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That's me in 1997. I'd take a new one of myself, but now I have a better camera. No point in taking chances with it. |
| And here I am in 2020 (the year, not my eyesight). I'm building this page in 2001, so the real me is somewhere in between. |
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I'm a technical writer. I've been doing it for 40 years now, with a couple of side trips into other kinds of work. In 1974 my brother and I had an asphalt plant, with which we paved some Forest Service roads in western Oregon. The timing was wonderful. That was the year the price of petroleum products went out of sight. Asphalt is a petroleum product, and we had no escalation provisions in our contract. It took took just a few days to break us. Back to technical writing.
Then there was the print shop. We were too old to start that. Illness and lack of experience did us in. Back to technical writing.
But that's ok. I like technical writing.
Recently (1998) I moved to the Los Angeles area to take a job with a local high-tech manufacturer. Probably the best job-related move I ever made. I was lucky enough to have exactly the experience and ideas the company needed, and they have shown their appreciation.
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That's me in 1997. I'd take a new one of myself, but now I have a better camera. No point in taking chances with it. |
| And here I am in 2020 (the year, not my eyesight). I'm building this page in 2001, so the real me is somewhere in between. |
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| I vacationed in Seattle in late July, 2003, and spent a couple of days on Harbinger, a 43-foot steel-hulled sloop belonging to my nephew and his bride-to-be. This photo is of me at the helm, having the time of my life. My sister insisted I post this picture -- probably to show that I'm not always a goof-off. (On the other hand, I wasn't exactly working!) |  |
I was widowed in 1985, and have become used to being single. I have a reasonable social life, and several hobbies that keep me off the streets - this computer, ham radio, hunting, fishing, off-road 4-wheeling, and so forth. Had to sell my Jeep when I came down here, but am thinking of getting another. Other pages on this site discuss some of these hobbies.
New Home
Since 1998 I had been living in a 2-bedroom apartment in Northridge, California. I had sworn to never buy another house. So much for swearing oaths. When the rent for that dinky little place passed $1200/month I bailed out. Bought a 4-bedroom house in Lancaster, CA for nothing down and a smaller payment. I'll never own the place outright, for I'll be pushing 100 (or pushing up daisies) by the end of the mortgage, but in the meantime I'll be able to deduct most of the house payment as interest.
So what need do I have of 3 extra bedrooms? Well, one is a ham shack/photo studio/guest bedroom; another is an office with computers & stuff; and the third is my miniature metal-working shop. The shop has only the lathe and the two mills; the "dirty" stuff -- grinder, bandsaw, etc. -- is in the garage. I think I'm going to like it here!
Personal Computing
This has been a large part of my life since 1977, when I purchased an Apple II. It got me into writing for publication, including two books and a dozen or so magazine articles. Click here if you're interested. If you're not, don't.
