About me

Parents

My mother is from Naples, Italy, and came to England in the mid-50s to find work. My father's from New Delhi, India (originally Hazro, Pakistan), and came over to do a Civil Engineering degree. They met at Hammersmith Palais, a dance hall in London, England. I have a picture of them while they were courting, around 1959.

University

In 1980 I was accepted on the BSc in Biophysics and Mathematics at Leeds University but decided I'd rather do Psychology and so changed my place before I left for Leeds.

Having had a taste of programming in my final-year option and knowing that I wanted to do some applied computing to psychology, I decided to go for a PhD but couldn't get in anywhere with my 2ii so went for a Masters.

I ended up at North Staffordshire Polytechnic on an MSc in Computing Science. I spent my six months industrial placement building a price-quoting system for Wiggins Teape in the summer of 1985, which was also when I became a feminist and a vegetarian.

I then got a place on a DPhil at the University of Kent at Canterbury (UKC), doing a joint degree in Applied Computing to Psychology, but was pushed into Applied Psychology to Computing (specifically, HCI - so much for models of memory and language). I spent the first year computerising the Custody Record for the Metropolitan Police.

Frank

Things weren't going too well and then, one January day in 1988, I posted a question to the Usenet newsgroup misc.misc and got a reply from someone called Frank Wales. We mailed each other for three months before meeting. Before we met, He sent me an imposing photo of himself, taken on self-timer at his desk at Zengrange. And I sent him an obscure photo of me.

We met on Thursday, 14 April 1988. By the Monday, we knew we were going to live together. I proposed that year. We got married without telling anyone beforehand on 02-02-02.

Work and travel

I left UKC a year early, moved to Leeds and ended up working as a C programmer at Zengrange, where Frank worked. In 1990 Frank was sent to the Calculator Labs at Hewlett-Packard in Corvallis, Oregon, to work on the HP-41 emulator for the new HP 48 and ended up staying out there for eight months. I visited for three, which is when I discovered IRC.

We did a little travelling, mostly to meet net people, in Mountain View and LA, Seattle, Washington, then I flew back east via Grand Rapids, Michigan, Illinois and Boston, where my brother was doing a Communications degree.

Internet

I've been on the 'net since 1988. I started using e-mail at UKC, then Usenet. Then I got into talkers (Bullet at UCL, Warwick, tardis, IRC UnderWorld), BBSs (UnAxcess at Bradford) and MUDs (AberMUD at Southampton, MIST at Essex and MUD in Essex).

I used the nickname Poot from 1988 and then started using kwistle on #england on IRC in early 1993 and used to be found on IRC using the nick kwis on #GB and started #dl-bar. I am Poot Dibou in Second Life.

After leaving Leeds, we got a connection onto the Internet in early 1993 with Demon and, for a few years, I organised monthly meets in London Demon/#GB people. I'm still proud of a picnic a couple of us organised one summer in which 100 people turned up, including family members.

Business

Frank and I took contracting jobs in the early 1990s; Frank as a Systems Manager for the likes of Glaxo and Disney and me as a 4GL database applications programmer. In early 1995 we - together with and another couple - formed Limitless. We specialised in hosting and building accessible, fast, interactive, database-backed sites and Internet consultancy.

My background in psychology and databases allowed me to apply my experience to web site planning and information architecture. I also write proposals and manage projects.

In January 2000, Frank and I left Limitless to start Limitless Innovations; the company concentrates on Internet consultancy and development.

Arts and crafts

I started making earrings when I was a student the first time in 1980. I sold earrings at a women's co-operative shop in Leeds but mostly made earrings for myself and friends.

Until 2003, I only made earrings; I figured that it was hard enough designing 2" for earrings, my head would explode if I tried to design something long like a necklace.

But, after selling on eBay for a few years, a regular buyer persuaded me to add beads to her silver bracelet. I enjoyed the process; the design involved repetition which made it manageable. I researched threads and crimping, which was when I discovered lariats, open-ended 60"+ necklaces.

Visit my shop to see what I am making now.

I came up with the idea of Paolability in a message to the evolt mailing list about usability, reliability, etc., in 2001.

Read my Pootability blog to find out what's happening now.

*:^)