AW Community Volunteers -
Longtime Service Award

We think it would be great if everyone got a chance to get to know some of the volunteers in the community, and to find out why they love AW so much.

This month we'd like to recognize WT o and Caveman for their 3 years of service as Gate Keepers.

Caveman

I am surprised and smiling at receiving a Service Award. I would never have guessed that I would still be GKing after all this time. But I find it a useful distraction from the *real* world...LOL

Many years ago (5-7 years?) I read a Newsweek article that talked about Alpha World. I was curious about this virtual chat room as I am about many computer-based things. I am, in many ways, a computer nerd. I work with them all day long and enjoy playing on and with them when I get home.

Anyway, my son and I each had a persona in Alpha World but that virtual chat world was much smaller. It was based in a space station and had some interesting features. One that many people enjoyed was a mirror that allowed you to see yourself from the front! *Gasp* What a concept :-) But, after several months, life intervened and both of us stopped visiting.

Then, about 4 years ago, I was moving my programs and files to a newer computer and I came across the Alpha World software and decided to fire it up and see if the world had changed. I don't recall the specifics, but somehow I was directed to Active Worlds and I was impressed with the environment. I think there were over a hundred worlds in Active Worlds back then and I enjoyed visiting many of them. I have been sorry to see many disappear, like MidEarth with its thunderstorms and fairy avatars. But AW continues to be full of surprises for me when I have the time to explore.

I enjoy watching people and how they interact. I would spend some time at the Gate each time I came into AW and because our schedules matched often, I got to know JaneB well. She had an amazing knowledge of places to visit and things to see and helped me realize that AW was MUCH bigger than I had imagined it to be. She showed me the Fairie Quest (AW 52N and 791E) and many more places. And in the process, slowly talked me into being a GK. I was concerned with the amount of time the commitment would require as I have had periods in my life when work kept me *very* busy. But, I finally decided to give it a shot and I applied. Radiance interviewed me and I apparently passed the interview process...

I enjoy working with people and computers. I do that for a living. So, my GK time allows me to help others and meet a wide variety of people at the same time. The workload has grown drastically from the early days when we could take the time to help someone learn AW because there would only be a few people at the gate at one time. That process has become far more macro guided and I do miss the time to be able to spend some one-on-one time with novices. I have made friends and seen many people come and go through the years and I have enjoyed meeting and learning from each person with whom I have chatted.

I live in Rockville, Maryland which is just 5 miles north of Washington, DC. I have lived here the longest period of time in my life, but, in my younger years my dad was in the Air Force so I lived a variety of places up until we moved into Rockville the late 60s.

I am a hands-on kind of person. I do woodworking and enjoy tinkering with electronics. Actually, one "hobby" that keeps me the busiest is helping my friends keep their computers working. I get *more* dinners out of that activity!

Well, I do enjoy my gate time and hope life continues to allow me the pleasure of GKing!

WT o

Trishia and I purchased our first computer and found AW through a search of free downloads. I was one who wanted nothing to do with "internet chats" but when I saw AW, it only took me 10 minutes as a tourist before I made sure with Trishia it was ok to sign up as a citizen.

For the first few months I met one or three cits, learned how to build, and started to explore a little. Every time I logged in I was in AWGate. I had always noticed the people there with bold print. One day I had a question and King Tex was the one in bold and was very quick to respond to my question. Seeing what he did as a GK, I knew I wanted to help others as he helped me. I applied, waited a few weeks and applied again. Soon after, I met Capaboo, and the rest is AW history :o)

I have enjoyed being able to help out those not fully understanding AW. I have a great love for the AW program and try to help others get the enjoyment out of it that I have.

I was born, raised and still live in Southwest Florida. I am in my 3rd marriage and have a total of 6 kids now, 4 of my own and 2 step children with Trishia o.

I work with tv reception, anything from installing/repairing tv antennas to the 18" dishes and even the 10' dishes with over 4000 channels. I ride motorcycle, not as much for enjoyment as I used to but occasionally I get to ride just to ride. And I also like to shark-fish. Bringing in a 7 foot black tip would please me just fine :o)

* If there's a volunteer you'd like to see us highlight, let us know! *
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