What is a 'geek' or 'nerd' anyway? I guess I'm saying both of those words describe the same type of person and I think most people would agree with that. If you asked people to make a list of the qualities of a geek I wonder how close their lists would be. I have a saying "everyone is a nerd to somebody". I've shared that saying with people and they usually agree even though we never take time to decide on a proper definition of what a nerd is. So anyway; I'll tell you some things about myself and youll probably agree that I am kinda nerdy. I think a lot of people that know would say that I'm a nerd with pretty good people skills though.

I did pretty well as a kid in math and science classes and started learning electronics on my own when a young teenager. I was shy and didn't mingle much with the opposite sex. Also as a kid I liked to play with electric trains, Erector Sets and put plastic model airplanes together. I was also fascinated with rockets and space travel. I did like to play some sports though, mostly baseball, and I liked to ride my bicycle and use my sleigh on snow in the winter. My parents were cool with providing my sister, two brothers and I with a lot of scientific toys and games and allowing us to use tools and try to build and fix stuff. As a result of that we all went on to be trained and make a living in science-related stuff like Biology, engineering and computer science.

I learned quite a bit about electronics by the time I graduated high school. I had built, modified and/or fixed a lot of stuff in my high school days, mostly things related to music such as guitar amplifiers and audio tape recorders. After high school at age 17 I went in the U.S. Air Force to learn more electronics and get the G.I. Bill benefits for going to college later. You can read about my Air Force activities by going here MyMilitaryExperience .

After the military I went to college and eventually got a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Wichita State University in Wichita, Ks. where I spent most of my time in the Air Force. Wichita was a nice place to live and learn, looking back on it. Life is a lot simpler and cheaper than most places in California.

I started working in engineering before I got my actual degree and here is a list of companies I have worked for since 1979:

You can view my LinkedIn profile also at this link LinkedIn profile

NCR Corporation [Data processing machines]
Custom Sound [Home entertainment systems]
Beech(Ratheon) Aircraft [Airplanes and missiles]
Northrop Corp. [Airplanes and missiles]
Delco Electronics [Aircraft guidance control systems]
RTS Systems. Inc., [bought by Telex Comm. while I was there) [Audio intercom systems for TV /Movie prod.]
Advanced Music Electronics [Music equipment repair]
Alesis Studio Electronics [Music electronics products for performance and studio]
JACO Electronics [Electronic component distributor]
Viewlogic Systems ( bought by Mentor Graphics while I was there) [Computer-Aided-Design engineering software]
DTS, Inc. [Entertainment Surround Sound]

If you would like to see my resume send me an email. I will post a link to one for web viewing soon.

Through all those years I've continued to design, build, modify and/or fix several things usually related to music equipment or computers. I don't tinker that much with hardware electronics too much outside of my day job now though. I am actively learning more about software programming these days in C++ and Visual Basic. I'm pretty good with mechanical things also and been known to fix a lot of household appliances and have done a lot of the family automotive repair also. But these days cars are too complicated, require special tools and I don't have the tolerance, physical agility nor eyesight I used to have. Automotive repair is hard on you back, bending over fenders and such. I'll still do some things though like change brake shoes, fan belts or spark plugs, and change oil.