Now I begin my story at the beginning, which is as good a place as any. At least, I begin it where I began in engineering. (Never mind when that was; let's just say we wrote our lab reports using MS-Word 2.0 for DOS.) I had arranged a meeting with a certain Mr. Darrell Zarn to discuss my entrance into the program, and he took the opportunity to show me around the "brand new" facilities. If you don't know, there was in fact a time when all of SFU engineering was crammed into the 4000 level of the AQ.

One of the first things I noticed was a mezzanine-type walkway with a high vaulted ceiling above a computer lab. "They call this the Alligator Pit," he quipped, pointing to an inflatable green alligator, cleverly suspended from the vaulted ceiling by string. Several of the support pillars were graced with notices declaring "DO NOT FEED THE ENGINEERS." It didn't even occur to me to ask.

So for me, the Gator went into a bit of seclusion for a time. Sure, I caught glimpses of its green scaly polymer hide from time to time, but it was mostly pretty shy. It wasn't until digging through the Enscquire archives one day (years later) that I discovered the "Annual Gator Edition". In case you are wondering, there was only ever one such "annual" edition, but it struck me as curious that there was - or had been at one time - such a fascination with gators in our little community. And the drawings by Tim Hardy were pretty cute.

So I commissioned Kevin Cheng, erstwhile ENSCyber cartoonist extraordinaire, to draw us a Gator for the front cover of the paper. When I saw the drawing of a gator twirling a globe on his finger (a subtle expression of ERTW?) I knew that the Enscquire had its mascot, whom we dubbed Al "E" Gator just because it sounded cute.

But this still leaves the question: where did that very first Gator come from? I knew it predated me, so I asked some people I knew who also predated me. Nobody knew; it was always "just there". Until finally, it was Bill Lye (remember that guy?) who came to my rescue. "Why not ask Tim Hardy?" he suggested. "I think he brought it home from Japan." Aha! So I did just that, and what follows is Tim Hardy's response. "The introduction of the alligator to SFU ENSC was not intentional. The inflatable gator of ENSC fame was a birthday present that I bought in the summer of 1990 (in Hiroshima, Japan) for a certain young lady who lived in SFU residence (and who I was trying to impress with my wonderful taste in romantic gifts). I was doing a co-op term at Toyota at that time, and shipped the gator (for what seemed to be a small fortune) back to this lucky lady.

"It's interesting to note that although the gator was originally "born" in Asia (Taiwan, I believe), when I purchased it in Japan it was in American packaging, with a big "Imported from USA" sticker on it. This indicates that my shipment to Canada would have been the gator's third trans-Pacific crossing.

"When I returned to Vancouver in January 1991, I found that the lovely lady was not so impressed with the relative volume it took up in her rez room - and she demanded that I find it a new home. The budding relationship immediately fizzled, but I suspected SFU ENSC would warmly embraced the homeless alligator.

"Interestingly, much later, after the gator found fame and fortune, said unnamed-lovely-lady in fact tried to claim ownership (but not possession) of the gator, and as far as I know continues to claim ownership to this day. Be warned.

"So the alligator took up residency in the lab, over, under, and beside the cubicles in the pit - where he may just be living today."

As to how the Gator's indellible fame grew on us all:

"The gator immediately became a bit player in various ENSC events such as Polar Plunge. But the event that really rocketed the Gator to fame was a series of drawings of alligators by Tim Hardy which were randomly strewn throughout an early Enscquire edition, for no apparent reason. In fact, there really was no reason. But after that, the gator had truly found its new role as an icon of SFU ENSC.

"The gator was the focus of the very first Midnight Madness, which happened as part of the very First Week (1991, I believe). We had a grand treasure hunt that year (which I could write pages on) which had a final goal of finding the ENSC Alligator (as it was often referred to in those days). At each stage of the treasure hunt, participants received one word, which were then put together to create a clue as to the whereabouts of the gator. After many hours and much work, the clue that emerged was 'You can find the alligator if you are a lover.'

"Not so obvious? The trick was to say the sentence aloud, and with a little luck hear the words 'You can find the alligator if URL over.' The alligator was of course hidden in the ceiling directly above the centre of the URL water tank. The gator was not found until after much bribery of the judge. I still have fond memories."

So there you have it, folks. The official history of Al "E" Gator, as told by Tim Hardy, the original "Gator Guru". Straight from the horse - er, gator's mouth!