User:Frumiousfalafel

I am a novice contributor to the Wikipedia project. I will strive to limit my input to only those fields where I have either a formal education, or significant experience in the "field" (i.e. employment). My strongest area is Computer Science. I obtained an MS in CS with a specialization in Theory and HCI from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1992.

Prior to that I worked for 2 years at a subsidiary of Bechtel in downtown San Francisco where I experienced my first earthquake while on the 29th floor where I worked. Since all the buildings there are built on (literally) springs which have more than one degree of motion -- although they mostly flex in the vertical, or "up-and-down" direction, my experience was similar to that of bouncing on a trampoline.

Prior to that I obtained my undergraduate degree in "Mathematics-Computer Science" from the University of California San Diego. It was, in effect, CS Theory. All the courses and the degree were offered and bestowed by the Mathematics department.

Prior to that I began my formal career as a University student at the University of California Berkeley (AKA "Cal"). To this day I think they let me in simply to be able to claim they allowed in a person from a small southern town (my High School grades were mediocre at best). On the other hand, I had the sense to skip a grade by taking a summer school course to save me another year of the mediocrity I felt I was experiencing (and not giving back much either).

At Berkeley I tried to obtain a degree in physics. However in those days, they told you at the beginning of every "core" class that quite literally, 50% of the class would obtain a grade of 'C'. 15% would get either a "B' or a 'D', and 10% would receive either an 'A' or an 'F'. This was *wholly* predetermined. Thus getting a grade of 'C' meant you were doing no better and no worse than half the class. And the quality of students at a school like that was, well, pretty darn good. Thus my straight 'C's' didn't bother me too much. Although I eventually realized that the field wasn't for me