I'm working down at The GZ (Geekerz) tonight, which I don't care for much any more. However, every once in a while we get some genuinely interesting people in here.
Tonight I met a guy named Willy. He used to be called Wanderin' Willy. He was a Marine at one time. From what I put together he was in Viet Nam and when he came home he started hitch hiking and didn't stop for the next 30 years or so. Hence the moniker "Wanderin' Willy"
He said that at one time he was homeless living in San Francisco and at that time his address was 101 **Bayshore Blvd Number 3. He lived in a cardboard dwelling near the third column under the overpass where the 101 and Bayshore Blvd intersect. He couldn't afford a place to live on his income there at the time because the city was too expensive. However, he was able to pick up an HTML for Dummies book and he taught himself how to make web pages.
At some point he got into working with computers and from the sounds of it either had a business or worked for a business that involved computer maintenance. He had been working on computers since the DOS 3.0 days. He learned Windows 3.1 when it came out because a customer of his decided they wanted it. He had installed a network of Windows 95 machines in a school at one point, and currently uses XP where he works now. He also mentioned working with Macs for several releases of the OS ( versions 6 though 9 I think it was). He stopped into Geekerz to find out if we taught any classes because he is wanting to learn about Vista. Unfortunately that's not something we do.
His wanderin' days were brought to an abrupt end a while back when he was hit by a car out on the road. So now he has a big steel pin in his leg and has to walk with a cane. He now lives here in Springfield. He works at the Myrl Billings Memorial Veterans Center helping veterans and their families. He told me that they are finding out that agent orange has been linked to Diabetes in Viet Nam vets. I hadn't heard that before so I will have to warn my Dad.
He also brought up his interest in uses of alternative energy sources and asked if I or anyone I knew was interested in that sort of thing. I mentioned my involvement in a solar car project when I was younger and he said that he works with solar energy for cooking. He has a website he put together about some of his projects and sources of information concerning alternative energy: Alternative Energy Engineers. Some of those solar cookers look like they would be cool to put together... yet another project to add to my list.
He was a genuinely friendly and seemed honest, at ease with himself, and very intelligent. I get really sick of being in the store down here all the time but every once in a while someone like Wanderin' Willy shows up, tells a good story and starts up a great conversation and it makes my day.
**Note: I think I have the Bayshore Blvd. part right. I didn't get to write this down right away so I had to look up the 101 on Google Maps and see what intersected with it. Bayshore sounds right.
Stumble It!
