I found out about SETI in the late 90's early 2000's and was hooked. I have taken a few brakes every now and then but continue. My first glance through a telescope was at the legend Frank Drake's house as I had gone to school with his daughters. I was hooked since.
I now help with the development of the Monterey Bay Regional Spaceport which is currently being developed by Trans Universal Energy LLC.
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.