Skip to main content

Launching Pocket Tech & Beyond

I'm a life-long Packers and Cubs fan who was born in Burlington, Wisconsin. Since I've lived in Washington state for the past 20 years, I'm also a Seahawks and Mariners fan.

After high school, I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do with my life so I joined the military. With my nearly perfect ASVAB scores, my recruiter said I could get any job I wanted. Any job I wanted turned out to be very different than what I imagined. Before I knew it, I was headed to basic training to be followed by 2 1/2 years of intelligence training.

After training, I worked as an Intelligence Specialist and mostly with computers, networks and advanced electronics. My first field station was in Japan. I enjoyed Japan so much I extended for a year. Being very good at what I did, my supervisor recommended me for airborne duties, which took me to air combat school, survival school, and eventually, a posting in Germany. Along the way, I met and married my wife of 22 years.

Germany was one long series of temporary and away duties after another. I did multiple tours in the Persian Gulf during the first Gulf War in support or Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Provide Comfort.

After the Gulf War, I got in my head that it really was about time to get a college degree. I set my sights on a Bachelor's of Computer Science and a Master's of Science in Computer Science. The best thing about the downtown Honolulu campus of Hawaii Pacific University is that the beach is minutes away

During my military days I spent a lot of time both in training and training others. At my last station, I trained personnel on Unix, Sun OS/Solaris, AT&T Minis (mainframe), Unix shell, etc. In 1996, I decided I'd had enough of the military  and set up my own consulting firm doing high-end consulting for data centers, server deployments, network architecture/design, and of course, Web design. That was back in the days when the Internet was booming--you know just before everything went bust in a big way.

After that I mostly concentrated on writing. I also performed on-site training. To keep a fresh perspective, I've worked intermittently for the likes of Intel, Microsoft, and others.

I do most of my work out of my home, and my family really helps to keep me centered and grounded. The days of boarding, surfing and biking are long gone. Once upon a time I used to love going to the beach and mountain biking. An accident in 2000 ended my mountain-biking days. I fractured my wrist and arm, and was months in recuperating, which meant no work for someone who spends most of his time writing. Fortunately, I was able to hire a typist, and complete my writing projects. Expensive lesson in what not to do....

I have three children at home: Sapphire, Jasmine, and Will Jr.

Growing up in Wisconsin, we had more pets than I knew what to do with. We had a dog, several cats, and many miscellaneous pets from guinea pigs to rats to bats to snakes. Sometimes when our dog had a litter of pups and one of the cats had one at the same time we had a dozen or so pups and kittens running around the house. Now a days, we have way fewer pets, but there all just as special.

My official web site is here.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Administrator's Reference + IT Pro Library Better Together. 2 Great Windows Server 2016 resources.

Recently, a reader asked a good question: How do Windows Server 2016: The Administrator's Reference and Windows Server 2016: IT Pro Library differ?  The short answer is that they are completely different texts, written separately from start to finish, while both covering Windows Server 2016. An IT Pro could own both sets, or the individual books in each set, to round out and complete their library. More specifically, Windows Server 2016: The Administrator’s Reference provides over 250,000 words covering Microsoft's latest server operating system and includes the two IT Pro Solutions books I've written for Windows Server 2016: 1. Windows Server 2016: Essentials for Administration 2. Windows Server 2016: Server Infrastructure The IT Pro Solutions books are practical and precise hands-on guides with ready answers for IT professionals. You get fast answers and quick instruction. Windows Server 2016: IT Pro Library provides over 500,000 words coveri

Shame on Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA)

Beware those who do evil in the name of good, those who build bully pulpits so they can target and victimize. I wish I was talking about some totalitarian regime or corrupt corporation, instead I’m talking about Absolute Write run by Victoria Strauss and others. Absolute Write is a platform for hate and abuse created by those claiming to do good for the writing community. A platform for hate and abuse that claims affiliation with Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) to extend the reach of its harm, victimization and abuse. For a number of years Absolute Write members and leaders indiscriminately targeted self-publishers as frauds, while membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America looked on and nodded their heads in agreement. For a number of years Absolute Write members and leaders indiscriminately targeted those who used print on demand as frauds, while membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America looked on and nodded their heads in agreement. For a

Amazon's Black Eye: Broken System

Between 1 in 3 and 2 in 3 product reviews on Amazon.com are fake. They are bought and paid for. They are written by friends and family. They are swapped and traded on Facebook. They are incentivized from readers. Talking about this problem as I have for nearly 2 decades now has made me the repeat target of the thousands who make their living writing reviews, the millions of sellers who benefit from the fake praise and the dozens of Amazon employees working the system for personal and/or professional benefit. Having reported problems with reviews to Amazon hundreds of times over decades and received repeated, direct retaliation from Amazon employees for doing so, I learned the hard way about the active involvement of Amazon employees in Amazon’s own marketplace, whether to ensure the success of themselves, family or associates or simply to ensure the failure of particular targets. This occurring repeatedly despite state and federal laws protecting those who report criminal activity, c