About Me
My Life Story
I was born in New York, raised in Missouri with a small time in New Hampshire when I was in pre school.
Raised in a small town at the north edge of Lake of the Ozarks. I am married to the love of my life, Mel. We live in the small town I was raised and live with four dogs and three cats. We live less than a block from my brother and his four kids. Life couldn’t get better.
What would you say, I do here?
I was a geek from an early age, I’m old enough there was no such things as smart phones and tablets were the things Moses brought down from the mountian.
I would take apart radios and try to put them back togather. The problem came when I used items that my parents wanted to use again, and I wasn’t always successful in the repair work.
I got my first computer when I was entering 8th grade and we got dial up internet about six months later. The world opened up to me in ways I didn’t even know were possible.
You see, I was a square peg in a round hole in rural Mid-Missouri. I didn’t play sports and I enjoyed Motorsports and scifi. There wasn’t anyone who I ever really had a lot in common with. I had friends but it wasn’t like the bonds you saw with people who played sports.
I grew up as a space nerd and wanted to be a pilot, so one of the first things I did was get Flight Simulator. After a while I purchased NASCAR Racing 1 in the clearance bin at K-Mart. I had found my passion.
Then, I found NASCAR Racing 2 with Trucks at the store and bought that. It had so much better graphics and was a lot of fun. The manual that came with the CD-ROM had a links to sites that were all about a thing called Sim Racing. Which is like Flight Sim but with racing.
Going to all those sites I found that NASCAR Racing 3 was the latest and greatest. My parents were very nice and bought it for me. Yes, I read the manual for it and saw a blurb about Dale Earnhardt Jr and his love of sim racing. He talked about how he raced online all the time.
How did he race online? I found the multiplayer and started racing with real people. Quickly I learned that I needed a steering wheel and pedal set and not a joystick. My parents took me to EB Games at the mall and I bought a mid level Thrustmaster wheel.
Then my world opened up I found the Team Lightspeed! forums and asked lots of questions and also answered questions when I could help out. I became a mod and then was asked to join the team. I was never a really good sim racer but I enjoy helping people.
Racing online with less than stellar computer parts meant I was always having to troubleshoot issues. That’s where my skill set in computer repair started.
I was able to take those skills and have a, now, 20 year career in IT. I am currently a Systems Administrator. I make sure the servers are running, backed up, and updated.
What else are you interested in?
3D Printing
I love 3D Printing. The concept of taking a spool of plastic and pushing it thru a heated end onto a heated bed and create everything from planters to very functional items is amazing to me. I have had three 3D printers and have enjoyed learning more and more about the hobby.
EH Aye
Or: AI 🙂 The all knowing computer on Star Trek always interested me. AI is the real life manifistation of the Computer. I have been able to do things that I would have never been able to do without it’s help. I don’t have it do the work for me, rather, I partner with it to build some awesome things.
Gardening
This is something that is in my blood. My Grandfather whom I’m named after tended a large garden in New Hampshire for decades. Then, I met Mel, she is a master gardener and a savant when it comes to growing things. When we bought our house we had a perfect peice of the back yard that lent it self to a garden. Over the winter and spring I built nine raised garden beds and Mel and I filled them with over 200 bags of top soil and manure. This year we have already harvested heaps of cucumbers and tomatoes. Not bad for the first year of an active garden. My asthma has sidelined me from most of the day to day operations of the garden while I get it under control. But I’m chomping at the bit to get back to it.
Air Planes
When I was a kid I had a rather large obession with planes. My obsessions went beyond the normal little boy loving planes and large trucks. I checked out every single book my local library had on aircraft. I had dreams of being a test pilot and then an astronaut. That didn’t happen but my love of flight never stopped. I have off and on played Flight Sims since the late 90’s.
Updated 8-12-26