Bob Space

Bob Portnell is a technical writer residing in Sparks, Nevada. (Don’t plan on visiting if you’re going to Vegas; you won’t like the 880-mile round trip.) He has been on the web in one manner or another since 1997. Contact him at nvdaydreamer (at) gmail -dot- com (and be sure to write in a way that doesn’t fall into his voracious spam filters. You have been warned).

Other things Bob thinks you might like to know about him (apart from a tendency on this page to refer to himself in third person):

Brief Bio

Born 1965. I was a child of a single mother and a latchkey kid before they invented the term. For better or worse I was also very bright. This meant I was able to create my own amusements when Mom wasn’t around or TV wasn’t appealing or friends weren’t available (which was often — I was kind of shy.)

My fate was probably sealed in sixth grade English class when I read a friend’s story, said “I can do that!” and did. I don’t know why it hadn’t occured to me to put my pretend stories onto paper before. But it sure became an option afterward. The English Language became and remains my favorite toy.

High school dawned (1979) and some of the older kids were muttering about this game called Dungeons and Dragons. I poured most of my spending money the following summer into the AD&D books and dice and other stuff. And I didn’t have a clue what was going on. It wouldn’t be until April 1, 1981 that I’d enjoy my first “real” roleplaying experience, playing The Fantasy Trip.

From then on roleplaying games have contaminated most of my writing, my life and my perceptions. I’ve played TFT, D&D, Runequest, Traveller, MegaTraveller, Star Trek (FASA), Champions, endless years of GURPS, Big Eyes, Small Mouth, Simply Roleplaying!, Fudge … suffice to say I’ve rolled dice a few times.

My Internet Life

Tthe first incarnation of my “Decker” persona came to be in 1983, as a character for Star Trek: The Role Playing Game. I later used the handle in local computer bulletin board systems, not realizing that the computer cognoscenti had another meaning for “decker.” But both worked. And conversation and reflection brought me to realize I had much in common with those two martyred Federation officers. Other online conversations brought me my wife!

With the arrival of the Web and the compulsive need to share some of my writing output (and still not understanding that I could get paid for writing, really!), I created the “Decker’s Data Pool” website. It moved through several different general designs and organizations, but I was never really very happy with it. The “concept” wasn’t there. It was okay to say “Decker” in text, but it didn’t reflect me in an interactive way.

So, in Dec. 2000 I was daydreaming about what I might use for a domain name for a personal website… and daydreaming offered itself. The rest was history, and within a very short two weeks I’d redesigned the website and most of my Internet presence to identify myself as “NVDaydreamer.” That persisted for three-and-a-half years… an eternity on the web. In 2006 I redesigned my personal site as “Bob Space.” In 2009 I decided it would be easier to streamline the site into a WordPress installation — and here we are, in the mark II version of “Bob Space.”

But Who Are You?

Well, I am a forty-something California-born, Nevada-bred male, one of the last of the Baby Boomers or the first of Gen X depending on whose math you use. I am a dedicated Christian … not properly devout but dedicated and working at it. I am loving husband of “Country Buff” and doting father of “Li’l CB,” age 14, and “Li’l Jackie,” age 7.

I recently moved into the tech sector after decades working the night shift at lodging properties. I now work for the world’s biggest manufacturer of slot machines for casinos. My Bachelor of General Studies degree (2004) paid off! Stay in school, kids!

For no pay but for excellent fringe benefits, I clean house, feed pets, and do most of the cooking.

Bob’s Interests

Bob started to write out a list of the things he likes … and decided it was simpler to just write “geek” and leave it at that. You can work out the rest.

HOW TO LIVE

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