About Me

A little about myself. I reside in beautiful Pasadena, California, home of the Rose Bowl and Rose Parade. I have spent many years in the tech industry working for ISP’s and software companies in Customer Care, Help Desk, IT and QA. I currently work as an Ecommerce QA Analyst for iolo technologies, a subsidiary of Phoenix Technologies, which develops revolutionary Windows PC utility software.

I have been interested in computers since the 1980’s. My first system was an old CP/M machine and my second was an old Osborne 1, both purchased from swap meet. My early career was selling computer parts, back when motherboards were 8 to 12 MHz, sported DIPP sockets for a whopping 640k of RAM and hard drives were in the MB and not GB. The first full systems I ever built from parts were 8088 systems for people out of my apartment while at the same time managing a nearby Marina (my primary job).

I worked for a couple of computer companies building computers to customer specs, such as the Compaq Portable III (an oldie) and 286 systems which had just busted onto the scene. I took a break from computers, left managing the Marina, and at invitation of a friend of mine went to work over in Two Harbors on Catalina Island. I worked managing the campgrounds, worked in the general store, drove an island school bus back and forth to Avalon as well as other heavy trucks to pick up supplies.

After a couple of seasons I left to attend the Police Academy, paying my own way. I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps. If I knew what I do now I would have hit computer forensics like a time bomb but it didn’t exist at that time within local law enforcement – who knew the industry would explode like it did, when it did.

I worked for MTA (Fairbox Division) on the Blue Line, Red Line and Green Lines (the latter two under construction at the time) installing the ticket systems, wiring and computer systems. It was interesting working in the tunnels during construction. I’m glad to have been a part of that but I still have the philosophy that mass transportation does not work in SoCal.

After MTA I went to work at Earthlink, starting as an agent, advanced to senior agent, lead and then squad supervisor, sometimes supervising up to three teams of agents depending on what Supervisor’s did not show up on any given day. It’s about 100 to 150 agents or so.

After a few years I left to work for an automation software company named Unisyn software, now named Network Automation Inc. that makes really great automation software. Due to cut backs I left Network Automation Inc., and started at my current company of iolo technologies, LLC where I have been for 13 going on 14 years. I started from the ground up, making it to management in record time, also heading the launch of the company’s Labs department. It’s a great experience working for iolo.

In 2002, while at Network Automation Inc., a friend introduced me to a girl over Yahoo Messenger that was working in Hong Kong and after a course of time I flew to Hong Kong and married her. We have some beautiful boys, one who is on the high functioning autism spectrum. Unfortunately my wife has since passed away in February 2016 after 13 wonderful years of marriage. I still feel blessed. Some people get lotto tickets for money but whatever my ticket was delivered me a wonderful wife and great boys.

Aside from everything else I like ham radio, drawing, painting, making musical instruments such as Shakuhachi flutes and cigar box guitars, and I dabble in electronics. Recently I have purchased an Arduino kit so that me and one of my boys might make something creative. That’s me, living it large with the stuff I like to do.