Who am I?
My name is John Alexander Zabroski. People call me “Z-Bo” instead of mispronouncing my last name.
How I became a programmer
When I was 11 years old, my sister really wanted a computer. At the time, I didn’t see any value in computers beyond the ability to make crossword puzzles and play Oregon Trail. I was reluctant to help my sister convince my parents we needed something more than a 300 pound crossword puzzler maker.
However, mom and dad always said yes to me and no to her. Realizing this, she promised me that she’d buy me 50 cent laffy taffy from the ice cream truck if I convinced them to buy a $3,500 computer system.
Fair trade.
After the computer arrived, I was engrossed in its multimedia capabilities. Within a month I had started using Adobe Photoshop 4 and Visual Basic 3, eventually getting a copy of Poser3D and other rich multimedia programs.
Why people call me Z-Bo
In high school, I played football and my JV coach insisted on coming up with a new nickname for me every other minute, some of them a form of macho heckling. :) I eventually got fed-up with all the namecalling, and told the coach off in front of the whole team, forbidding him to call me any more names other than my given name.
Well, he flipped out, grabbed me by the face mask, pinched my nose, and said, “What did you say? Out here I am king at the table, I’ll call you late for dinner if I want to!” The whole team got a good laugh out of it, and then the coach made me run for the rest of practice. When I got back, the coach informed me, “We’re calling you Z-Bo from now on.”
