I guess my desire to work with technology started with the radio-controlled vehicles I asked for at Christmas time as a kid.

In high school, the computer teacher let me work on the computers, installing something, a couple times.  I studied BASIC programming in that class and office-type computing in another.

I was more interested in computer hardware, but started in programming in college, studying PASCAL, Assembler, and COBOL.  I wasn't a good programmer, so I switched majors to Electronics Engineering Technology, where you study electronics and some programming...

We studied electronic components, and built an 8088 Single Board Computer in the Microcomputer classes. My previous experience with Assembler helped in this class - but we actually used commands, instead of writing the commands our self.

I took a Linux class, and through the class found out about an opening, and worked for a short time as a Student Worker in IT.

I've done basic HTML 4. My long-gone but backed up somewhere geocities page about the GM 2.8 V6 and the Varajet carburetor still leads the occasion person to me with a question.  A couple of them have been from Australia.  I am trying to create a document here.

About a year after I graduated, a part-time position opened in the Library. 

During this time, I attended a church where I ran the sound equipment and fixed minor things. One night, the VGA cable got cut almost completely apart, and needed fixed by the next morning.  After a bit of soldering, it worked.  Before I left, we were meeting in another location which required set-up and tear down of the computer and sound equipment each week.

In 2006, I moved to another church.  I started running the computer (Windows XP and EasyWorship) to display song lyrics on the wall and videos when necessary.  I became a member and was elected to the Board as a Trustee in 2007 - they were going do it in 2006, but I wasn't a member yet.

The XP computer was getting old, so we got a Mac.  On Easter morning, the XP computer stopped working.  The Mac had been picked up the day before...  So, between sunrise/breakfast and 9:30, I installed ProPresenter and learned enough of the Mac to use it at 10:30.  I am also a Sunday School teacher for a small class.

I run the computer Sunday mornings and evenings and Wednesdays when I am there.  It involves finding videos, sometimes downloading them, and displaying things on the wall.  Sometimes, I know more than 10 minutes ahead of time...  Occasionally, we have guest speakers or missionaries with videos to play.  I purchased cables so we can install another projector on the other side and in the back. I run the sound equipment when necessary, too.

I started going to Church Camp in 2007 - they asked about 2006, but I couldn't get off work again. At camp, I take pictures, some video, run the sound equipment, and the computer equipment.  We have to take everything and set it up when we arrive. There is no internet access at camp, so all videos, songs, etc. must be found before we leave.

Lately, I have started trying to teach myself programming using the BASIC Stamp and the Arduino Uno. I have followed instructions found online and made a motion activated camera and a few other things.  My goal is to create an autonomous vehicle for something like the Sparkfun Autonomous Vehicle Challenge, or find/start something locally, since the AVC is in Denver.  I have an OWI robotic arm that will fit on a radio controlled vehicle, but it is limited by a 40ft control cable - I have a wireless drone camera that mounts on it to see and a mic assembled from a kit with an FM transmitter to hear.

I found a Raspberry Pi marked down, and have been experimenting with it.  It requires the Linux operating system to be installed on an SD card.  I also found a BeagleBone Black (Linux single board computer), but I haven't done much with it. A relative gave me a laptop that was headed for the garbage, and I swapped out the hard drive and it is now dual-boot with two versions of Linux.  I know very basic things about Linux, but am trying to learn more.  Linux seems to have gotten easier to use and install since the first time I used it.

I bought an inexpensive Android tablet last year at Walmart so I could learn that system.  It has a micro-SD slot, and is useful for watching videos and looking at repair information.  My check engine light came on, so I bought an inexpensive code reader, to try to fix the problem.  I've used it on a half dozen other vehicles since then.

It seems that technology has become a big portion of my life.