My Bio of Sorts

Born: August 8, 1952
Career field: Computer Consultant, Military Contractor
Personal Quote: "It wasn't me!"

General History

     During this process I have been in all 50 states, all Canadian provinces and 28 countries.  I have lived in Alaska (before it was a state), Washington (5 cities), Oregon, California (4 cities), Texas, Mississippi, Illinois, Delaware and Arizona.  I am now settled back in Tacoma.

     I started my career in computers in 1972 in the US Air Force as an "Electronic Computer Maintenance Repairman" (AFSC 30554a) working on a 1400 series system made by IBM modified by AT&T and was located deep underground at March AFB in Riverside, CA.   It was underground because it was one of 3 of its kind and was part of the control system for the US defense network.

     After the war was over (Vietnam) in 1975, and I was RIFed (reduction in force) out of the USAF and headed home to Tacoma.   I went back to school to learn a few things to make me employable in something other than computers and electronics and got a 2 yr. degree in Criminal Justice -- of course by the time I finished that they changed the hiring requirements for Police and I no longer qualified.  I decided to concentrate on computers.

     While doing these things I also Joined the Civil Air Patrol (a search & rescue unit and USAF Auxiliary - Follow the link for more information) and received a couple of awards: a "find" ribbon for being first to located a downed aircraft, and a Lifesaving Award for finding a missing person before they came to harm. (disabled person who needed medication). I was Communications Officer for Mt Rainier Squadron and then Information Systems Officer for Washington Wing

     After a while decided to start my own business and so was born Pacific Computer Consultants in July of 1986.  The business grew from about 15 customers the first 6 months (well what do you expect from a home based business start up?) and grew to having a income able to be my sole source of income in 1990 and from there from just paying the bills to giving me enough income to buy all sorts of new gadgets and 'toys'.   I closed Pacific Computer Consultants in 1996 and after wrapping up other loose ends I moved to Eugene, OR.

     After getting settled in Eugene I reopened the business under the name of Willamette Computer Consultants in April of 1998 (another company had the PCC name in Oregon).   Since Eugene had a much smaller customer base I was forced to also work for a local software company (doing tech support) to supplement my income.  During that time I reduced my business to a hobby business and concentrated in making my job at the software company my primary career path.  I left that company in Sept of 2001 and again took my business to full time.

     I finally moved back to Tacoma in March of 2002 and reopened the business.  I moved due to the lack of a large enough customer base to support a full time business.

     The business didn't pick up as much as I thought it would so I tried a few new fields of employment.  I knew driving Taxi was easy to do and was not hard to get into so I started driving Taxi in 2003 (no not for Yellow Cab).  I drove for 2 yrs and though it was enjoyable there was not much money in it.  I stopped driving Taxi in  Dec of 2005.

     I started working for a military contractor in January of 2006.  We help train US military members for deployment to various places where they will be dealing with 'alleged' terrorists.

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     All during this time from 1972 until now.. I have been involved with computers and electronics.. actually started in high school.. I guess I am one of the original nerds.. AV squad, Chess club and those stereotypical black frame glasses, pocket protector and the rest.. that was me.   I have either worked in the computer or electronic industry or pursued it as a hobby since 1970 in some form or another.

     My first computer was an Altair, my next was a Vic 20 (by Commodore), then the Commodore-64, then an Olivetti (8088) then a Packard Bell (80286/10MHz ) then another Packard Bell (20386/16 MHz) then I built my own a 386/DX 40 (AMD).  I have build each of my systems since then - each with a faster processor and larger drive than the one before.  I currently have a AMD Athlon XP 3600+ - yah not the biggest and baddest.. but it fits my needs and then some.

     As for operating systems I started with DOS 2.x and used them all up till DOS 6.22 used Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1 .. I finally started using Windows 95 (OSR2.1) in January of 1999.....and finally went to Win98 (in May 2000)  and then to Win98SE (April 2004), and finally bit the bullet and moved to XP in Jan of 2007 perhaps someday I will upgrade to another version of Windows.. or maybe go to Linux - and no I will never put Vista on any of my systems.

     Anyway....looks like this turned out not to really be a bio - more of a history.. but I suppose it is a bio of sorts.
 
 

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(last updated Feb 18, 2008)