I realise the newbies weren't around from way back in the day. The "newbies" tag is affixed when they refer to me as "he" or "him" 
Anyway, for the benefit of posters who have only been here in the last 10 years, I'm reposting all the articles I posted here from 2003 to 2015.
Check out this link to read more. Please scroll down to the bottom and read the "How I got started" post.
I promise to write more often on my website.