John Draper

Introduced himself while I was at Call Computer. I would go there late at night because they would rent time on their computer between midnight and 6am for 99 cents/hour. It was while I was in high school, old enough to drive. In the summer I told myself I was going to learn BASIC. John told me he was the system operator for the HP 2000C - named Cleo.

He gave me a BASIC manual that he said was extra and that I could keep.

He offered to teach me BASIC. He invited me to come by his place so he could teach me, and suggest I bring my swimsuit as he had a pool and we could swim as he taught me.

His place was a few doors down from Call Computer on Old Middlefield. It was a dump - like a triplex or series of units. He pointed out a meter on a table, telling me that his phones we bugged for life by the phone company, and this was a way he could tell when they were listening in.

In the pool, he did talk me through a few basic commands.

After swImming, he said part of the “workout” was that he would strengthen my legs and back by him riding on my back. He climbed up and had me jump up and down. After a little bit he left and went into a different room. I didn't realize what was going on but did not feel comfortable.

Several times later, he invited me by phone for a “workout”, but I never went again.

A few years later, he got my number again, through Bill Squire. Bill said John wanted to do another workout with me.

John started calling me directly and kept trying to convince me to drive to Berkeley to have a workout with him. He said he’d been to the Galapagos and had some amazing photos to show me. I never went and he finally stopped calling.