{"id":1,"date":"2023-02-05T06:59:53","date_gmt":"2023-02-05T06:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waptug.org\/home\/waptug\/public_html\/wordpress\/?p=1"},"modified":"2025-08-02T09:05:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T16:05:50","slug":"hello-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waptug.org\/wordpress\/hello-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Hello world! This is where it all began."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello World! This Is Where It All Began<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

WapTug all started as a college student club project in 2009, aimed at building a cluster of web servers and gaining hands-on experience in both computer networks and interpersonal networking. At that time, I was returning to college to pursue my goal of obtaining a degree in a computer-related field. I enrolled at Cascadia Community College in Bothell, WA, where I studied Web Application Programming. Hence, the WAP in WapTug stands for Web Application Programming, while TUG signifies Technology Users Group.<\/p>\n\n\n

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My journey with higher education began right after I graduated high school, when I aspired to attend DeVry University to study Electronic Engineering. Plans were all set for me to move to Phoenix, AZ, to live on campus and obtain a four-year degree with a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering. I was thrilled at the prospect of learning how to design computers. However, I got sidetracked by a fantastic job offer from my cousin William, who invited me to work as the Manager of Information Systems for his real estate management company, Fountain Grove Executive Suites, in Santa Rosa, CA. Faced with such a promising opportunity, I thought to myself, Why go to college when I can dive into a job that aligns with my educational goals?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite my employment, my longing to learn about electronics remained strong, so I decided to take a correspondence course in Electronic Engineering. Everything seemed to be going well. I had my own room in a five-bedroom house and was living independently for the first time, reveling in the fact that I was earning more money than I ever had before. (Looking back now, I chuckle at the reality that I was making $300 a week in 1988.) I was close to all the excitement in Silicon Valley and San Francisco and thoroughly enjoyed those six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my most memorable experiences during this time was attending the film debut of the Pixar video featuring the iconic Lamp Mascot at a film festival. Unfortunately, my cousin soon went out of business, and I found myself laid off. Stranded without a degree in a highly expensive area, I faced homelessness after being unable to pay my rent. This challenging moment pushed me to enlist in the Air Force, and I decided to move in with my Aunt Barbie and Uncle William in Santa Rosa while awaiting the start of my military service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following basic training in Texas and Services Specialist Training School in Colorado, I was stationed in Waikiki, Hawaii. However, my excitement about military life quickly faded, and I became disillusioned and homesick. Ultimately, I decided to exit the Air Force and returned home to attend Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, WA. There, I took general classes while working toward my A.A. degree, taking computer and business electives. Simultaneously, I started my own computer services and tutoring business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to 2005\u2014after losing my school funding at Big Bend and struggling to attain a livable income in technology through my business, I realized I needed a change of scenery. I moved to Seattle, setting my sights on landing a job at a tech company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2009, shortly after being laid off from a call center position where I provided data support for Verizon Wireless and AT&T, I re-enrolled at Cascadia Community College. Our club received donated rack servers, which we revived and installed Linux on. Subsequently, we implemented Apache and Webmin to manage them, hosting student websites as part of our initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Our grand vision was to establish an ongoing server room on campus, supported by student activity fees, allowing every student to have a lasting web space to host their portfolio and resume for several years post-graduation. Our aim was to create a Hall of Fame, inspiring future students as they embarked on their career journeys. However, achieving this vision required significant administrative permissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, we organized a Computer Career Speakers Series, where our club would open meetings by providing updates on our server room project to attendees. WapTug offered pizza and soda, and guest speakers discussed various facets of working in the technology sector, followed by a Q&A session. You can view the recordings of these events at WapTug YouTube Channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the presentations, we facilitated networking opportunities, enabling students to connect with speakers and share their resumes. We also made it a priority to have a booth at LinuxFest Northwest each year, an enjoyable experience where we showcased one of our rack servers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This club continued for years after I graduated in 2012, and the concept of operating a bank of servers for student use eventually inspired similar initiatives at Bellingham Community College and likely other institutions as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay tuned to discover how this initial vision expanded into much more than I ever imagined!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello World! This Is Where It All Began WapTug all started as a college student club project in 2009, aimed at building a cluster of web servers and gaining hands-on experience in both computer networks and interpersonal networking. At that time, I was returning to college to pursue my goal of obtaining a degree in … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-origin-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waptug.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waptug.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waptug.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waptug.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waptug.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/waptug.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140,"href":"https:\/\/waptug.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waptug.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waptug.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waptug.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waptug.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}