One of the most common questions people ask other people that work on the Internet is - how did you get started? So this is my story of how I discovered my obsession for being online. 

My first exposure to the Internet was through my trusty ol' Atari 130XE computer. I built a BBS called "The Cathouse" and later moved to an Atari ST computer. Many thought, in those days, Atari would rule the world, Commodore computers would fade away, TRS-1s were trash and IBM had no clue. At that time Macs were barely an apple in Steve Jobs' eyes and Bill Gates was tinkering in his garage with an idea called Microsoft...

While all these "tubes" were connecting and growing, conversation was key - socially, for business, and otherwise. If you were there you'd understand there is no such thing as Web 2.0. With all the social media tools and a focus back to community the Web is right back where it started from. Thank goodness for that. 

Those early electronic bulletin boards (EBBS, or just BBS for short) included such boards as Fidonet with names such as The City of London or GalaxianBBS. SySops were all the rage and software piracy was rampid. I don't remember the dates but CompuServ and GEnie were just beginning their online services. Modems went from 100 baud to 2400 baud and crawled slowly up as technology began to flourish. I ran my BBS on a 1200 baud modem at that time - and that was considered fast!

Since I was one of few females in those days running a BBS I got a lot of attention. Not the bad type, mind you, just fellows that wanted to help out - supply me with equipment, software, advice - that sort of thing.

Hence, The Cathouse was born. I owned cats, they ran the house, so I named my BBS after them. The graphic of the cats on the bar (seen to the right here) came directly from the design on my shower curtain.

One of my cats at that time was a big softie, a cat that would mold to any position you put him in. He was like jello and that was his nickname - Jellocat. I snitched his name and it's been my online moniker ever since.

I love the idea of social media because that is really what the Internet is about - conversation and connection.

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