Hi everyone! I'm George Ellenburg. I thought I'd kick things off with an #introduction about myself. Writing an introduction here in addition to one I have already posted allows me at least to be a little more creative I think. Besides, #Pleroma may support 5000 characters in a post but others (like #Mastodon) only support 500 characters in a post so some folks may need a bit more space!

I am the #instance #admin for bofh.social, an open & public Pleroma instance for techies, geeks, and enthusiasts. I'm also the admin here of federated.community, an open and public #Lemmy instance.

Professionally I work in #InformationSecurity for a large electric utility, though I plan to retire here in a couple of months. Been doing #ComputerSecurity for 22+ years and #IT for 30. I need a break and a change.

I touched my first computer in 1976/ 1977 and I got my first computer shortly thereafter. Back then there were literally hundreds of different computer manufacturers. I have owned at one point or another:

• Various TRS-80 (Radio Shack) computers: Model 1, Model 3, Model 4, Color Computer, Color Computer 2, Color Computer 3, Model 100, Model 101.
• Timex/Sinclair ZX/81 (it still boggles my mind that Timex, the watch Company, made a computer. LOL!)
• TI 99/4A
• Apple. Various Macs, Mac SE, Quadra, Apple ][, Apple //gs, Power Mac, Power Book, iMac. MacBook. Mac Book Pro, Power Book.
• Dell Alienware
• Microsoft Surface Studio, Surface Pro 5, Surface Pro 6
• Librem 15
• Frame.work Laptop

Plus miscellaneous HP, Sun, Dell servers and workstations I picked up along the way.

Religiously I'm an atheist. Funny enough it was Lutheran Confirmation classes (my dead mother's dying wish was that I be confirmed) but it was those same classes that were designed to cement my faith that proved to me the magnitude of bullshit that it all was.

Oh, I did get confirmed. Ironically on my 15th birthday. And that was the last time I stepped inside a church to worship. I've been an atheist ever since.

Politically I am a democratic socialist. I am a firm believer in human rights, civil rights, and civil liberties. I support trans rights, gay rights, black lives matter, and antifa.

And I vehemently do not believe in the 2nd Amendment.

I'm not a vegetarian. I eat meat, and I love a good steak or hamburger. I tried eating a Beyond Burger at TGI Fridays' once. I didn't like it. (I didn't hate it either.)

I love music. All kinds of music. Especially music from other countries. My Spotify (and now Pandora) playlists have music from Brazil, Irish Folk, Scottish Folk, UK, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Belgium, Mongolia, Hungary, The Czech Republic, South Africa, Tanzania, India, Japan, South Korea, and Australia.

I can read and understand a little French, and a little German (I did take German in High School), and a little Spanish, but I don't need to understand the words to a song to enjoy it.

Not really a huge movie buff. I mean, I enjoy a good movie but going out to see a movie isn't that enjoyable to me any more. And besides, there hasn't been a movie that I've absolutely wanted to see in a long while. The Avatar sequel might change that though.

I do like documentaries. History. Nature. I love learning about our planet, and learning about other cultures.

I don't watch much if any TV any more. In fact, the one TV I had in my house in my bedroom died about 3 months ago and I haven't missed it one bit. I'm just as comfortable catching up on my shows on Netflix and other streaming channels right at my computer.

I love to read, and to write. Mainly science fiction and or adventure type books. My all time favorite book is The Count of Monte Cristo. Read that book back when I was in High School and I have re-read it about every other year since.

Anything else you want to know just ask! I love helping people.