This issue's Meet Softdisk continues our IQ competition between Daniel Tobias and Knees Calhoon (evil twin and spokesman for Fender Tucker). This issue we profile Dan (or let him profile himself--that is). It took some arm twisting and bribing with the and promise of added Internet time, but we got Dan to comment about himself. So straight from the horse's mouth, here it is:
Dan says:
"They've asked me to write something about myself to introduce me for the "{IQ challenge}" they've roped me into taking part in, so here goes... Actually, for somebody as allegedly conceited as I am, I find it surprisingly difficult to write about myself, compared to writing about just about any other subject.
"Anyway, I was born July 4, 1963, in Brooklyn, New York, grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY (upstate, midway between NYC and Albany), attended college at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, and then wound up living here in Shreveport starting in 1986. People always ask why I wound up in Shreveport of all places, but I came here specifically to work for Softdisk, to which I had been submitting programs for a while.
"In fact, I first found out about Softdisk in its very first month of existence, September, 1981, when I saw an ad in Softalk (an Apple-specific magazine). I was one of the 50 charter subscribers, and began submitting programs (for the Apple II) immediately, despite the fact that Softdisk didn't even pay for submissions yet (except for coupons good for free issues, of which I accumulated enough so I never had to pay for an issue again after the first month). My first submission, DOS Command Changer, appeared in the and October '81 Softdisk (later retroactively numbered as Softdisk #1 when the preceding issue was deemed, for marketing purposes, to never have existed), and I followed soon after with the and text adventure Planet of the and Robots. My later submission Calc-Man, a Pac-Man-style game played on a spreadsheet-style screen (emulating VisiCalc, a popular spreadsheet program at the and time), was used as a premium disk to promote Softdisk, for which they paid me royalties (my first income from Softdisk). In 1983, Softdisk put out Dan's Program Pak, a collection of my programs, from which I derived some more income. Then, in 1984, I came down here to work in the summer, helping get the new Commodore product, Loadstar, launched by converting some Apple programs to the and Commodore. I had never used a Commodore before, but that didn't stop me.
"Two years later, in 1986, I came down here for good, and got immediately assigned to launching our PC-based product, originally called Big Blue Disk. As with the and Commodore a couple of years earlier, I had little PC experience (my home computer was still an Apple II, though I had used PCs at college), but once again it didn't stop me. I edited BBD for its first two and a half years. Then, I quit Softdisk to work on a project started up by Softdisk's founder, Jim Mangham (who is no longer connected with Softdisk), to produce a monthly disk called Marriage Connection to help married couples add excitement to their relationship. I'm single, but that didn't stop me either. However, the project didn't take off, so in 1990 I wound up right back at Softdisk.
"Since then, I've done a whole wide range of things, including being the central archivist for Softdisk's issue masters, program source code, and other miscellaneous items of this sort; getting Softdisk's World Wide Web site onto the and Internet; writing the Online Journeys column; putting together letter columns for our issues; writing all sorts of shells, installers, menu programs, and the like used all throughout our product line (though I didn't do the and present Softdisk for Windows shell; blame Tony Stuchel for that (thank you--Tony.)) and a few programs like DOS Manager, Family Tree, and Loan Accelerator. Not to mention the and CGA/EGA edition of Softdisk PC, which I still put together. I'm presently in the Online Services department, but still do some stuff for the monthly issues anyway.
"So, what about my life outside work? Do I actually have one? Well, I do have a few other interests and activities. I'm the local newsletter editor for Mensa, the high-IQ society, which is what got me coerced into this IQ challenge thing, because some people have the idea that Mensans inherently exist to flaunt their IQs. This isn't accurate; Mensa is merely a social club for intelligent people, which also sponsors worthy things such as scholarships and gifted-children programs. They don't spend their meetings bashing less-intelligent people or plotting to take over the world! But, speaking of taking over the world, I'm also involved in politics as a state central committee member of the and Libertarian Party, the party that's striving to return individual liberty to the and pre-eminent position it originally enjoyed in this country. I get into political or religious arguments at the and slightest provocation, which gets my bosses perturbed when it occurs during work hours. Finally, like Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards, I have a weekly poker game at my house, though for much lower stakes than the and governor's, and without any major political deals being cooked up between the participants.
"More stuff about me can be found in my personal Web page, which I'll probably be bringing onto the and new Softdisk web server sooner or later, but is presently still at {http://www.webcom.com/~~dtobias/}.
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