I work for Excell Data Corporation as a computer technical support analyst (we call ourselves techies!). We fix computers when they break (and extract users from hopeless situations when they press the wrong keys!). Excell currently has me posted doing desktop support for Nike, Inc., at their World Headquarters campus in Beaverton, Oregon. Excell is a great company to work for--a real class act! If you are a computer tech, engineer or programmer looking for a good employer, click the "Excell Data Corporation" link above and check us out!
I was born and raised in the Portland, Oregon, area, and graduated from Centennial Union High School, Gresham, Oregon in 1969. After graduating from High School, I attended East Tennessee State University for one year (Don't ask! It's a long story! We're trying to keep this short, remember?), then move to Paducah, Kentucky and attended the Institute of Electronic Technology, a two-year Associate Degree-level school for training electronic technicians.
In 1972, half way through my second year at IET, our beloved Congresscritters ended the student draft deferrments, and had the audacity to assign me an extremely low number in the draft lottery! Seeing the writing on the wall, I researched what both the Army and Air Force could offer me (I had no desire to live on a ship full of men through most of each year, or crawl around in the mud, so the Navy and the Marines were out!). I've always had a weak spot for aircraft, stemming from the days we used to park behind the airport when I was a child and watched the Air National Guard planes flying around! So, in order to be able to finish school, I consequently decided to joined the U. S. Air Force on a six-month delayed enlistment. My draft notice came one month later! Best decision of my life!
Even though I fell into the lifestyle unintentionally, I found that I liked working among people with the high degree of integrity and personal responsibility that the Air Force demands of its members. And there was never any doubt about the importance of the job! Along the way I also found that I enjoyed learning about and using computers, and decided that that was the career I really wanted to persue. Fortunately, the Air Force obliged me by assigning me computer-related duties, and my last 13 years in uniform were involved in managing and maintaining computer systems under all sorts of interesting circumstances!
I retired from the USAF in August 1996 after a 24-year career. Although the USAF sent me to several exotic and enjoyable places both stateside and overseas, (including Thailand, where I met my wife Aree in 1975), my final assignment was to the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, which is located in the middle of farm fields 13 miles from the nearest town: Minot, North Dakota. Minot is a bustling metropolis (not!) of less than 8000 souls (yes, unfortunately, that's eight thousand: there are no missing zeros!), and a hotbed of the stereotypical conservative Country & Western lifestyle! It would be harder to find a less populated--or flatter--place in the USA! Or a less-suitable place to to send a politically-liberal hard-rockin' west coast big city native, but there I was! And stayed for almost seven years! It was definately an experience (we won't discuss what kind)!
Since departing from the service, I have relocated my family back to the Portland, Oregon area, which, after all my travels is still the best place I'd ever want to live! Those of you who have never lived here are indeed unfortunate. Although Metropolitian Portland is a big city with all the resources for support and entertainment that you would expect from any city today, it boasts more green spaces and trees than probably any other big city on earth (I know! I've seen many of them!). It is also the only place I know of where you can live in the city and in an hour or so later be on the beach, on the ski slope, in deep forest wilderness, or in sagebrush-strewn grasslands! We take our environment seriously here (we were the first state to require mandatory recycling of beverage containers, to ensure their recycling and reduce road-side litter!). However, we don't obsess over it (most of us don't anyway!). And we have the best public transit system in the nation, Tri-Met, a mix of light rail and bus service that can get you anywhere in the tri-county metripolitian area for a maximum fare of $1.35! I urge everyone unfamiliar with my remarkable home town to click on this Portland, Oregon link and explore the diversity and depth of this wonderful place to live! I'm happy to be home again!