It happened when I bought my first 8086 XT computer with Microsoft Flight Simulator 3 in the 80s. I was hooked, and while in phases in my life flight simulation did play no significant or hardly any role, I always came back to it.
It became serious when I joined MAIW in 2007. The funny thing is that I was never very much one for flying. What I love is working on airports and with AI to realize the screen shots I see in my mind.
Being a military brat, I moved about every 4 years until the age of 16. Then my family settled in the South of Germany, where I finished school and studied politics and German literature. I met my wife again – we already had a time together while both still at school – and we are the happiest couple ever since.
I ventured into journalism for some years, which was a great experience and taught me a lot about this profession and IT – it was the time when ISDN was brand new and stunning. Compuserve was the social media platform, and getting a driver update via modem from some US board was exciting, troublesome, and awfully expensive.
We - a group of friends - founded a press agency focusing on the Near- and Middle East. I believe we were good in our work, but nobody ever told us that you must understand how business works to survive. Too proud to consider things like advertising and compromises, we were successful, but financially broken after some years. Papers pay per word, which is not very much. I changed into IT, and today I am heading the country IT of a large logistics company.
Sometime over the years I found this forum and was immediately taken by the friendliness and characters of Charl, Marty and Ian, who were the first to welcome me. Since then, I keep coming back and tell what is going on in the AI world and share photos from flight shows I have visited.
I believe that whoever created this world was at its best when he made Ireland, Switzerland, and New Zealand. I am positive about the first two countries, and the first thing I will do after retirement is an extensive trip with my wife through your wonderful country. I am sure it will exceed our highest expectations.
www.owlsnest.eu