P. Larry Nelson

You are visitor since April 1, 1994.

If the above counter is not displaying correctly, you're running your CPU too damn fast! Throttle it back. If you don't know how, call the tech support number for your system's manufacturer.

Remember kids, Willy Wonka says: "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."

  Email:  lnelson at roadkill dot com  

• (CURRENT - as of Aug. 01, 2005) The University of Illinois, High Energy Physics Group (HEPG), doing linux, network, and security administration, consulting, and end user support. (80% appointment)

• (May 31, 2005) Retired! (but only officially)

• (June 1996 - May 2005) The University of Illinois, Campus Information Technologies and Services Office (CITES) (formerly known as CCSO), Departmental Services (DS) Group doing linux, network, and security administration, consulting, and end user support full time under contract to the High Energy Physics Group (HEPG) in Loomis Laboratory of Physics at 1110 W. Green St., Urbana, IL.

  I was also the CITES/DS Coordinator for the folowing CITES/DS client units:

  Physics Department
  High Energy Physics Group
  Nuclear Physics Lab 
  School of Music
  

• (OLD) The University of Illinois, Computing and Communications Services Office (CCSO), as a Systems Programmer II through an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) contract with the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Labs (USA CERL) to do Unix systems and network administration for them for 4 years, eventually becoming head of their Unix Systems Group, from July 1992 to June 1996. Mostly Sun servers and workstations.

• (OLDER) The University of Illinois, Computing Services Office (back when it was just CSO) as a Systems Programmer II - contracted out to the Center for Supercomputing Research and Development (CSRD), the "other" supercomputer center on campus (now defunct), to do Unix systems and network administration for them for 4 years, from June 1988 to July 1992. Mostly Suns, Alliant supercomputers (also defunct), a DEC VAX 11/780 running BSD Unix, and a home grown supercomputer named Cedar.

• (ANCIENT HISTORY) The University of Illinois, School of Chemical Sciences as a programmer and consultant in the School's Computer Center for 16 years, starting in March of 1972. Systems included an EAI 580 Analog/Hybrid computer, various DEC LSI/11s, TI 980s, DEC PDP-11s, an IBM 1800, replaced by a DEC VAX 11/780 VMS system. Later, a Floating Point Systems Array Processor (as big as the VAX itself) was purchased as an attachment to the VAX. This was also the time when the desktop workstation started appearing - known as Micro-VAXes.

• (PLEISTOCENE EPOCH) U.S. Air Force, Chanute AFB (It too, is now defunct, but they made it into a really nice museum), Rantoul, IL for 4 years (1967 - 1971), programming a Burroughs B263 computer, saluting, debugging and troubleshooting programs, saluting, computer systems analysis, saluting, designing a new computer room for a Burroughs 3500 system, saluting, marching in parades on the base flightline in the middle of biting cold winters and broiling summers, saluting, painting perfectly normal rocks white, saluting, and other duties as assigned, like saluting. The coolest part of being at Chanute, however, was being picked to be on the Base Ceremonial Unit, which doubled as a Security Police Augmentee force. There were about a dozen of us. It was arguably one of the highest honors they could convey on the lower ranking enlisted personnel. We got to do cool things like direct traffic at the main base intersections and travel all over a 3 state region as honor guards at events like military funerals and other special events. Other times, we'd do rather silly things like guarding the base golf course at night against vandals. I guess somebody high up REALLY liked golf because we were given M1 Carbines and live ammo. Almost shot a vandal once. Or was it a visigoth - don't remember. Anyway, I made Staff Sergeant about a year before I got out, and was on track to make Tech Sergeant, but 4 years was enough of saluting and having to keep my hair short.

• Hang with my honey, Pam, who is now an Animal Communicator.
• Take care of our farm.
• Dabble a bit in photography.
• Cook (Here's my infamous clam sauce recipe, and my fettuccine alfredo and gazpacho recipes).
• Wine (you know, drink, horde, educate others, drink some more). [Current favorites] (Sorry! This list is way out of date - haven't had the time to update it.)
• Starting a small vineyard of (for now) French-American hybrid grapes (i.e., Chambourcin and Seyval Blanc)
• Collect art - the collection is sort of difficult to describe. Let's just call it a somewhat eclectic mishmash of styles and media - original paintings, photos, sculpture, pottery, etc, including pieces from this amazing woman: Kathi Anderson.
• Listen to music - mostly to classical on WILL-FM. There's also the few thousand vinyl LP's, 1/3 of which is *real* rock 'n roll from the 60's and 70's, 1/3 folk/jazz/blues, and 1/3 classical/opera. And, there's the ever growing CD collection, now nearing a thousand in count, I think.
• Read - trying to get thru several thousand books scattered thruout our library room and the rest of the house.
• Watch movies from the thousands of movies we have on Beta, VHS, and DVD.

This web site authored entirely with vi text editor.
page created: 04/01/94 
page last updated: 05/28/13 
author: P. Larry Nelson
contact: lnelson at roadkill dot com
web space courtesy of &y of roadkill dot com