John Derek Campbell

Oh, wow. The 90s. I seem to remember some fairly pastel colored clothes with nigh cartoonish designs, glasses that for someone such as myself would likely start a new meme or two, and siblings that competed between colorful chats over the phone or browsing the nacent web… it’s still unknown who got the upperhand most of the time, but those memories are emblazoned in my memory like the aroma of a most pleasant brew of coffee.

The 90s are when I got my exposure to the world of computers and the internet. A seemingly massive world of information awaited, not to mention strangers you could strike (hopefully) friendly conversations with on AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger, to name a couple.

Booting up into Windows 95, I found myself enthralled with the portal it served as. “What shall I do today?” Well, if I wanted to write something either for school or for fun, I had that friendly paperclip… However, my IT journey started less due to the amazing capabilities that computers and the internet provided, but due to my intrigue with just how all of that seemed to fit in that box!

Oh, and of course, things such as this:

Certainly, by the later 90s, I was well aware of various forms of malware spreading across the internet. While I did not have a substantial email presence, some notable macro viruses, such as the “Melissa” virus, were in the news. As a young teenager at the time, having inadvertently stumbled across the landmines of the internet and what can yield malware or URLs that do not direct to the anticipated content, I quickly learned that the act of being wary was quite prudent.

But alas, those moments of unease gave way to the hobbies that kept my mind entertained and informed me of the importance of logical thinking, strategy, and the art of winning or losing well. Enter the Command & Conquer series, specifically, Command & Conquer: Red Alert.

While I entered this game a bit late, I found the apex of my rather short-lived gaming “career” by 2001, reaching number two on the Allied leaderboards for a short time… on dial-up no less! At least, that is my recollection. It is certainly possible that by that time, I had switched to a low bit-rate DSL connection (I would presume that is the actual story).

As the 90s closed and gave way to the 2000s, it was finally time to figure out what made these machines–desktops and laptops, alike–work. With my mother working at a local educational institution and have a professional connection with an on-site IT administrator, I was able to be mentored by him, learn more about the craft, and even received a generous donation of parts for my first Frankenstein-build.

I couldn’t even tell you what the parts were by now, nearly a quarter-century later. All I know is that by the end of figuring out what was what, how each part had to be installed and connected, loading an operating system, and all of the rest of the setup, I had some functioning “monster”.

It was alive!