The year was 1993.
I was working for a commercial printing operation. The job wasn’t very fun. The print shop was hot in the summer, and cold in the winter. My immediate boss was a class A jerk, the owner of the company was a very nice and understanding guy. My hands looked like an auto mechanic’s hands, just dirty all the time, and grime under my fingernails. This was the best education I ever received. I knew that I did NOT want to do this forever.
I approached the owner one summer to see if I would be able to go part-time so I could go to the vo-tech school this fall.
He said that if I could take the classes in the morning, and work in the evenings but stay until the jobs were done, I could do it. I went to Kaw Area Tech School to learn basic electronics and how to fix and network computers. Luckily I survived the first-year electronics portion, there was quite a bit of math involved.
Then the 2nd year, was all in the computer lab. We had blazing fast, state of the art i386 computers running Windows 3.11 (Windows for Workgroups) on MS Dos 6.22. We learned how to take the computers apart and put them back together, then put them on a network. We began by learning all the terminology of computers, and the speeds of networks. Our network was a token ring setup and converted it to 10-Base T Ethernet as a class project.
One of our classmates brought in DOOM!. So we installed it on all the workstations. What was interesting is that while we were playing each other in the game, we were all talking about IP packets and how the network functions.
I learned enough to take the A+ Certification, and passed my first time. This opened the door for me to leave the printing industry (sort of, at least at that time), and work at a desk.
I worked at companies through the years that had the latest technology, Microsoft Visual FoxPro, Lotus Notes, Oracle Databases, Netscape Web Servers, Apple RADIUS, Apple Servers, LINUX Servers, Windows Servers, Novell Managed Networks and Workstations and Windows Active Directory networks. This started with the Kansas Press Association, Myers and Stauffer and the State of Kansas.
I have also done a lot of field work for companies large and small, from ma-and-pa sized companies out of their home, to one of the world’s largest companies Walmart.
The image above is me installing new servers at a Walmart.
This Gallery is installing a networking jack where there was none.
The gallery above is a funny call I went on because an access point wasn’t working at an apartment complex. Look closely, it’s full of water because of a leak in the ceiling.
One time, we switched out all the card scanners at Victoria Secret.
One project that I’m very proud of is a multi-Raspberry Pi on a MicroTik network. Come see it in action at Airsoft Zone in Topeka.
This picture is a Raspberri Pi kiosk that runs a video over and over as soon as it boots up.
I continue to do IT Consulting for a number of clients in Topeka. We help them with their websites, setting up email, managing the network, phone systems, printers, scanners, personal or business phones, tablets, desktops, windows computers, apple computers, etc.
