  --for his unconditional support of calling a spade a spade.
     jeff baby has always demonstrated a religious loyalty to the Santa Cruz
     Comic News (SCCN).  perhaps this is why he is so well informed.

  rick-baby downey:
  --for his suave, debonair can-do personna.
     rick-baby has managed to survive one helluvalot of customer-pressure, in
     his various lives here.  at present he is playing the role of some kind 
     of business tycoon looking for new exploitative opportunities, but he 
     claims he's going to soon switch over to being a corporate agente 
     provocateur.

  mark-baby bradley:
  --for his undying loyalty to the gonzo perspective.
     big-mark-baby can always be counted on to live up to his highest 
     capabilities--currently he seems to be engaged in running some kind of 
     numbers racket out of his office.  go to mark-baby when extortion or 
     blackmail is too mild a remedy.

  mark-baby grossman:
  --for his musical and ecological sensitivities
     mild-mannered mark-baby possesses a bitch-tough motorcycle and has always
     faithfully rolled out to santa cruz for my rat-beach parties.  his 
     interests and compassion are varied and intense.

  mark-baby callow:
  --for his ever-present wry "english" 
     mark-baby, like "the toy", has alot of tolerance wrt my ever-present 
     harangue via the phone regarding hotproblems.  his loyalty and support
     in political as well as business matters is very much appreciated.

  allen-baby leinwand:
  --for his appreciation of my noise.
     allen-baby has always been receptive to my rantings and such unconditional
     interest is always a special and intriguing quantity.

  richard "ricardo" houston:
  --for his marvelous capacity to roll with the punches.
     thanks to ricardo's vociferousness, the "move over George Orwell", piece
     really took on a life of its' own.  his ability to change his mind--which
     is downright refreshing--was capped by his final 
     "P.S.  This has been an enlightening experience."

  linda-baby roy:
  --for her ever bright smile and composure.
     lroy beat me out of the job that she started with here.  her abilities
     to write heavy-duty tutorial types of demos surpassed anything i could
     have conjured up.  to the best woman go the spoils.

  rocky "rocket J. squirrel" rhodes:
  --for his very unusual psychic presence.
     when i first arrived here, i often wondered about how this guy had given
     himself such a nome de plume.  apparently he didn't--his parents did long
     before he could argue the point with them.  (rocky isn't really his 1st 
     name.)

  clint-baby green:
  --for his curious and open spirit
     clint-baby is growing into some kind of computer-lord.  he came here 
     pretending to be limited to a hardware-expertize label, but his breadth
     and depth of knowledge and an intense capacity to soak up more and more
     and more is a real pleasure to see.  he's also a god-damned pleasure to
     be around.

  scott "scarr" carr:
  --for his uncanny sense of how to foist someone asking him for an answer
    off onto someone else.
     scarr was always accomplished at beating to rap if someone from the
     hotline set their sights on him.

  allen "the orc" orcutt:
  --for his congenial ever-active good nature and rich smile.
     allen--i always thought of him as larry kaplan's side-kick--has been her
     for a long time engaged in stuff i don't understand at all.  but its ok
     because that's not why i like him.  he just has an infectious sense of 
     well-being that's always a pleasure to get in close proximity to

  brendan-baby eich:
  --for his cool-o pianistic capabilities
     brendan-baby has worn MANY hats here all under that very self-effacing
     shyness that is VERY misleading.  brendan has ALOT of piano talent/
     capabilities under his belt and at times, when i bring mine here to play,
     can get him to grant the airwaves with some of his own frequencies.
     "/be" is quite a guy!

  carla-baby brouillette:
  --for her wonderful snappy responses to my boistress greetings and her 
    wonderful swimsuits.
     carla-baby is quick on the uptake and quick on the return.  we 
     occasionally go swimming together and she looks at least as good in the
     water as out.

  thant-baby tessman:
  --for his often unique point of view regarding various "out" things 
     thant-baby lives in a class by himself when it comes to wild grafiod
     "paintings"--be they programs or whole experiences.

  jack "big-jack-baby" weldon:
  --for his kind heart and wide-ranging capacity to shuck jokes
     jack-baby is more than a jack of all trades.  he sucks the very essence
     out of whatever it is that he is currently engaged in making better/get-
     ting solved/figuring out how the damn thing works.

  rob "robe-lee" mace:
  --for his constant transmorgrificational endeavors of the GL src tree.
     robe-lee got his foot in the door here by enduring the hotline for
     almost one year.  he made a good attempt, but he and folks like dr. david
     cahlandar from CDC just did NOT get along, and he escaped up to 
     engineering where he has been making impressions ever since.

  archer-baby sully:
  --for his delight in flameing unsavory types on the net.
     archer-baby adheres to his own brand of rules.  one of his more memorable
     slogans while killing callers on the hotline was "destroy all users".

  dave "mr. spalding i presume" spalding:
  --for his always helpful shy demeanor.
     mr. emacs holds many cards close to his chest that sometimes even he is
     not aware of.  a platinum mine of info if you can approach him in the
     right way.

  harry-baby max:
  --for his stamina and consistency.
     harry-baby is a rare breed of powerhouse who does more than just get the
     jobs done, he also engages MANY disparate kinds of people with an
     inimitable disarming manner.

  marcia-baby allen:
  --for her gentle sweet nature and iron boot-heel approach.
     marcia has done well rising through the mists and rank of sgi.  she has
     seen many managers come and go, as well as times when such creatures
     didn't even exist in her domain.  thru it all she clearly has all it
     takes to make her own space according to her own needs.

  jim-baby abrams:
  --for his unmatched abilities to pull the shit out of the fan and put humpty-
     dumpty more than just back together again.
      jim-baby single-handedly rescued the hotline from an ignominious fate of
      death without a whimper.  with his smarts and wits, he has this place
      slugging forward on much more than just the same old tired goals and
      dead rhetoric.  mr dynamic.

  carl-baby korobkin:
  --for his threats to become a republican.
     carl-baby started to confess that since he's owned a house he's began to
     see how he might turn into a republican.  in spite of this, he still 
     digs the SCCN and so i remain hopeful that he will maintain his integrity.

  scott-baby fisher:
  --for his bowl-me-over big-bear presence.
     scott-baby is ALWAYS ready to lend an ear/hand/idea/joke/observation at
     the drop of car.  his infatuation with such machines makes him ideally
     suited to muck around with graf-text (??)

  paul-baby mielke:
  --for his undying loyalty to bailing out all us lost souls in hotlinelan'(HLL)
     paul-baby never says no.  besides his wealth of unix/system help/
     knowledge, his availability and thoughtfulness is ALWAYS felt here in HLL.

  mason-baby woo:
  --for his wry twisted humoric foils of broom-bombasticness.
     mason-baby broke the mold that tried to squeeze him out of.  when i 
     was interviewing here (the day the challenger died), mason clearly struck
     me right away as someone who had his head screwed on in reverse.

  monica-baby schultz:
  --for her refreshing smile and buoyant energy.
     monica has survived her years here (more than 4) exceedingly well.  these 
     days she is fortunate enough to work with the great sapoa doing color seps
     for the IRIS universe.

  betsy-baby zeller:
  --for her wonderful canadian perspective on the broken run-down western world.
     in one of the 3 stooges episodes they impersonated a trio of doctors:
     Ziller Zeller & Zoeller, if my memory is correct.  (the story ended with
     them bilking a millionaire out a a few G's.)  perhaps this is betsy's
     lineage??  such roots notwithstanding,  betsy provides a VERY refreshing 
     and healthy P.O.V. wrt all the warped murderous society-annihilating 
     machinations that this totalitarian security state is addicted to.  
     trust her to have piercing perceptions on a great deal of what is 
     "going down" these days.

  herb-baby kuta:
  --for his unique way of telling other GL contestants what WILL happen.
     herb-baby has a special way of drowning other SW engineer types with
     a sea of information and then "asking" them to do it his way.

  anita-baby shiller:
  --for her enjoyment of my noise humor.
     maybe she just "humors" me, but anita has always seemed to at least 
     pretend that i am funny and that is a winning way.

  john-baby quinn:
  --for his undercover work in the interests of the agency.
     john-baby is a company man from way back.  he once recounted working for
     US intelligence at or after WWII.  clearly he still maintains his 
     contacts with such savory types.

  jerry-baby bowen:
  --for his home-grown texan incisiveness.
     jerry-baby sports the original kind of "put you at ease" presence.  his
     warm demeanor always brightens up my day.

  joni-baby mehler:
  --for her blinding smile and smiling eyes.
     joni-baby is the exact counter-part to jerry-baby.  (did they grow up
     next door to each other?)  once a singer in a rock (?) band, clearly 
     joni has great abilities wrt being an entertaineress.

  dennis "crocodile den-dee" daniels:
  --for his sweet sly nature that is always warm and infectious.
     dennis had been here only a few months before i arrived, and was one of 
     the people i interviewed with.  i knew then, talking to him, that i had
     really tripped into a pretty one-of-a-kind situation.  a VERY sweet man.

  dave-baby paradise:
  --for his uncompromising commitment to loving and honoring our collective 
    mother earth.
     dave-baby never relents in his concentrated focus to help heal the 
     environment.  witness his current just-newly-expanding job description
     that has something central in it about finding and marketing that 
     potential environmental customer base throughout the world.

  rolf-baby van weidenfelt:
  --for his coffee connoisseur intellect
     no one, but NO ONE, can surpass rolf-baby for coffee trivia/ettiquette/
     lore.  he also sports a very questing jazz singing voice.  curious
     explorer.
  
  jim "big-jim-barton" barton:
  --for his willingness to roll up his sleeves and go home.
     big-jim-barton has clearly demonstrated well-developed authoritarian
     tendencies (move over patton!) and has managed quite a coup by taking 
     over the reigns of wpd and immediately putting his stamp of ownership 
     on all souls that reside therein.  just alias ssd to patton's 5th army.

  jim-baby winget:
  --for his mathematiculous meanderings
     big jim-baby has donned quite a number of hats while free-loading here.
     at one time i remember he was big mr. parallel master.  i'm not sure
     what title he hangs out with now, but clearly it still comes off as
     legitimate.  a GREAT lover of rat-beach festivities.

  chreese-baby dunlap:
  --for his curiosity and willingness to try new things.
     chreese-baby came from nevadee and was kind of a jack-daw back in bldg 2
     days.  now he wears one of the 2 ream-manager hats for HLL and is doing 
     pretty well considering he working against kind of impossible odds 
     (caught between cussin' customr's, cursin' support engineers, and muggin'
     manager-types).

  bill "gargoyle" gargiulo:
  --for his never stop trying attitude.
     mr. bill ranks high for perseverence.  the other ream-manager, his style
     is somewhat different from chreese-baby's:  he tries to please all of the
     people all the time and gets an A for effort.
     
  bruce-baby karsh:
  --for his michiganistic sense of sound.
     big bruce-baby knows how to tune in to the right frequencies.  he & pedro
     succeeded in digitizing whole reams of my digital piano sounds thru a PI
     in bldg C. about a year plus ago.  VERY curious.

  kipp-baby hickman:
  --for unique longevity and ability to wear many hats before his current one.
     kipp used to work on OS stuff way back in the dim dark past.  he would
     frequently try to deflect questions from HLL by pretending he didn't know
     anything about "it".  (HAH!)

  lani-baby wells:
  --for her bright smiles and laughter.
     lani always seems as if she's enjoying herself.  its nice to know people
     who seem to be happy and centered in their own lives.

  robert "roberre" reimann:
  --for his marvelous talents in the area of drawing and political discussions.
     roberre is master of the "turn the cloth napkin into an animated rabbit
     (or at least some kind of mammalian furry)"--ask him to perform it for 
     you sometime.

  rosemary "long hair" chang:
  --for her compelling observations re:  China and it's current legacy.
     ms. math-master is always a pleasure to talk with.  her office is filled
     with gobbs of math books which can far exceed the intimidating factor,
     but this is offset by her warm smile and gorgeous long black hair.  she 
     and her husband are addicted to the SCCN which is always a good 
     indication of an ability to see thru the duplicitous crap.

  veeleen "V" roufchaie:
  --for his ability to cut through the crap and see things for what they really
    are
     V came from Iran, and thus brings a healthy outside perspective to bear 
     which enables him to understand how the ruling elites of this country 
     use fascism to preserve capitalism telling us all the while they are 
     defending democracy from communism.

  jerry-baby wei:
  --for his unswerving loyalty to bob green and the hotline.
     count on jerry to always be able to come up with an answer when we're 
     sinking fast over here with a punctured hull.

  bob "bob-bitchen'" green:
  --for his unflagging, never-phased-by-my-questions support.
     bob-bitchen' has some kind of extra-sensory capacity to shield himself
     from the dangerous radiation that at times pours out of HLL thru the
     fown conversations into his cube.  altho susceptible to such death-dealing
     rays, bob-baby does more than just repel them--he actually seems able to
     convert them into something useful for his own ends.


  vernon "i'm busy" schryver:
  --for his very impressive knowledge blended with a genuine anarchist's P.O.V.
     i used to feel offended by vernon's curt responses.  over time however,
     i have come to really admire the breadth and depth of knowledge this guy
     carrys around.  and this doesn't just cover computer stuff.  a very
     remarkable man.

  vince "vincely" uttley:
  --for his ability to outlast zsuzsa
     vincely like mason-baby interviewed me the day the challenger died, and
     from then to now i have watched his varied path turn and bend until he
     landed in esd where he seems to be reasonably more content now than in 
     the past.  well-done vincely!

  paul-bell! bell:
  --for his "humoring me" by responding to my "paul-BELL!" noise-yells
     mr. p.b. is quite a guy when it comes to being flexible and noise-
     resistant.  many times i will bombard him with maximal noise and 9 times
     out of 10 he will take the bait and respond in kind.

  dave-baby anderson:
  --for his unconditional support of all questions [in]conceivable
     dave-baby gets in kind of early which is a BIG BONUS since most engineer
     types don't blow in until 10am to 1pm.  always in a good humor, he helps
     me out in a multitude of ways for which i am GREATLY appreciative.

  joe "biiiIIIge JOE!" whitfield:
  --for his quite methodical approach to things which always seems to leave 
    him in good standing.
     biiiiIIiige Joe! has endured HLL for quite a spell at this point and,
     bad back and eyes getting dosed by the screen notwithstanding, he clearly 
     has the fortitude to survive the moving target syndrome/conundrum.

  steve-baby moffitt:
  --for his unquenceable intent to rise to the status of mogul.
     mr. moffitt has quite a head for $ figures--corner him sometime and ask
     him about leveraged buyouts/hostile takeovers of sgi, and what's going to
     happen to the stock.  his savvy in this area is very interesting.

  luis "lu-berg" oleson:
  --for his friendship stretching back thru UCSC days.
     lu-berg is the only native santa cruzan i know of besides my step-mother.
     he has a varied and colorful past, is a generous and loyal friend, and 
     has a searching and soulful mind.  his heart rates higher than that.

  paul "it is" hansen":
  --for his keen insights into indian philosophy/religious perspectives and
    their contrasts to the west.
     paul-baby only came on here recently but here's already established 
     established his bones in ESD-lan'.  his background and sense of reality
     is very engaging.  

  julie-baby finucane:
  --for her great responses and sexy countenance.
     julie-baby always snaps right back at me which is good for the energy
     flow.   never one to be intimidated, she makes her own rules and appears
     to live by them in splendid harmony.

  ginny-baby mclafferty:
  --for her quick come backs and snappy counter-calls.
     ginny takes all my nosie barrage greetings in stride like nothing out
     of the ordinary is happening.  she also likes playing sexy grand pianos
     which denotes a high degree of intelligence.

  gary-baby tarolli:
  --for his knowledge of antiquity--particularly w/respect to flight and GL1.
     initially big gary-baby seemed to me to be unapproachable because it was
     clear he was way up inside the GL code/microcode since long before i
     knew there was an sgi.  but in fairly short order i came to understand
     that this computer-grafix-master was also very helpful and relateable.

  big-joyce-baby richards:
  --for her no-nonsense approach to getting things done and her slowly growing
    interest in checking out da political dimensions.
     joyce has been struggling with adjusting to this environment ever since
     she got here last year.  she is clearly winning out over the dreaded
     stress-monster and more and more demonstrates her capacity to cram the
     s-monster back inside the fown receiver where it belongs.
  
  mike "the killer" fong:
  --for his keen interest of all things political
     killer mike is pretty hard to side track.  and he's pretty indomitable
     when it comes to do a complete and thorough job.  language master that
     he is, he clearly knows how to pry the solution out of the ether.

  gretchen-baby helms:
  --for her powers re: adaptability, and her enjoyment of fantasy
     gretchen had hung out at NASA Ames before coming over to HLL.  he capacity
     to assimilate this "environment" in record time is marvelous.  she LUVS
     dragons and all that is associated with them.  am still trying to get her
     to take me flying (in a plane) sometime.  a substantial presence.

  ellen-baby ma:
  --for her very generous spirit and very open mind.
     ellen came to HLL after completing her masters @UCB.  a very sharp cookie,
     she always has a twist on western humor from her chinese vantage point.

  herb-baby! ebner:
  --for his willingness to put up with my noise barrages.
     herb-baby! always gets the noise-yell greeting like paul-bell!.  he 
     continues to be unphased by its de-calcifying effects.  herb-baby!

  ted "tedsel!" wilcox:
  --for his quick comedic rebounds and his insatiable desire for garbage-humor-
    propagation.
     tedsel! is pretty much king of the garbage-humor pile around here.  
     someone gave him a  shitty joke-a-day calendar for 1990 and he continues
     to send each one out per day to the pse alias.  pretty far gone.

  frank "big-frank-baby!" demcak:
  --for his excellent response abilities, living as he does across from the rat 
    cave
     big-frank-baby! is a pleasure to be around.  he always has a warm smile
     (or the look of exhaustion), and is an engaging conversationalist.  
     mr. video master is an invaluable resource to boot.

  miq "car freaq" millman:
  --for his capacity to do much more than just "get along".
     miq apprenticed under me in HLL.  fown head-set in place, he would stretch
     around the corner separating his cube from mine with caller on the line
     and pump information constantly.  since then he's come into his own and
     has proven himself quite adept at the art of absorption.

  tom-baby "mitch" mitchell":
  --for his dog ruff reply's to my seal barks.
     tom-baby is a heavy-duty-dude when it comes to unix lore/info even though
     he was originally initiated into HLL as a hardware-heavy.

  laura-baby pratt:
  --for her unswerving loyalty to the cause of making the world a better place
     laura and i both see eye to eye re:  the human urge to collectively race
     into the abyss and how to resist such self-destructive instincts and 
     evolve a much more high-level plane of constructive evolution.

  martin-baby mcdonald:
  --for his sweet gentle nature and wry sardonic wit.
     mr. astronomy loves all things mathematical and is better than just great
     at such.  content to bide his time, martin-baby is waiting to "move up"
     and take the main seat in any number of bitchen' grafix projects goin'
     down here.

  ron "ron-booooo" ludwig (the lud)
  --for his totally understated sense of humor and longevity.
     ronbo was here long before i got here and his very gentle spirit is always
     a pleasure to bask in.  he has done well considering the length of time
     he's lived in HLL (how much more than 4 yrs ronbo?), and shows no sign of
     losing steam.  long live the oasis-overlord.

  jesse "jessadile (dundee)" rendleman:
  --for his capacity to hate UUCP as good as he does
     jessadile belongs to the class of commie-master in HLL, and his keen mind
     in this area is always impressive to me.  in spite of his constant 
     sparing with the stress monster, he really seems to have what it takes
     to always beat such creature down for the count.

  momi-baby furuya:
  --for her quick wit, and grafix acumen.
     momi-baby apprenticed under me as an up-and-coming grafix-master, and it
     was clear before we started that her IQ level was way up the ladder and
     would outdistance mine in very short order.  it was and she did.

  michael-baby jackson:
  --for his keen interest regarding all things great and and small
     michael baby is an animated presence ever intent on extending his 
     knowledge-scope.  currently a LANG master, he continues to evidence 
     interest in branching out into grafix visual grooves.

  lisa-baby lambro:
  --for her capacity to beat the fowns into submission.
     lisa-baby is seen around HLL as the fown-general:  one peep "out of line"
     and she's whipping 'em back into order in no time.  it takes alot of
     energy and gusto to beat back the hordes with such consistency.  her 
     skills are probably more unconsciously appreciated by our customer base
     than by the support engineer masters of HLL.

  greg-babeeeee anders:
  --for his love of jazz from the golden age.
     greg-baby bought my previous Roland digital piano and is ticklin' dem 
     iverees again after a __-year hiatus.  we speak the same language as
     far as music is concerned.

  kathy-baby arline:
  --for her soulful appreciation of my ridiculousness.
     kathy-baby is ever amused by my antics, noise, and babble.  clearly a
     being of superior intellect and street-smarts, she knows what she's about
     and what's important in life.

  kathi-baby danielian
  --for her VERY spunky attitude and fast-on-her-feet responses to my harangues
     kathi-baby is indefatigable when it comes to rising to the challenge of
     overseeing a great amount of HLL continuous disintegrating effects and
     counterbalancing them.  a masteress of organization, she always makes 
     sure that she has her own escape route planned.

  eva-baby flora:
  --for her stamina and ability to survive the stress-monster.
     eva came from some sort of job that sounded pretty dead-end and seems 
     clearly well-established here and able to enjoy herself.  this is quite
     an accomplishment considering what she has to put up with each day.

  diane-baby grason:
  --for her ability to laugh at me as well as with me.
     diane has a very "low key" demeanor, but nevertheless her sense of humor
     seems very deeply developed and in spite of my raucousness, she seems
     well-equipped to do more than simply endure it.

  jennifer-baby tracy:
  --for her sharp dressing and flashy smile (and outlasting dick).
     jennifer baby has what it takes to survive the most impossible of 
     situations.  her job is kind of untenable, yet she never gives up and
     always gets better.

  dave-baby claborn:
  --for his ever-amiable and can-do attitude.
     dave-baby, altho technically jennifer-baby's lackey, clearly has the
     ability to assess for himself what needs getting done and to roll up
     his psychic sleeves and make short work of finding the proverbial
     needle in the haystack.

  mohsen "mo-baby" hosseini:
  --for his unequaled love of soccer and enjoyable presence.
     mo never is down for long even when it comes to a knee operation (and
     for the glory of soccer of course.)  he is always smiling and always
     great to be around.

 lynne-baby mueller:
 --for her humor-appreciation capabilities and very savvy, easy-going nature.
    lynne is alot younger in physical age than her psychic years of experience
    stretch out to.  this woman has ALOT of street-wise-ness as well as a 
    shrewd judge of human character.  her stress capacity is intense.

 rich-baby avila:
 --for his ability to sit next to the rat cave.
    rich is one of the new kids on the block.  he puts up with alot, located
    as he is in immediate proximity to the rat cave.  good-natured nonetheless,
    he continues to pump me for sgi-lore/info to come up to master-pse status
    in HLL.

 steven-baby chew:
 --for his quite, non-ruffle-able demeanor.
    in spite of my noise pollution, i have never seen steven (another new kid
    on the block) even hint at being caught off guard by my barrage of 
    frequencies.  clearly a in-it-for-the-long-haul type.  go steven!

 al-baby fohrman:
 --for his ability to survive the travails his car trys to subject him to.
    al-baby has good endurance qualities when it comes to being able to not
    be cowed or intimidated by car's insistence on getting bad luck.  a 
    charmed life-force?

 pam-bird thivierge:
 --for her loyalty to doing the best job possible in an impossible situation.
    pam-bird struggles with trying to make life for HLL call coordinators 
    more palitable.  clearly a seriously challenging/intimidating task, 
    nevertheless she gives it her all and hopefully is making progress against
    all the odds.

 lara "yorgi" allen:
 --for her very good-natured presence in all things crazy.
    yorgi loves to keep her hand on the pulse of things hap'nin.  a HLL 
    hardware master in house, she clearly has a fairly broad sense of the 
    world at large and what it needs now.

 lynne mcdonald:
 --for her enduring all my ravings.
    it was not the easiest thing in the world to get along when lynne was
    my manager, but we both survived somehow.  at the present time, with
    the rat cave and her office at almost opposite ends of HLL, she seems
    to have made great strides in having my noise-bursts just roll off her
    back (maybe it has something to do with the fact that she has her very
    own "little darlin'" to contend with now.)

 dale witt:
 --for his ability to do more than just tolerate me.
    dale was adamant in supporting ricardo's P.O.V that the e-mail "all" alias
    was not the place for my "move over George Orwell" piece.  perhaps he still
    feels that holds altho i have detected in him over the years a vague 
    loosening of his opinions in areas political.

--

                                                                                          yer friendly neighborhood ratman