The beauty you see above is an IBM System 360, circa, 1965 or so. One of the beasties I worked on back in the day. It may look formidable but there is more raw computing power in my BlackBerry and more storage capacity in my "thumb drive". The picture of me to the left was taken about the same time I was programming the S/360.

From 1961 to 1966 I worked at Chicago's Main Post Office, sorting parcel post bound for New York and Massachusetts. The "Big O" as it was called was a den of iniquity and corruption and I despised working there!

I was going to Wilbur Wright Community College on Chicago's northwest side at the time. However, in my desparation to escape the "Big O" I took a course at Loop Juniour College in programming for an IBM 1401. After I passed the course (more about that later), I took my passing grade to the street to see what I could do with it. After a few bumps and bruises, another story in and of itself, I landed at Illinois Bell making $400 a month, exactly half of what I was making at the Big O. I spent the next mostly happy years at IBT playing with computers, learning about business and how the world worked.

I'll also be exploring other web technologies like Microsoft Silverlight and Adobe Flash and Shockwave. I'm also going to be experimenting with different ways to organize and update all my photos and other content. My original website started out as equal parts photo gallery and personal blog. As I experimented with Flash for presenting my photos my method of blogging about my photos no longer worked.

However with this makeover I am going to create a separate blog. Where I can expound on my hobbies, my toys, my projects, my challenges, my life, and whatever tickles my fancy. I also intend make a way for vistors to leave comments.