Who is Tipop?

Well, who is he, really? Let's begin with some vital statistics: He's married, 38 years old, blonde and blue-eyed, and bears his father's dimples. (He ought to return them some day...)

He was born Mark Damon Williams in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, much to his dismay. Acting quickly, he moved to Los Angeles, California at the age of two. His parents came along. He's never looked back since.

What's he up to?

No good, probably. However, he's currently attending ITT Tech in Clovis, California (and maintaining a 4.0 average so far!) His wife and he are planning to have a baby as soon as he graduates and gets a damn job.

What's up with the name?

His nickname comes from a strange concatenation of circumstances. He began playing Dungeons & Dragons at an early age. In high school a well-meaning but ill-informed young lady warned him that he was "playing with forces he didn't understand" and if he continued he would become possessed.

Laughing this off, he soon forgot her dire warnings.

Not long after this, Tipop completed his first full program... Not some little experiment, but a full-featured paint program for an 8086 PC. He decided to "sign" the program in the credits with the name "The Possessed Programmer". He did this partly in tribute to the predictions of that darling mouth-breather in high school, and partly because of the frantic, sometime manic lifestyle of the dedicated programmer.

Soon all of his programs had the nome-de-plum "The Possessed Programmer" in the credits, and he came to identify with that name.

Years later he got his first modem, a 1200 baud puppy. He logged onto his first computer bulletin board with a little trepidation, unsure of what he was really doing.

However, when the prompt came up for a "Username", there was no hesitation at all. Cheerfully he began typing...

"The Possessed Pro"

That was as far as he got. Apparently there was a LIMIT in the username field. Oh, the humanity! How could he exist in cyberspace without his beloved name? Then he thought... "I know! I'll use the acronym! TPP!"

As he sat staring at the letters TPP on the screen, he realized that you can't really PRONOUNCE that name without spitting all over your keyboard...

Not wanting to be blamed for hundreds of shorted-out circuit boards across the state, he decided that something had to be done...

Then inspiration struck! Add vowels to the acronym!

And so... Tipop was born!

Long story for a short name, but HEY, you asked!