Introduce yourself

Mack

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,361
Animal02 said:
Mid fifties as well......and hate getting those damn AARP mailers every other week. :mad:
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Well you young lads.......wait until you goto the Doctor and use your Medicaid card............glad to see you on this blog........more mature folks are joining everyday.
 
YJAlleyCat

YJAlleyCat

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
478
Location
Atlanta
Figure I should do this now before the season starts and we have important stuff to talk about. Lurked for a while before and after joining to get a feel for the place - great job by Eric and the moderators to create such an excellent place for information and rational discussion.

Grew up in a Tech house (thank you, Dad). Class of '88, '90, and then again in '05 to facilitate a career change. It was fun to be a "kid" again for a year and see how the campus had changed.
Married to @GTpdm. Season ticket holders, currently in section 105. We have "traded up" a few times.
Former marching band geek (good times back in the mid-80s).
Chose this user name because we can be found hanging out next to Yellow Jacket Alley before and after home games, and I am only a couple of cats shy of "crazy cat lady" status according to some of my friends.
I believe in Georgia Tech and expect great things.
GO JACKETS!
 
GTpdm

GTpdm

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,965
Location
Atlanta GA
YJAlleyCat said:
Married to @GTpdm.
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Guess that's my cue.

I'm originally a transplant from Illinois; my family moved south when I was in my early teens. Growing up in rural north Georgia, it was all, "go dawgs" and "how 'bout them dawgs", over and over and over again—learned to hate that school with a passion, before I ever even heard of Tech. I was a big math/science geek, anyway, so Tech was the obvious choice when the time came.

Got my BS in 87 and PhD in 96, both in physics. Stayed on to teach classes part time while looking for a research position, but the job market in my field of specialization was thin; before I knew it I was working full time at Tech as an adjunct instructor. After several years of that, the school brought me on as a salaried (non-tenure-track) faculty member—mainly because I knew the Institute rules & regulations better than any of the full professors in the department.

I have a lot of pride in Georgia Tech, and in the value of the Tech degrees in my home (five, counting @YJAlleyCat's). At the start of every semester, I point out to my students that I want their degrees to be just as valuable to them, 20 years from now—and that means setting the bar high in my course. I like to throw out a CPJ quote, from early in his tenure: "I'm not here to set reasonable expectations; my job is to set high expectations." If for no other reason but that quote, I'll always support Coach Johnson—his attitude about expecting excellence is in 100% alignment with what I want Tech to be.

THWG!
 

Mack

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,361
YJAlleyCat said:
Figure I should do this now before the season starts and we have important stuff to talk about. Lurked for a while before and after joining to get a feel for the place - great job by Eric and the moderators to create such an excellent place for information and rational discussion.

Grew up in a Tech house (thank you, Dad). Class of '88, '90, and then again in '05 to facilitate a career change. It was fun to be a "kid" again for a year and see how the campus had changed.
Married to @GTpdm. Season ticket holders, currently in section 105. We have "traded up" a few times.
Former marching band geek (good times back in the mid-80s).
Chose this user name because we can be found hanging out next to Yellow Jacket Alley before and after home games, and I am only a couple of cats shy of "crazy cat lady" status according to some of my friends.
I believe in Georgia Tech and expect great things.
GO JACKETS!
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Welcome !
 
GTpdm

GTpdm

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,965
Location
Atlanta GA
GTpdm said:
I have a lot of pride in Georgia Tech, and in the value of the Tech degrees in my home (five, counting @YJAlleyCat's).
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Sorry to be quoting my own post, but in hindsight that I want to add one thing. As proud as I am of my degree, I want to shout out to the sidewalk fans. Being a Tech grad is in no way a prerequisite for being a Tech fan, imo. In point of fact, being a sidewalk Tech fan is something in my blood: after I decided to attend Tech, my mom told me that my grandad (who died before I was born) had been a huge Georgia Tech fan in the 30s and 40s, back in Illinois. Apparently, he would come home at night after a bout of carousing, singing the Ramblin Wreck song. I don't know if it was about Georgia Tech fandom specifically, or just the fact that it was a good drinking song—but I'd like to think it was both!

(They do say that some genetic traits skip a generation...thanks for the good GT genes, Grandpa Ernie.)

And a huge welcome and "thank you" to all sidewalk fans out there. Hope to see you on Yellow Jacket Alley this fall!
 
GTpdm

GTpdm

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,965
Location
Atlanta GA
GTJake said:
GTpdm ... where at in Illinois ? I grew up in LaSalle-Peru and went to SIU.
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I lived in Springfield until I was 13. Half my family were Cubs fans and half were Cardinals fans. (My most obnoxious brother being a Cubs fan, I always rooted for the Cards…)
 
Dave.S

Dave.S

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
183
Location
Milton, Ga
Hello All,

New member here, I'm not a graduate ( attended Western Carolina 1994 ) but grew up cheering for the Jackets in the middle of Tobacco Road. I do have family ties however as my old man graduated from Tech in 1964 and we've had season tickets in football since 97 and last two years for basketball. I've been reading the Swarm boards as a casual observer for two weeks and have really enjoyed the maturity and quality of the conversations and updates. I look forward to contributing to the discussions.

Dave
Milton, Ga
 
Papa Doc

Papa Doc

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
78
Location
Gainesville, GA
Dave.S said:
Hello All,

New member here, I'm not a graduate ( attended Western Carolina 1994 ) but grew up cheering for the Jackets in the middle of Tobacco Road. I do have family ties however as my old man graduated from Tech in 1964 and we've had season tickets in football since 97 and last two years for basketball. I've been reading the Swarm boards as a casual observer for two weeks and have really enjoyed the maturity and quality of the conversations and updates. I look forward to contributing to the discussions.

Dave
Milton, Ga
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Welcome Dave, This site is a good place to interact with folks who just flat out love the Jackets.
 

Mack

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,361
Dave.S said:
Hello All,

New member here, I'm not a graduate ( attended Western Carolina 1994 ) but grew up cheering for the Jackets in the middle of Tobacco Road. I do have family ties however as my old man graduated from Tech in 1964 and we've had season tickets in football since 97 and last two years for basketball. I've been reading the Swarm boards as a casual observer for two weeks and have really enjoyed the maturity and quality of the conversations and updates. I look forward to contributing to the discussions.

Dave
Milton, Ga
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Glad to have you ! Enjoy !
 
Nixon_Corral

Nixon_Corral

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
64
Location
DeKalb
You know, I thought I had signed up here a long time ago, but I guess not. I go by the same handle on StingTalk, so some of you folks may recognize me (although I post pretty sparingly, so maybe not).

Anyway, I'm an undergrad right now with sights on getting out by the end of 2015. I've pulled for Tech since 2005, though. An interest in computers got me interested in Tech, and the spectacular Calvin Johnson got me into the football program. Then five years later I got accepted into the Institute and here I am on the tail end of my time here. Wish it hadn't happened so fast.

Seeing as how I started pulling for the Jackets in the Gailey years, I find it hard to complain too much about Paul Johnson, but my patience with his recent results is growing thin. And of course I can't even fathom a Tech team as strong as those under O'Leary or Ross or Dodd. One day, perhaps we'll be back.

And hell, we're 3-0 yet.
 
Essobee

Essobee

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
437
Location
Gas Pump #1
Nixon_Corral said:
Seeing as how I started pulling for the Jackets in the Gailey years, I find it hard to complain too much about Paul Johnson, but my patience with his recent results is growing thin. And of course I can't even fathom a Tech team as strong as those under O'Leary or Ross or Dodd. One day, perhaps we'll be back.

And hell, we're 3-0 yet.
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Welcome aboard from an old timer who remembers O'Leary, Ross, and Dodd very well. Hindsight is supposed to be 20-20, but don't allow yourself to be too taken with the good old days. Dodd got out of coaching at a real good time for him; O'Leary essentially positioned us in a tough academic situation that Gailey inherited when O'Leary moved on; and Ross seriously contemplated throwing in the towel not long before the team came together for a string of wins leading up to the national championship, thus allowing him to also move on to greener pastures. Being a student at Tech, you already know that Tech ain't for wussies.

Just remember what CPJ tells us: Things aren't ever as bad as they seem or as good as they seem.
 

Mack

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,361
Essobee said:
Welcome aboard from an old timer who remembers O'Leary, Ross, and Dodd very well. Hindsight is supposed to be 20-20, but don't allow yourself to be too taken with the good old days. Dodd got out of coaching at a real good time for him; O'Leary essentially positioned us in a tough academic situation that Gailey inherited when O'Leary moved on; and Ross seriously contemplated throwing in the towel not long before the team came together for a string of wins leading up to the national championship, thus allowing him to also move on to greener pastures. Being a student at Tech, you already know that Tech ain't for wussies.

Just remember what CPJ tells us: Things aren't ever as bad as they seem or as good as they seem.
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Good to hear from you and yep times after Dodd have not been that good but I must confess that my patience after sixty odd years as a fan is about gone.Got to get better and soon
 
Northeast Stinger

Northeast Stinger

Helluva Engineer
Messages
10,711
Essobee said:
Welcome aboard from an old timer who remembers O'Leary, Ross, and Dodd very well. Hindsight is supposed to be 20-20, but don't allow yourself to be too taken with the good old days. Dodd got out of coaching at a real good time for him; O'Leary essentially positioned us in a tough academic situation that Gailey inherited when O'Leary moved on; and Ross seriously contemplated throwing in the towel not long before the team came together for a string of wins leading up to the national championship, thus allowing him to also move on to greener pastures. Being a student at Tech, you already know that Tech ain't for wussies.

Just remember what CPJ tells us: Things aren't ever as bad as they seem or as good as they seem.
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Well said. My dad used to tell me that Dodd saw the handwriting on the wall and knew he was going to leave a program with a bare cupboard going forward. I did not believe him at the time but with hindsight he was right on the money. Tech fans are notoriously fickle. We ran off Bud Carson who is considered by many to be one of the five greatest coaching minds in history and who built what is considered the greatest defense in NFL history at Pittsburgh. The reason Ross almost threw in the towel is well known. Coaching and recruiting at Tech is tough and he got tired of the constant static and background noise from disgruntled fans who could not see that the program was improving even though the record did not show it. I do not defend CPJ at all costs but I am far more patient with him than some realizing that Tech has some very real systemic barriers as an institution that make progress toward a winning program slow.
 
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