I can be opinionated, blunt, straight to the point, and down right ornery.
If your feelings are bent easily I'll probably bend them at some point.
I'm here to help people to fix their gear, not make more friends.
I have a serious problem with people handing out obviously bad advise resulting in damaged equipment, injured people, or even just replacing equipment unnecessarily.
- When I see that I -WILL- say something. [And if I do it then you slap me back!]

That's me, deal with it.

~~~

Over the last 2 years or so the Admin at EE has eroded into a corrupt 'Good'ole Boy' club.
Admins [any type] that also aswer questions are invariably favored over 'non-members' of the Good'ole Boy' club.
I was asked to join that club and I declined for personal reasons. (**)
-
I have witnessed:
- Admins that got points without having left a SINGLE post with correct information.
- Admins leaving suggestions that could cause equipment to catch fire.
- Admins leaving suggestions that DID cause askers to replace equipment that OBVIOUSLY worked fine.
-
IN EVERY CASE my objections were blessed off with comments that equate to:
- "Well, he's been here a long time."
- "Well, he has a lot of points, he must know SOMETHING."
- "We will just give him that one. He's a good guy!"

(**) Good'ole Boy' clubs do not belong in professional organizations and as EE now has the one it can no longer considered the other.
(**) Admins (of any type) should not be answering questions. That inherently results in conflicts of interest. I refuse to be an Admin because Admins shouldn't be answering questions. I am here to answer people questions and therefor I should not be any kind of Admin.

I have one more personal goal here.
I expect to reach that goal early in 2010 and at that point I'm done here at EE unless the corruption has been cleaned up.
I don't expect that it will be.

~~~

Just me:

Retired US Navy Electronics Tech - Nuclear Field.
- Certified Nuclear Reactor Operator (x4 Platforms)
- Certified Reactor Control Systems Electronics Tech (x4 Platforms)
- Certified Quality Assurance Inspector (Trident Submarine Repair, Refit, Overhaul)
- 2 years as Facilities Manager (industrial/ship repair facility) SIMA, San Francisco.
(At SIMA I had a collateral duty of assisting the Regional Officer In Charge of Construction, San Francisco - I did inspections of new construction buildings to verify compliance with the Blue Prints and the Government Contract.)
I have worked on the systems for and operated 14 different Nuclear Reactors.
Inspected some aspect of every Trident Sub based on the West Coast. (At that time.)
(The QA Inspector job was mechanical engineering related, not electrical. I inspected/monitored mechanical assembly (including those done inside a clean room for O2 equipment), electroplating, welding, machinists work, and heat treating jobs both in the repair shops an on board the subs.)

I have been to the Persian Gulf 7 times, done counter drug operations off the coasts of Mexico and South America 3 times, and there were these two cruises that didn't officially happen. (Cold War things.)

One Post military job: Senior Millwright in a mill owned by Jeld-Wen that pumps out ~10,000+ doors daily.
A Millwright basically does maintenance and repair of factory production equipment only the 'factory' makes things out of wood.
I quit because my Supervisor disabled a failed safety system and had no intentions of repairing it.
A short time after I submitted my resignation (but was still there, I allowed them time to train a replacement before I left) the lack of that safety feature caused an explosion that destroyed an out building, demolished a tractor trailer rig, damaged a ~20 ft high x ~60 ft long section of the main building, and nearly killed 3 people.
- Can you say, "I TOLD YOU SO."?

I became interested in Computers in 1995.
I've worked with PC's semi-professionally since 1998 as temp jobs or home-based businesses.
I do or have done:
Owned an on-line PC Parts Store. (1999-2001)
Owner/webmaster of an on-line PC help Forum. (1998-2002)
(Mentioned on NBC at one point.)
One-off short-term contract work for various things. (2000-2004)
- - For example upgrading all of a small business's computers.  
(Accountant's, Doctor's, Lawyer's office type things. Never more than a dozen machines.)
Occasionally build custom systems. (I don't advertise, they seem to find me.) (1998-2008)
Refurbishing laptops. (For resale.) (2000-2006)
Component level repairs. (1998-2008)
(As in with a soldering iron. Yes even motherboards.)

For several years I donated a PC a month to some charity or another (or local underprivileged families) created out of surplus parts removed from upgrades to customers PC's. I'm not keeping up with 1 a month anymore because I'm doing much less work for other people and so there are too few parts to build things from.

Non-PC hardware related hobbies:
I've built hot-rods since the late 70's. (Been to 700 Horse Power.)
I like to garden and fiddle with landscaping. (Anything outdoors.)
LOVE to fish!
Woodwork (Especially furniture).
Web Design.

Short term non-PC related jobs I've taken on the side.
Electrician (everything up to 4160 volts).
Mason (Block walls and pouring concrete slabs).
Painting cars, Body work, Brake jobs, Front-ends/suspension.
Engine/Transmission overhaul/replacements.
Roofs, Fences, Carpentry, Cabinet Maker, Sheetrock, Stucco.
- Friends were calling me "The Tool Man" before that show ever existed.

Current Project:
I am working on a site that covers Component Level Repair of Motherboards in detail.
Most of my time is spent acquiring broken motherboards and creating photographic walk-throughs of the repairs.
I'm also covering basic PSU and LCD Monitor/TV repairs. (Select problem models.)
.