The Debugger           Summer 1994

In this issue, you will find our first attempt at publishing pictures. I have my doubts that you will be able to recognize the alumni in the photographs; but we certainly tried in every way we could to make them come out clearly. Gary and Carol mention the taking of the pictures at two alumni get-togethers; and Don mentions the difficulty we had in trying to scan them with enough clarity to publish.

If you have ever commuted with anyone, you will get a kick out of Ed Moore's internship tale. Not being a typical student, Ed writes a very untypical article about getting to and from the job. I may have to provide Aston Au Yeung space for rebuttal in the next issue.

For the next issue, I will try to incorporate two alumni suggestions. Someone (sorry I can't remember who at the moment) asked for a list of the computer hardware/software we are using at IUP now. That will take some gathering but I think we can provide that for the Fall issue. Also, Milford Hazlet suggested that it might be good to have a IUP trivia quiz in each issue - I like the idea. I didn't come up with enough questions for such a quiz this time; but I should have one next time. Meanwhile, I would really appreciate any written contributions from any alumni. Don't be shy; tell us what you have been up to or express an opinion.

Jim Wolfe, Editor

Gary Buterbaugh

Our alumni are so very important to us. In fact that is the main reason why we take the time to send out The Debugger. Several times a week we get calls from our former students who are almost always surprised that we remember them and often recognize their voice.

Our alumni, retired faculty (Dr. Tompkins and Mr. Maple), our current faculty and staff and current students make up the IUP Computer Science Family. We hope that you feel apart of that family. In an effort to keep the family together we have tried to get our alumni, in three metropolitan areas where they are congregate, together. Several years ago several of our faculty meet with about forty five of our alumni in Washington, D.C. Shortly after that we had a meeting for our Pittsburgh alumni.

This June, Carol, Dr. Oblitey, and I met with about 30 of our Philadelphia alumni at the Sheraton Inn in Valley Forge. We had a really great time getting caught up and renewing old acquaintances. The department provided the food and we had a cash bar. Most of the alumni were surprised and pleased that we did not pressure them for money. You can see pictures of those who attended on the next few pages.

I would like to see us do this more, but it is quite costly for the department and takes up a lot of our time. With about 110 alumni in the Philadelphia, 40 in the Harrisburg area, 240 in the Pittsburgh area, and 106 in the Washington, D.C. area, we have four locations where it would be nice to hold reunions. Our purpose for holding reunions is to get our alumni together just to enjoy one another. Although we do make our financial needs made known from time to time, my personal philosophy is that if we treat our alumni right, when they have the money to give, they will do so.

If you would be willing to help us set up an alumni reunion in your area, let us know. A couple of our alumni in D.C. and a group at Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh had indicated that they would do so a

couple of years back, but so far, as far as I know, nothing has happened. After our Philadelphia get-together two of our Philadelphia alumni indicated that would organize a picnic for next year. But I really would like to do something in Pittsburgh, DC, and Harrisburg. So if you can help, give us a call.

Lois (Edinger) Raphael (93), Wendy Liskey (94), Brian Pearson (93), Jamie Zettlemoyer (93), Mike Elder (94)

Dave Freas (92), Tonya Jeschonek (92), Jennifer Baldwin (91), Rita Sarodia (90)

Roy Lampe (88), Julie (Paserba) Lampe (87), Dan O'Donnell (87), Sandra Whitely (87), Eric Murray (87)

Donna Thompson (86), Dave Hozlock (86), Deana Griffith (86), Owen Schostok (86)

Brad Peiffer (85), Mike Csuy (85), Sally Winiarczyk (84), Janet (DeForest) Auerbach (84), Dan Emig (84), Bob Schlentz (84)

Ken Whitley (81), Jim Palmer (77), Jane (Minzenberg) Battaglia (83), Ken George (83)

PHICO Get Together

Dr. Oblitey, Carol, and Dr. Buterbaugh met and had lunch with the four interns and two of the IUP Computer Science alumni at Phico Insurance in Mechanicsburg on June 13. Phico has been one of our best internship sites in the past several years, taking two interns each semester. Three of our alumni our employed at Phico.

Dr. Oblitey, Eric Hoover*, Traci (Rottmund) Ducceschi (91), Rebecca Salter*, Dewey Miller*, Rhonda Lucas*, Dr. Buterbaugh. Missing: Carol Miller (taking picture), Steve Brehm (76, parking van), and Mike Progar (89, on vacation).
* indicates an intern.

Carol Miller

Hi Guys and Gals -

It's summertime again. For some reason, about last February or March, I thought we'd never see summer again; but, believe it or not, they don't call it the four seasons for nothing. It's actually rather pleasant around here right now. I hope you are all having a good summer without hurricanes and tornados.

It's quiet at IUP with summer sessions almost over. There aren't too many folks around, and about 3:00 in the afternoon I haves to fight to stay awake - I know, I know, I fight to stay awake at 10:00 in the morning, too.

Gary Buterbaugh is busy planning his trip around the world for his sabbatical, and Tia Watts is making plans to rejoin us. Tia will be back in the fall after being on educational leave for a year.

Jim Maple just stopped in for a visit. He and Nancy (Jim's wife) were out taking their morning walk and stopped in to see if I was still alive (I was). They're going to New York for the weekend. Actually, they are visiting friends who have a house on Lake Chautauqua, but I can't spell it so I'm just going to say New York.

Mary Micco and her husband Ray have been in Albuquerque, NM this summer (I can't spell that either). Mary is on a working holiday. She is working at a military post by day and taking in the sights by night. Then they are driving to Los Angeles by way of the Grand Canyon and flying to Australia to visit Mary's family.

The Cunningham's are getting ready for a big wedding in November. Jane (5/87) is marrying Bob Harnagy who also works for Perot in Virginia. Best Wishes to you, Jane!!

I guess the most exciting news I have to report is the reunion trip to Philadelphia. Gary, Bill Oblitey and I drove down to Valley Forge on June 12 and we got together with the alumni from that area at the Sheraton Convention Center. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail because I think Gary will tell you more, but I do want to mention those of you who were there (I'll try to give a condensed version):

Jim Palmer (5/77) was the oldest (whoops, I mean he was the earliest grad). I hadn't met Jim, since he was BC (Before Carol), but it was really nice meeting you, Jim. Ken Whitley (5/81) was BC, too. Nice meeting you, Ken. Jane (Minzenberg) Battaglia (5/83) joined in the festivities. Jane was the earliest AC grad there.

Ken George (12/83) and his wife, Judy, were there. I hadn't heard from Ken for a long time. Ken's mother used to live in Indiana and Ken would drop in once in awhile, but we hadn't seen him for several years. He's been busy, though not long before the Philadelphia visit, I had a long email letter from Ken bringing me up to date on what he's been doing. After graduation he went to work for Shared Medical where he stayed until 1988. Because of his work with Shared he was able to travel to Canada, Spain, as well as most of the US. He's also traveled to most of western Europe and Egypt and South Africa. Also, during this time he started graduate work at Villanova. Then in April of 1988 he moved on to Digital Equipment Corporation, first in consulting and then in Sales Support. While in Africa (wait till you girls hear this), he went in quest of a diamond which he brought back and had a jeweler mount and which he presented to his (now) wife, Judy, when he proposed. Isn't that neat?? Wouldn't you say "YES"?? As always, it was terrific to hear from you and see you, Ken!

It was great to see Jan (DeForest) Auerbach (5/84) . Dan Emig (5/84) we've been seeing more in the last few years since he's been recruiting for Shared Medical. It's always great to see you. Bob Schlentz (5/84) I hadn't seen since he graduated. I'll always remember Bob. Bob is one of those guys (and the rest of you know who you are) that always had a devilish glint in his eye. And, he still does, right Bob? Sally Winiarczyk (12/84) still looks the same as she always did. Great to see you, Sally. Michael Csuy (5/85) has been a bit of a stranger. Mike hasn't changed much either. You know that's the one thing all these alumni have in common. Nobody has changed that much. Deana Griffith (5/86) and Donna Thompson (5/86) were hanging out together at IUP, and they're still hanging out together (maybe not quite as much). Deana bought an old house in the country and is restoring it. She says it consumes a lot of time and money. I believe her. I've known Donna since she was small and it was nice to see you again. Those two haven't changed either.

Dave Hozlock (12/86) is looking great - hadn't seen Dave since graduation either. Julie (Paserba) (12/87) and Roy (5/88) (Lampe), along with Dan O'Donnell (12/87) brought baby pictures. Remember how often I've raked Dan over the coals for not stopping by with the kids - well, finally I got to see them. Dan brought the pictures and, since Julie and Dan are cousins, there were pictures of Julie and Roy's Kayla too. Thanks!!

I hadn't seen or heard from Eric Murray (5/87) since he graduated either. Sandra Whitely (5/87) looks great and is doing well. Rita Sarodia (12/90) is now married to Vijay Patel. They really make a nice couple.

I've been given orders by Jen Baldwin (5/91) and Tonya Jeschonek (5/92) not to mention their names again in The Debugger, so I won't.

Dave Freas (5/92) is living and working in the Philadelphia area, too. Lois (Edinger) Raphael (12/93) brought her husband. (In the last issue, I told you she was planning her wedding). Jamie Zettlemoyer (12/93) brought his fiance, Leinaala Paresa. I'm not sure when they are getting married. Wendy Liskey (5/94) is one of the new hirees at Shared Medical with Lois and Jamie (also Jeff Senley and Barry Drangel). Actually, there are a lot of the above working for Shared Medical, these are only the most recent. Brian Pearson (12/93) is with Princeton Financial Systems in Princeton, NJ. Brian's always ready for a good party, aren't' you?

And, last but not least is Mike Elder (5/94). I have news about Mike so I saved him for last. As some of you know, Mikey worked here in the Office the past year so I thought I knew him fairly well. Listen to this: Mike dated Lori while on his internship at Prudential. Then, Mike came back to IUP to finish up, Lori went to Penn State to finish up and they both went back to Prudential in May to work. Well, they got engaged on the fourth of July and are getting married in October and already have the wedding arrangements made. WOW!!! Congratulations!! By the way, Mike, I'm not sure I told you after meeting Lori in Philadelphia, I do approve. (Everybody knows, don't you, that you need my approval before getting married?

The day following the reunion we visited an intern (Warren Hilton) at McNeil Consumer Products and while I was waiting for Gary and Bill to talk with Warren and his supervisor, Matt Arezina (5/86) kept me company in the lobby. Matt is doing contract work at McNeil. We had a really nice chat and caught up on old times, didn't we Matt? Matt is a good guy, though, he keeps in touch with us. I really enjoyed our visit. Thanks, Matt.

From there we drove to PHICO Insurance in Mechanicsburg to visit the interns there. We had lunch at a really nice restaurant with the interns and two of the three alumni who are working there, Traci Rottmund (12/91) and Steve Brehm (5/76). Then Steve took me on a tour of the PHICO facilities. Wow, is it nice. In fact, there was an empty desk that I tried to move into, but Steve held me back. Thanks for taking all that time to show me around, Steve. I really appreciate it! Oh, the other grad who works there is Mike Progar (8/89). Mike was on vacation.

Speaking of Steve (actually speaking of 5/76), Carol (Dombroski) Young (5/76) spoke at our May graduation ceremony, and she brought a picture of the May, 1976 graduating class in computer science. Steve is in it. They all graduated before my time, but one of the interesting observations I made is that there are six males and five females. I was always led to believe that computer science was a male dominated field. I'm beginning to think that was a vicious rumor started by a bunch of frightened men. What do you think, gals?

A few more tidbits regarding the Philadelphia trip and I'll move on. One of those tidbits is about Bob Smith 5/86). Is there anyone of that era who doesn't remember Bob Smith? Everybody we called in the Philadelphia area (male and female) asked if Bob Smith was coming to the reunion. We hadn't heard from Bob and the phone number we had wasn't good. Well, to all of you who asked, Bob Smith got our messages the following week and called. He merely moved to the Maryland side of Philadelphia. To those of you who don't know Bob, he's the guy I think wrote a certain Willie Nelson/Julio Iglesius song. Hope I don't get you in trouble at home, Bob.

Someone else we were wondering about called, too. Alan Sidock. Alan wasn't able to make it to the reunion, but he also called and chatted for a bit. We hadn't heard anything from or about Alan. I thought he'd fallen on his back in one of those ice storms (a little touche', there, Alan). He's still at DuPont in Wilmington. You haven't changed a bit, Alan!! But do keep in touch. I was getting tired of hearing, "Has anyone heard anything from Alan Sidock?"

Brenda (Neumesiter) Duvall (5/88) called me one day and we chatted for a long time. Brenda is working at SAIC in the DC area and working on her masters in artificial intelligence. She also got married in September and is living in Alexandria. She told me that Rob White (5/88) is also working at SAIC.

Cathleen (Ferguson) Reints (5/88) dropped by one day this summer. After working in the Maryland/DC area for several years, she and her husband came back to this area. Her husband is working on his degree here at IUP and Cathy is working at Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh. I'm really happy you stopped, Cathy. Please do so again. That goes for anybody out there!!

Got a call from Mark Lacy (5/89) in May. He brought me up to date on his current situation. He's working at the Marriott Residence Inn in the DC area. Stop in and see us if you're in the area, Mark.

Cathy Lawrence (8/93) switched jobs. She had been working at Fisher Scientific, but is now with Westinghouse in Monroeville. She has also moved to Monroeville and doesn't have that long commute we all hate. I hope everything goes well for you Cathy.

Back to speaking of restoring houses, Janie (Pike) Kustaborder (5/92) and Ron have just cleared the inside of their house down to the studding and are starting from scratch. In a previous issue I told you they bought an older home in Tyrone and were going to do a lot of work on it. Good luck, guys. Thanks for the jokes, too, Janie. They've been keeping me sane (relatively) this summer. I'm still going to try to get up there this summer. Guess I better hurry, huh?

Lisa Dillon (12/93) is working at Mellon bank in Pittsburgh on a temporary assignment. Lisa isn't sure what she'll be doing after that - either staying with Mellon or moving on to somewhere else. Let us know!!

Mike (5/87) and Mary Gutzat became the proud parents of Ryan Xavier on April 10. Ryan weighed 8 lbs, 14.5 oz and was 21 inches long. Congratulations Mike and Mary!!! By the way, all are doing well.

Mike Louttit (5/86) sent email just to say hello (get the hint, everybody?). He and Anita (5/88) (Costa) are both still working for Westinghouse in Pittsburgh. They have a two-year old named Cameron and Mike just finished his MBA at Pitt. Thanks for the update, Mike and Anita. Keep em coming!

Sherry Vranko (5/91) dropped in one day. She was up North visiting friends and relatives. Sherry is still in South Carolina at Westinghouse's Savannah River project.

Bob Lackey (8/92) also sent email just to say hi. He's still in DC but is now working with User Technology Associates as a Programmer/LAN Analyst after being laid off from PRC due to a staff reduction (I'm hearing a lot of that recently). Bob is working in a help desk group doing PC trouble shooting and programming in C. He's also helping with their conversion to Unix. Bob has a lot of contacts in the DC area if anyone is looking for a job, give me a call and I'll give you his netmail address.

T.J. Hall (5/88) and Patty are still in Pittsburgh; but he, too, got laid off from his job with Platinum and is back with Weirton Steel. Hi, TJ and Patty. Hope all is going well.

Dan Weaver ('75) is working for Step Engineering making in-circuit emulators for RISC microprocessors. Dan lives with his wife and three children in Santa Clara, CA. You can reach him by E-mail at dan@stepeng.com. Dan, I passed along your request for a description of our computer environment. It will probably show up in a coming edition.

What a surprise to hear from Jerome Sparks, aka Sparky, (12/84), who is now with GMIS in Malvern PA as a Senior Programmer Analyst. GMIS is a software vendor marketing cost containment solutions to insurance companies and health care facilities. Jerome and Jimmie Joseph used to hang out together. And, if you know those two you know they never caused any trouble. Thanks for all the nice compliments, Sparky!! Hope you can make it up for a visit sometime.

Brian Lawton (5/93) has become a Certified Power Builder Developer for Systems Automation in DC. Does that mean you can put CPBD after your initials? Brian, Mindi and Briana just moved to Columbia MD. Briana just turned three (hard to believe, isn't it?) and the new baby is Kevin Scot. Kevin is due in late August or early September. Needless to say, they're just a little excited, right? Brian, Mindi and Bri were here to visit in May. We had lunch at Kangaroos - remember Roos? Jeff Michna (12/93) was here the same day and we all had a nice time.

Victor Lee ('83) stopped in last week. He was in town staying with the Staszkiewicz' (the Provost). Victor is working on his Ph.D. at the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong and doing research in places like London and Syracuse. We hadn't seen Victor since he graduated and he hasn't changed a bit. We had a nice little visit.

Chris Eberly (5/81) sent me an update on his educational progress. I think I previously reported that Chris is at the University of Georgia working on his graduate degree. Chris is in the field this summer gathering bird census data and collecting vegetation and forest stand information which he is putting into a GIS and doing landscape level analyses. He is also using a Global Positioning System which uses satellites to give ground location. Kevin Hunter, I hope you're reading this! Thanks for the update, Chris. I do enjoy the descriptions of your work that you send!

Steve Bassler (12/87) called the other day. Steve is still with Allegheny Power Systems in Greensburg and is living in Derry PA. His daughter is going to start college in the Fall. Sure am glad I'm not that old. Nice hearing from you, Steve!

Fred Wickramasekera (12/90) called and chatted one day. Fred is working in San Francisco for Training Alternative. As always, great talking with you, Fred.

Larry Moon (5/92) was visiting the beginning of May. He didn't come to see us though. He came to play golf with Mikey Elder. It was good to see you Larry. Larry is still working at Corning Glass in Corning, NY and just bought a new Grand Prix. It's really pretty.

Dayle Hodge (5/84) gave me a call. He was actually looking for graduates to work for his company but we caught up on old times. Dayle has been married for 7 1/2 years and has two little girls, Erin and Caley. Dayle has been working for Group One Software in Lanham MD. Don't wait so long to get in touch again, Dayle!

Judy (Lipnicky) Diehl (5/87) who is married to Dave Diehl (5/88) called one day. Judy and Dave had a baby girl, Nicollette who is about six months old now. Congratulations Judy and Dave. They are still in Virginia at AT&T. Bring Nicollette up for a visit.

Gary Perrier (5/92) is in Spring Grove, PA with P.H. Glatfelter Company. He is a Corporate Computer Programmer. P. H. Glatfelter is the world's largest book publishing paper company and has two mainframes, an IBM for the financial aspects and a DEC VAX for the production of the paper. Gary really likes it there, and we're glad to hear he's enjoying his work. Please keep in touch, Gary!

Anybody who thinks there is some rhyme or reason as to the order in which I report your reportings is wrong. I know it would be nice if I had a system like alphabetically or by year graduated. The sad truth is they all go into a big pile and I write them in the order they come up in the pile. Sometime when I get really organized (the year before I retire) I will take time and put them into some order. How to you want them, alphabetically or by year graduated?

Everywhere I go that I run into alumni, I'm told that this article is the first thing they look at when they reach in the mailbox and discover the latest edition of The Debugger has come. They tell me they really want to see where everyone is and what they are doing. So, please keep your cards, letters, email and calls coming in because we enjoy hearing from you, too. Something else that never fails to surprise us is when someone says "Do you REMEMBER me?". Sure, we remember you. If you had someone come stay in YOUR family for four years, wouldn't you remember them? While you were at IUP, you were part of our family. We don't always remember your name when you walk through the door, but we remember your face.

That's all I have this time. I'll be back in the Fall with more updates, so please give me a call or drop a few lines by either US or electronic mail. I'm sure everyone would like to know what you're doing now, if your married (or divorced - you don't have to tell us that - you can lie), how many and how old your children are (if you haven't been married as many years as your oldest child, you can lie), if you have a new house (or an old house), if you'd be willing to write an article for The Debugger (I'll pass that information along to Jim Wolfe), if you've done some interesting things since leaving IUP (or if you've only done boring things, you can lie). I'll be watching for you!

P.S. One of these issues when I have enough room, I'm going to list some of those people faculty ask me about or we wonder where are they now. Like Jeanne Peoples and Janet Harrell.

Don Rosenberger

In my last article, I let you know about our new emphasis upon documentation. This has provided projects for several of our majors taking EN322, Technical Writing, and has also given some of the Tompkins Lab staff practice with the basics of documentation before taking the course. The summer sessions have been busier than usual for the Tompkins Lab - primarily because of our documentation efforts.

Due to some of the problems our interns were having with the use of our classroom carts, we are producing documentation for each cart. (The department has four now.) The hardware, connectivity, software, and established defaults for each platform will be discussed in our cart manuals. This should provide faculty with the information needed to make the cart work, or to "repair" it if someone reconfigures the machine(s) incorrectly. We are also working on documentation for the new DELL laptop computer, which may be used for demonstrations in CO101 in the near future.

While much of our documen-tation is intended for use within the Computer Science Department, the lab staff is also writing documentation with the IUP community in mind. For example, we try to discuss the running of certain applications, like Kermit, from Tompkins Lab, the Data Centers, or from home. This makes our introductory manuals useful to all novice users, instead of merely our CO freshmen. Generally, any manual we publish which could be useful to other departments is available at Copies Now or Pro-Packets for the cost of reproduction. (Three dollars or less, depending upon the manual.)

The Beginning VAX Users Manual is undergoing extensive update at this time, and we are planning to have it ready before the start of the Fall semester. A manual discussing the basics of FTP from the VAX mainframe has already been released. The fine points of E-mail, EVE, and LSE are to be discussed in a manual that is currently under draft. This manual may help with the transition toward LSE as the CO department's "standard" editor.

Our documentation efforts are also moving toward the use of more graphics, so that users can follow directions by referencing figures. This has been more difficult than it first appeared. Wordperfect has a problem dealing with certain graphics formats. We also found converting between formats can make a mess. Our staff helped to scan/format the photos of the interns you can see in this issue of The Debugger, and encountered more than our share of problems. We learned a lot from this experience, and hope to become better as we practice.

I hope that you enjoy our contributions to the newsletter. We are always trying to find better ways to do things, via configuration, upgrades, etc. If you happen to be in town in the near future, please feel free to pay us a visit, and see the changes we are making.

Ed Moore

To obtain an apartment for 6 months or have a daily commute that was the question. I had been granted the opportunity to intern at Pittsburgh Plate Glass starting May 1994 with the Flat Glass division (sorry I don't do windshields they are curved). Since I own my house and have 7 children (as you may have guessed I am not the typical student) a choice never really existed. However my decision to make the 152 mile round trip commute was the basis for my fellow intern, Aston Au Yeung's (aka The Kid from Hong Kong--see tatoo upper left arm "Made in Hong Kong"), decision to commute also. Aston received his internship at USX on the South side of Pittsburgh where he has free parking.

I commuted alone for the first three weeks. I would arise at 4:20 AM, leave home about 5:15, arrive at 3 Rivers Stadium (cheapest parking at $1.75/day.), and make the 15 minute walk to PPG across the bridge. The reason for leaving so early was to avoid the traffic jams. I had discovered that leaving 1/2 hour later got me to Pittsburgh 1 hour later. At night the reverse process began by walking to 3 Rivers, merging with the traffic jam at the Heinz Plant, and slowly advancing to Fox Chapel where traffic would return to normal speed. The reason I traveled alone during this time was that Aston started 2 weeks after me and his first week was a lot of training (checking blast furnace temperatures, shoveling coal, etc.) and he rarely worked 8 hours. In fact, I'm not sure if he ever has.

After this time had elapsed, we came to a mutual agreement that we could both save money if he drove (remember- free parking) and I helped with the other expenses. This has been a real experience for me. To this date I am not sure that he possesses a valid PA drivers license -- in fact he shows a real lack of knowledge of the PA Motor Vehicle Code. He claims to have learned to drive in Hong Kong and New York City. Never having visited either of these places, I can say that this information has dropped them far down in my "Places to See" list. However I must admit his method of driving has greatly decreased my travel time. Don't get me wrong now, I'm not saying that we are setting new land speed records daily -- you see, we are travelling in an old Toyota with close to 130,000 miles on it. No, the secret lies in an IF statement Aston says he developed in CO110 class.

IF car in front going too slow THEN
   Move to left lane
   IF left lane full THEN 
      Move to right lane
   ELSE
      Honk horn
   ENDIF
ELSE  
   IF car in front might be going too
           slow in the future THEN 
      Move to left lane
      IF left lane full THEN
         Move to right lane
      ELSE
         Honk horn
      ENDIF
   ENDIF
ENDIF

He claims that this is an international standard accepted by the ACM. I still says it won't compile.

The second secret to a short commute time is the "merge file" he developed in Cross's CO220. This move is especially useful when we have gotten off late. Since there are many cloverleafs as you leave Pittsburgh on Route 28, the berm lane is perfect for advancing through traffic jams with the "merge file" move. He uses the berm lane until the next merge lane appears, pretends to merge, and, when it ends, drives to the next merge point in the berm lane. (I have a strange feeling that this was not the original intent of the highway design).

To decrease time in the mornings he employs the "bubble sort" (he believes we should be on top) at the Etna bottleneck. At this point, the left lane is for the Etna bypass (usually backed up to Fox Chapel) and the right lane is for the Etna exit (usually empty). "Now we bubble to the top of the list!" he mutters as we move into the Etna lane. At the last instant as we begin our descent toward Etna he veers into the yellow hashed zone and says, "Look like we're lost. Someone will let us in." It works every time.

Another additional enlightenment I have gained from my commuting is my exposure to a foreign language (other than Pascal, C, or COBOL). I'm not sure that many of the phrases I have been exposed to will be beneficial in future business situations but I will retain them in case the appropriate situation arises. I have also become quite good at catching my briefcase as Aston speeds away after dropping me off.

I look forward to a commute in the snow with the "Kid From Hong Kong" and will leave you with one piece of advice. If you ever see a light blue Toyota on a trip to Pittsburgh -- Get out of the way!!

Tony Lonsinger

During the second half of this summer session, I have been working in the lab on documentation for the use of the classroom carts by faculty, and working with Dr. Sweeney and his CO 101 classes as an assistant and grader.

Life in Tompkins Lab can, at times, be both challenging and hilarious. While working down here for me is always fun, sometimes I have to wonder where students can come up with the question that I am asked. One instance of this is when I am asked, "Which disk drive is A:?" If they would look at the computer in front of them, they would see that most, if not all of the drives on the machines, are marked either A: or B:.

Another little fun thing that I came up with is a running gag we have with the Novell Network version of Windows. I decided one day to ask Don Rosenberger, if we could put a bitmap background in Windows as a joke. The bitmap is screen capture of a Color Macintosh desktop, after showing it to him he liked the idea so he implemented it into the Novell Network version of Windows. Then, we just sit back and watch for the unsuspecting student to load the Network Windows. We often get a good laugh out the person as they see the background come up on the screen.

The best though is when they don't notice right away that the Macintosh desktop is there and then they try to go up to where the Macintosh pull down menu would be and try to use it. I know that this wasn't a very nice thing of me to do to people, but my philosophy is if they sit down to use Windows and they have used it before (which in most cases is true) then they should not fall for the practical joke of a Macintosh desktop coming up in the Windows program.

For those interested in what the Macintosh Desktop bitmap looks like you should stop in and see if you actually fall for it too. It is just funny seeing Windows load up with a Macintosh desktop. Until next time.

Steve Murphy, ISCC

Students this year will face a number of changes in how they identify themselves on campus. This year's new University I-card, which will be used for more than just identification, initiates the use of an individual banking number. At the same time, students will have an opportunity to change how they are identified on VMS. One of the significant results of all these changes is a move away from the use of the Social Security number.

Until this year, the Student Identification Number (usually the Social Security number) has appeared on the I-Card for student, staff, and faculty identification. A new bank code (a 16-character ABA number) will appear on the new I-Cards (now called One-cards) instead. In COSMOS, the University's master database, a cross-reference file has been created so that an ABA number can be translated to a student ID number. A subroutine has been developed so that input to designated screens can be either by a student-ID entry or by swiping the I-card in a reader. Among many other advantages, because the student ID number no longer appears on the new One-card, the system provides a more secure approach to personal identification.

The main key to obtaining COSMOS data is still the student ID. Initially, the ABA number will not be used at all except to translate it to the student ID number in card applications. Class lists will still print the student ID, not the ABA number. Objective tests scored using the electronic Testscoring package will also key on the student ID. And, if a student loses his card, the ABA number for that student is simply changed.

Many students have already had their pictures taken for the new cards, which will be distributed by mail sometime in August. The new One-card will be implemented for fall semester, starting at university check-in on August 28.

A second move away from the use of the student ID number or SSN is in the change to the basis for VMS usernames. The Social Security number is the primary number used by the University for the student and employee identification numbers. In the past, usernames were created by converting the student or employee identification number from base-10 to base-24. Letters of the alphabet, excluding I and O, were used as base-24 digits resulting in a unique 7-character username for each person.

Beginning in the fall, all new usernames will be based on a "member" number that, since the arrival of VMS on campus, has been sequentially assigned to each person as their first login authorization was established. The member number will be run through a base conversion algorithm, resulting in a four or five character username consisting entirely of consonants.

Currently, faculty and staff are able to change their usernames to something that they choose (within certain parameters) using a program called MAKEME. This fall, students who have a username based on the old scheme will have the opportunity to change it to one based on the new scheme using a program called CHANGEME. We anticipate that many students will elect to retain their current usernames, especially if they have been regularly corresponding via e-mail. However, the CHANGEME facility is available for those students concerned about the privacy of their SSNs.

Bill Oblitey

The (Armstrong and Indiana) ARIN high school programming contest, which we have been conducting every reading day, and which many of you have helped with, has had a format change.

With the old format, the high school students brought their own computers (Apples in almost all cases) with their graphics oriented programs on diskettes. We categorized the students' projects and place them in respective rooms. Each contestant then loaded his/her program, ran it and explained the program to his/her peers while the Computer Science student judge assigned points. This took place from 9:00 A.M. through 12:00. The judges then compared notes to determine the winner of the various categories. Pizza and drinks lunch was from 12:00 to 1:00 P.M.

The high school students were then given a tour of IUP's computers and computing labs (whichever ones were available at those times). While the tour was going on, there was also a programming contest being conducted parallel to the tour. This meant that those who were part of the programming contest could not be part of the tour.

At 2:00 P.M., everyone would be assembled in the Mahachek Auditorium (that is, until the Mathematics Department also decided to use the same day for their CQUEL orientation and started competing with us for the auditorium) or in cases where the auditorium was not available, in one of the opened-up class rooms for the closing exercises. At this assembly, the winners of the programming contest and the various categories of the graphics design contest were announced and prized were given. That was the old program which we called the ARIN Computing Contest to suit its activities.

The new program has a difference. It is called ARIN-TAPS (ARIN Technology Assisted Problem Solving) Competition. It is designed to concentrate essentially on problem solving activities that will challenge teams of the high schools' best and most technologically-oriented learners. In addition, the teams use and learn about technology. As usual, the program is designed for teams of five tenth to twelfth graders from the high schools of Armstrong and Indiana counties, although seventh through ninth graders are allowed to compete if they choose to do so. Also, any high school may enter more than one team.

This Spring, a few of the professors joined me to create the first TAPS competition and the contestants were enthralled. There was a carry-along problem, a cryptarithmic problem, a treasure hunt, and a graphics-design problem. The high school students had no idea of the problems they were coming to meet until the day of the contest.

The carry-along problem was a modified bingo game that demanded the use of the greedy algorithm. The contestants had the choice of employing the computer to ensure that their solution is correct. While solving the carry-along problem, they were also working on another problem. There were three problems running parallel and supervised by professors Cross, Cunningham, and Micco. The teams were placed in groups of three and each group worked on a particular problem for a specified time, after which there was a rotation of the teams around the problems.

Professor Cross' problem concentrated on electronic mail and cryparithms. Some cryptarithmic problems were assigned and the students in the various teams had to work together to solve as many of the problems as possible but they could not talk to each other; they could only communicate using electronic mail. They could ask questions concerning the problems and this also had to be done through electronic mail.

Professor Cunningham conducted an Internet Treasure Hunt. Student were shown how to obtain articles and other items of interest and then they were given some items and articles to fetch. The teams competed against each other and also against time.

Dr. Micco conducted a logo design/drawing that employed multimedia groupware. Students designed/drew logos of their choice with minimal help from Dr. Micco.

The enthusiasm of the students was wonderful and in some cases we did not think that we were challenging them enough. The Computer Science student judges also did a wonderful job (as usual). We are still compiling and canning problems that will be challenging enough for future contests. We call on all of our alumni and current students to send us computer related problems. The problems may be programming-oriented or non-programming-oriented but they must have something to do with a computer or a computing device. Send your problems to the Editor of the The Debugger and it will be directed to me. Thank you in advance.