The Cuckoo's Egg

I benefited much from reading the "Cuckoo's Egg." I often fall into a trap thinking that my life is destined to drab computer code, Little Caesar's pizza, and an overall feeling of being like a robot. It is a genuine concern of mine studying Computer Science. This book presented not only a genuinely exciting story in the CS world (albeit an extremely uncommon story), but also a truly fascinating character. Both of which give me hope for the future. Through 400 pages of development, I found Cliff Stoll to be a terrific lead character; one full of passion and energy. Unfazed by the pessimism and disinterest around him concerning the hacker, Stoll trusted his gut. Being willing to act on feelings despite a lack of support is to do things out of the ordinary. Stoll was willing to do what others were not and became a hero. He followed no prescribed protocol or path to catch the hacker. Instead he engineered his own solution by sleeping under his desk, rigging up printers to track activity, and being willing to respond to trouble at any time. I admire this. He was able to discover a problem and his efforts to fix it were extremely proactive and focused. This is an attitude I would like to employ more in my own life. Too often I feel on the defensive side, or in the passenger seat of the car. I am hanging on the curtails of the world around me. One of my deepest desires is to unveil societal problems that I can be a part of the solution to. I want to be filled with excitement and curiosity to the point that I too am willing to do things I would not ordinarily do. I believe that only then can we make truly worthwhile changes in the world.