My name is Peter Finch [not the actor] and I am a computer programmer living in Sydney, Australia. As I get older I find I forget more and more, or at least find it harder to recall. I thought I would start using WordPress to store some of my mental jetsam. “Flotsam and Jetsam” is a common nautical term for stuff found floating in the water, but there is a distinct difference between the two. “Flotsam” is “the part of the wreckage of a ship and its cargo found floating on the water” where “Jetsam” is “goods cast overboard deliberately, as to lighten a vessel or improve its stability in an emergency, which sink where jettisoned or are washed ashore” (thanks to www.dictionary.com). I thought “Mental Jetsam” was an appropriate name for this blog.

I started programming when I was 14 when I developed a number of Computer games to teach kids to tell the time, spell and perform basic maths. I then went to the University of Technology, Sydney where I got a degree in Computer Science in 1992.

I have worked for a number of companies over the years, including a small US “start-up” called EBT during the “Dot.com” boom. That was fun, but sadly, I did not make my fortune. I’ve been working as a contractor ever since to support my hobbies, stop my wife from devoicing me (just kidding honey) and prevent myself from starving.

The more I think about it [oh... there goes another memory], it’s probably just that there is more to remember these days, more information, and that we are bombarded with new data every minute of the day. Perhaps I’m not getting old, perhaps it’s normal and I’m just a causality of the modern age, or perhaps it’s… um… bugger, I forgot what I was talking about.