Employment History
Forward
I have both a one-page and a three-page resume in PDF form that look great for prospective employers and consulting clients. These pages were put together at the request of one of my American River College instructors who asked us to write a resume that shared far more of what helped shape us rather than just a list of employers and duties. Although all is accurate, its purpose is more to entertain.
Early Days
In the 1950s I grew up helping my parents remodel homes, helped my mother make food and garden, helped my father build homes, cabinetry and furniture and refurbish homes, helped my grandparents farm and ranch, plus helped six of my seven uncles who all had home building related businesses that my father helped them start and retained part ownership. I earned a very modest allowance as my parents believed all children must contribute to the family and if they want more spending money, they need to go earn it. In spite of my small allowance, my parents rewarded me for good and exceptional behavior and enabled me to go as far as I could.
They supported me as I excelled in martial arts. Our family got sent to post occupation Japan with my father being assistant base commander for a small Air Force Base in Japan. That was not a great place for kids. We lived behind two twelve-foot barbed wire topped fences with nasty guard dogs and armed military police who roamed in between the fences in a no-man's area. On the other side of the fence were Japanese who still hated us following WW II and Korean slave labor workers the Japanese used who hated us even more. One of my young friends got an arrow through the arm that was intended to kill. The military required all dependents over age five, meaning me at seven had to take martial arts classes. My father hired the top local Japanese instructor and top Korean instructor and through an interpreter told them to put aside their differences and build a program to help keep the dependents safe. My mother hated the six-week wonder program they devised and she instead preferred her yoga. I loved it and enrolled in classes with both of those masters learning two different forms of martial arts.
Did I mention I hate to lose and am a little beyond hyper competitive? I was always exceptionally strong compared to my peers, but the martial arts showed I was far more coordinated and much faster. We competed with other students and clubs. I excelled rapidly moving up through the belts and getting into more and tougher tournaments. When I earned a black belt very young, my masters changed my name from brown tiger to black panther because of how quick, silent and deadly I moved. By age ten I was competing at a national level in Japan. I also added a third martial art when it became available on our base.
My father enjoyed playing ping pong officially known as table tennis and I had learned from him on a table the two of us built together. With us being trapped on base, when the weather was bad my father would often take me to the base gym so we could play ping pong. I soon stopped playing with boys my own age. They just could not keep up. My Japanese became pretty fluent and as I worked out at my martial arts with almost only Japanese and a few Korean boys. I finally earned an invitation to play table tennis with them. I was more being social than really wanting to play, and got my tail whooped. Instead of playing with either sand paper or dimpled rubber paddles, they played with gum rubber covered paddles that caught the ball with almost no sound then launched it back with the most wicked spins imaginable. My tiny allowance went into buying one of these paddles. I spent all the free time I could at the Air Base gym sweating hard over mastering table tennis. I went from playing the normal GIs to suddenly finding myself playing guys who showed up with their paddles in embroidered custom bags. It did not take me very long to master making a ping pong ball all but do magic tricks. My favorite I invented and called my whiff shot. I so undercut the ball that it hit, stopped moving forward then jumped back quickly often being so out of range that all opponents could do was swing their paddles whiff and miss. My martial arts friends were shocked when I quickly went from giving them a good ping pong game to often skunking them. Few could even score a few points a game. They talked me into entering a local tournament where I played in my own age group. I won and that automatically entered me into a regional tournament. I again won and that put me in the nationals letting me bring home the winning trophy. Being the best nine-year-old table tennis player in a whole country just did not impress me. I only had to play against other nine-year-old kids and Japan was a tiny country. There were still two adults at the local gym who could beat me.
I wanted a more serious challenge and one of the silly books I managed to find gave the then current Guinness World Records. I decided I wanted a world record, settled on getting it on my pogo stick and set one. Those turkeys required that they have someone they pre-authorized to watch and count my jumps, so would not even accept the signatures of the base commander and assistant base commanders. Although I love my beer, still hate Guinness. They drink that vile stuff warm! Yuck.
Okay, so we got drug back from Japan, I continued to take martial arts training, stayed fiercely competitive and kept advancing, but my parents wanted me to do more. They decided I needed music in my life, so needed to learn how to sing plus read and play both the treble and bass clefs. They rented an accordian and bought me lessons in both music and voice. My music teacher expected me to sing, play the melody on my accordian with my right hand and play the chord buttons with my left hand. In my early years I had some really nasty ear infections that had left me nearly tone deaf, I could tell the difference between notes but no clue if I was very much either flat or sharp. I was a pure genius with my right hand and was clearly destined in ten years to be able to play with the best acid rock band, but when my right hand was working my left hand was a club that was pretty much useless. When using just my left it was pretty good, but slower. They did not work together, period end of story. The teacher told my parents that they needed to save the world from both my singing and the accordian. My teacher suggested I learn an instrument that just played one note at a time. What is that wooden stick clarinet thing they got me? A licorice stick, sorry, I love licorice and that had no taste. Why? I am one who was very noticeable and did not want to play an invisible instrument. They should have gotten me a trumpet or at least a sax so I could make big noises.
My father declined to increase my allowance and said money is something you have to earn either trading your labor to others or providing something of value including goods, services or facilities in which you can make a profit. I worked for him part time in his construction business and learned a ton, but he said I was getting paid in experience. I worked for my uncles learning about installing electrical and plumbing, building concrete forms, pouring concrete, building subfloors, walls, trusses and roofs, installing shingles, installing windows, installing and finishing wood and tile floors, installing plumbing fixtures, installing sheetrock, taping, texturing and painting, laying carpet, building swimming pools, and designing and installing landscaping. My uncles and grandfather taught me to hunt, fish, do engine and auto repairs, do collision repairs, paint vehicles, and even how to overhaul typewriters. Working for them was far better as they paid me by the hour. I earned little but got to keep all I earned and they mostly spoiled me with food and lodging. Unfortunately, I only got to work for my uncles if my parents let me stay with my grandparents during spring break or during the summers.
The little I earned did not pay my bills or buy what I wanted, so I started trading my time for money, also known as work. My father let me take over rebuilding some of the small gas motors that people brought him to repair. He had worked as a mechanic in his early years and got very good at diagnosing and fixing problems with car and truck motors and smaller gas engines, plus I learned even more from my grandfather who was an auto mechanic and fixed motors, generators, and small engines as a way to earn extra money. I was shocked at how many people would go out and buy an expensive gas-powered lawn mower, air compressor, etc. then fail to do even minimum maintenance soon killing their unit. I got good at fixing smaller gas motors, but there were just not enough of these available to me to make much, especially when my father charged me half to buy parts and use his advice, tools and workbench space. Often fixing the electrical to get a good spark or fixing the carburetor was all that was needed. Parts and labor to make repairs were expensive, so customers often just abandoned their units. I got to keep the ones I brought in so paid for a small ad in the newspaper to build business. I also spent a lot of time at the local aeroclub helping to pump gas and work with my best friend to wash down airplanes. Although I loved being invited to fly in these planes, my actual in pocket from this work was not very high.
My father began paying me fifty cents to mow the family lawn, so at age eleven I decided to get into the lawn mowing business. I asked to borrow my father's push mower. Nobody around us at least then had gas-powered mowers. He let me use his push mower in exchange for my cutting and maintaining our lawn for free. He would not let me use his push edger or hand clippers, so I had to buy my own. I soon bought my own push mower, but still had to keep up the family lawn for free. It was very hard work and I needed to be bigger, stronger and heavier to b hand mow more than two lawns a day. I decided that if I had a gas-powered mower, I could mow far more lawns and make more money. I talked my father into mail-ordering one of the early gas-powered mowers. In exchange I had to keep mowing his lawn for free and give him half of what I earned till that mower was paid back. I agreed and went to work. I could mow four lawns in the time my friends with push mowers could mow one, plus could keep going as I was not all tired out. My results looked far better, especially since my father required me to keep the mower and edger blades razor sharp so they cut cleanly instead of whacking off the grass. Gas mowers were an expensive novelty then and many wanted the much better-looking grass but were not willing to pay for a mower, so I soon had more requesting my mowing than I had time to do.
I then expanded my business. One of the motors that came in to rebuild was on a gas-powered mower and after being told how much it would cost to repair, the customer said throw it away. My father gave it to me and I paid for the parts and made repairs, then let one of my friends use that rebuilt mower to cut my customers' grass under my tight supervision in trade for my getting half of what he made. With two of us working word of mouth quickly built up far more customers than the two of us could handle, plus I made enough to buy and fix up three more broken mowers ending up with four of my friends mowing grass for me. They loved it as they had to work far less hard, and could even with me getting half could still make double in the same amount of time. I got paid double what they earned with their push mowers but also had to keep up five gas mowers with sharpened blades, oil changes, and servicing.
I learned there is a huge difference in workers. I had to fire almost half of the guys I setup working for me because they were careless meaning dangerous, unreliable, did sloppy work, or refused to take care of the equipment. I had zero tolerance for those who did not carry their own and needed babysat or lied. My father advised me to check out who the parents were and how well each potential new hire kept themselves, how hard they worked in school, how they kept up their rooms, and whether or not they were smart enough to ask questions before they got into trouble. That was good advice. By the end of the first year, I had four very steady workers and was earning nearly ten times what I could make on my own. Better yet, when the first big snow hit, I had enough money to have my father help me pick out and buy a mail ordered snow blower. He bought for me a very good quality unit based on my experience with the different engines and mowers I had helped rebuild. I made even more blowing off drives and soon had five snow blowers, one for each of my mower friends and one for me, all owned free and clear. The next year I only needed to tune up all those gas engines and virtually all we made from mowing and snow blowing was profit. Knowing my father was soon to be again transferred by the Air Force, for my third year when I was thirteen, let each of my helpers buy from me their mowers and snow blowers. This let me move with $2,400 dollars in my savings account. This does not sound like much now, but adjusted for inflation my $2,400 then would buy what costs over $48,000 today.
Restart
My father decided to retire at age forty-two with both him and my mother becoming teachers for the University of California, Davis Campus. Toward that end, he accepted as his last duty station working at Travis Air Force Base, California about forty miles from that university. He and my mother built their custom dream home and she went to work teaching while my father finished up the last of his military obligation. I got thrown into a little university town and for the first move I could remember did not already have the instant status of my father's rank and reputation, plus I did not know anyone. When we moved within the Air Force world that spanned the globe, I already was known by a number of the other kids.
Teaching - 1968 - 1999
After early computer hardware and software successes I went to work for UC Davis as their computer hardware lab teaching assistant where I taught their digital electronics class. I liked to teach and do research, so soon found myself also teaching their FORTRAN and Assembler classes, plus was made their scientific programmer. Consistent successes earned an interesting role where I traded project help for units. I helped develop quite a few University of California patented agricultural machines, medical devices, prosthesis and air quality measurement tools, plus assisted with many published papers. I liked the university life and planned to make teaching and earning advanced degrees my career. All was interrupted with being drafted into the Vietnam War in 1970. I returned to that life working for the Claremont Colleges. I disliked the Southern California smog so I returned to CSU Sacramento as a technician, but was soon both teaching and doing biomedical computer hardware and control system work. My research and a need to do more with less money led me to research and help develop early microprocessor based computers (see Digi Barn Computer History Museum Article). My skills remained in high demand. UC Davis, CSU Sacramento, National University and the State of California had me set up their first personal computer labs and then both innovate and teach their early personal computer courses. All was so thoroughly documented my efforts rapidly spread to create similar labs and microcomputer courses all over the country. Although the Governor's Office drafted me to help with computer problems, I continued to teach computer science hardware and software engineering, programming languages, project management, systems analysis, and personal computer hardware/software courses for CSUS, UC Davis and National University, plus developed the Programmer Academy for the State of California. Double pneumonia prevented returning to my 2000 classes. I did not recover amply to be able to resume teaching so voluntarily retired from teaching at CSU Sacramento and UC Davis.
1999 - Present My respiratory problems inspired me to invent better dust controls to fix up my own work shop. I wanted to keep my favorite hobby and let my children safely use our four generations of woodworking tools. Most small shop dust collection only collects the larger sawdust and chips letting the most hazardous fine dust build to dangerously high levels, so my engineering skills let me design better dust collection solutions. My very pleased respiratory doctor pushed me hard to share what I learned and my personal solutions to help others avoid respiratory problems similar to mine. What I shared left a way too busy job to support my Cyclone and Dust Collection Research web pages.
2002 - June 2004 California Employment Development Department (EDD) Information Security Branch, Senior Data Processing Analyst, EDD asked me to not take a medical retirement and instead become information security senior analyst, team leader, and representative to the Statewide Information Security Team. That position let me mostly work from home where I wrote the EDD Information Security Policy which became the basis for the California Statewide Information Security Policy. My respiratory problems continued to worsen and in June 2004 after near terminal pneumonia with extended time off EDD and my doctors called time and medically retired me with 37 years service with the State of California.
1990 - 2002 California Employment Development Department (EDD) Staff Data Processing Analyst - I served as a project analyst leading work teams to repair and replace mainframe computer software systems with distributed networked servers and personal computers. My responsibilities included design, implementation and oversight of the EDD statewide network with 12,000 desktop PCs, 4,000 portable PCs, and 800 servers. During this work I had one surgery after another to address damage done by a hospital bred staph (MRSA) infection. My health was rapidly improving and I went back into a senior management position working as a consultant to the Governor's Office building our information security standards for the State of California. In late 1999 wood dust triggered very a bad allergic reaction that landed me in the hospital in early 2000 with severe pneumonia leaving me supplemental oxygen dependent and bedridden.
1987 - 1990 Acting Chief, DPM III/CEA II Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) - The California Legislature required the BAR to fix the serious problems with the $2.4 billion dollar a year Smog Check Program in one year or they promised to kill that program. The Governor's Office drafted me against my wishes to make repair. They needed my engineering, automotive, computer and air quality experience to make a much more accurate tamper proof vehicle emissions analyzer. Just before I was to start the director was fired and I was made acting director. That left me managing 634 State staff and 34 State Facilities. We oversaw and licensed 12,000 private Smog Check contractors and licensed over 8,000 private Smog Check facilities. Also we oversaw 24,000 private California auto dealership and auto repair facilities. I also served as principal engineer and project leader to develop the tamper proof and much easier to use BAR-90 computer based vehicle emissions analyzer that automatically reported emission test results. Just before starting that job I had a minor outpatient surgery on my left ankle that developed gangrene, nearly cost my foot, and left my ankle joint frozen with toes pointing down with constant severe electric like shocks from the damaged nerves. While managing that bureau I spent the next year and a half re-learning how to walk. We developed the BAR-90 smog check system that remains the world vehicle emissions standard and cleared up the heavy complaints, so the Legislature extended program funding. A week after finishing the BAR-90 my left shoulder froze locked tight requiring emergency surgery. My doctors found my prior ankle surgery also gave me a hospital bred staph infection (MRSA) that ate away cartilage all over causing large calcium masses in my joints. Harsh antibiotics only slowed that infection and caused intermittent kidney failure. My doctors recommended a medical retirement, but instead took medical leave. Facing more than twenty required joint surgeries, I voluntarily stepped down to accept my first "normal" job with the State accepting a much less stressful role helping EDD implement their statewide personal computer and database network.
1984 - 1987 As a Staff EDP Acquisition Specialist in the California Office of Procurement, I led teams of senior staff and managers to plan, organize, and conduct formal ($100,000+) competitive procurement for computer goods and services. We issued bid solicitation documents, negotiated vendor contract language, evaluated vendor proposals, and executed purchase orders. As the departmental computer engineer I reviewed all State formal EDP bid technical specifications, and prepared the technical specifications to create the California Computer Source (State PC Store). I personally conducted the bidding that bought every personal computer, minicomputer and host computer for all California city colleges, State universities, University of California campuses, and State agencies. I overhauled the State's bidding process to use electronic spreadsheets. Also I helped create the life cycle costing process to ensure quality long lasting purchases in lieu of cheap but short lived efforts. I helped change California law to require these innovations in all State, county and local government purchases. I continued serving on the Governor's Information Technology Group and there authored the State Administrative Manual sections on computer acquisition and wrote the performance requirements used for all State EDP purchases. My efforts received high praise and the top position on the State's most senior data processing manager (DPM III) hiring list. I accepted the Chief position for the State Teacher's Credentialing Program and my appointment approved by the Legislature, but the Governor's Office instead assigned me to fix the troubled Bureau of Automotive Repair Smog Check Program.
1976 - 1984 Department of Social Services (DSS) Computer Programmer, Analyst, Staff Analyst, & acting Data Processing Manger III - After completing the major project for the Department of health, I resumed that strange role of officially employed by the Department of Social Services with responsibility to work on troubled programs while working for the Governor's Office as needed. I helped build many DSS information systems to help with accounting, fraud detection and benefits distribution. I also was part of the Governor's Office Information Technology Group that set statewide standards and maintained the State Administrative Manual that all departments must follow. As part of the Information Technology Group I worked closely with the State Office of Procurement to rewrite the State Administrative Manual standards for all computer, telecommunication, office automation, and contract programmer acquisition, use, security and maintenance including personal computers and networks. I also oversaw development of the Governor's State's Information Systems training program. Meanwhile my work at DSS advanced me through various roles as manager for our Telecommunications, Training, Office Automation, Systems Software, and Systems Analysis groups plus our Computer Operations, Key Data Entry, and Production Controls units. The Legislature defunded our major projects with a huge reduction in force across the State while the Governor's Office converted all senior manager positions to appointed positions leaving me and hundreds of other professional managers with no jobs. I immediately landed me a transfer as information systems technology chief of the just getting formed California Department of Energy. Sadly, one of the welfare system fraud loopholes I closed severely upset the pocketbook of a very senior politician. He blocked approval of my appointment and the Governor's Office chose to not overrule, and instead asked me to accept a two step demotion and went to work with the State Office of Procurement. My choices were leave the State or accept, because my promotions were so rapid I never completed probation at any level, so was facing a drop five steps from manager III down to programmer where I started.
1972 - 1976 CSUS Computer Engineering Instructor, Programmer Department of Health, Project leader Department of Health – serving to write and debug large mainframe computer systems. Based on my work at UC Davis and CSU Sacramento the Governor's office drafted me to become Special Project Director building a long term patient tracking system that received awards from the AMA, FDA and California Medical Assn. They then assigned me to oversee building the first automated accounting system for the Department of Health. My career became very crazy because in addition to being paid by CSUS to teach, I also worked for the Governor's Office full time with time off to teach. The Governor's Office has no staff of their own, so they had me officially assigned to and getting paid by the Department of Health while fixing and developing many new programs all over the State of California.
1964 - 1972 In my younger years I was a real go getter starting a gardening and snow blowing business. In high school I worked in the family home construction business plus built an even larger yard care business that I sold to a commercial firm when I left to attend the Air Force Academy. I returned to attend UC Davis and continued to work construction plus as a lab assistant. A roommate and I built a successful furniture and cabinetry business where we built the interiors for a number of businesses including the first Old Spaghetti Factory. I then built a firm for myself starting a pillow business which did well. I sold that business and used the proceeds to build a popular bar restaurant and even more popular radio station where I became a fairly well known DJ and managed to get syndicated. I also fronted the money to launch four automotive garages and started a property management firm. My time for my businesses rapidly decreased as I became ever more interested in school, teaching, working as a scientific computer programmer, and helping to build various projects at UC Davis. I was drafted and fled to an Air Force Reserve unit only to get activated and serve under fire as a tail gunner in the Vietnam War in 1970. I returned to find my business interests in ruins and UC Davis unwilling to let veterans return to college. My father had some serious health problems so I relocated to Southern California, worked as computer operations supervisor for the Claremont Colleges, and helped my family. When my father recovered I joined CSU Sacramento as technician responsible for completing graduate student projects and soon advanced to full time instructor both at CSUS and UC Davis.
Education
At UC Davis I majored in both mechanical engineering and pre-medicine pioneering one of the first biomedical engineering degrees. I was drafted into the Vietnam War mess before graduating, but had so many units that UC Davis granted me a general BS degree with minors in mechanical engineering, pre-medicine, chemistry, biology, math, psychology and physics. After my Vietnam service I returned to college both teaching and taking classes. I earned an additional BS in Computer Hardware Engineering plus completed MS degrees in Computer Software and Computer Hardware Engineering at CSU, Sacramento with a 3.98+ GPA.
Military
After receiving my military draft notice in late 1969 I joined the Air Force Reserves, scored too well on the entrance exams and was made a flight crew member. While in training the military gave me some awards for reworking how they calculate weight and balance for planes and my revised methods became the current world standard. That earned me a spot promotion but did not save me from getting activated and serving one tour under fire as an aircraft tail gunner in the Vietnam War in 1970. I rapidly advanced from student to Flight Instructor Loadmaster. As a reward for my efforts I was appointed to fly special missions all over the world. This included being assigned to carry many dignataries and USO performers to our different war areas. My efforts were further rewarded by making me part of the President's support team meaning as loadmaster responsible for carrying his support vehicles and equipment when he traveled out of the country. After completing my initial six year tour, I extended my service twice helping to start and train staff for the Federal Air Marshal Program. In 1980 I accepted an honorable discharge with 3500+ Flight hours.
Personal
I am family oriented and have long been active in my local community helping with my children's school and other public service work. The Boy Scouts gave me a thirty five year service pin but I also coached soccer and managed a Little League baseball team plus assisted with a swim team and Girl Scouts. Since retiring I have lots of hobbies, but tend to be far busier than when I worked full time mostly helping with dust collection. I garden, read, write, play the saxophone, clarinet, plus a little keyboard and am learning the guitar, do woodworking, model railroading, make beer, and build personal computers.
Publications, Presentations and Patents
AMA and FDA, Computerized Tracking of the Aging Process. Journal of the ACM, KOKO, A Heuristic Chess Program. American Farmer's Association, Influence of Building Shape on Internal Temperature. UC Regents, Implementation of a Grape Picking Harvester. CA District Attorney Association, Recovery of Child Support Payments via Tax Refund Intercepts. CA State Welfare Association, Computer Detection of Welfare Fraud. Co-authored the State of California Microcomputer Policy and Standards. Task force member, CA Cable Commission. Founding member of Sacramento Microcomputer Users Group. Speaker to AMA, FDA, and National Peace Officer's Assn. on microcomputer applications, selection, and acquisitions. Author, CA Master Services Agreement for hiring EDP contract programmers and analysts. Consultant to the International Association of Financial Planners and CA Farmer's Association. Reference analyst to Prudential Bache, Dean Witter Reynolds, and Merrill Lynch. Analyst and speaker to the CA Assembly Ways and Means Committee on performance of the State Deferred Compensation Program. National speaker on microcomputer selection, acquisition and management for Clearinghouse on Licensure, Enforcement, and Regulation (CLEAR). Speaker, to CIA on PC computer crime and prevention. Wrote the California State Administrative manual requirements for total cost of ownership purchasing regulations, guidelines on computer and software acquisition, and information security policy requirements for all State and Local governmental organizations. Authored multiple academic papers, co-authored multiple text books on programming and microcomputers, two fiction books (under pen name), and helped with two medical books, "Staying Healthy with the Seasons", 1990 and "Better Health Through Nutrition" 1991. The universities hold 22 patents where I am sited as a significant contributor. These include biomedical measuring and hospital patient monitoring equipment, computer and computer peripheral equipment, agricultural machines, smog monitoring and testing equipment, music synthesizer, solar power equipment, etc. I invented what is considered the best fine dust separating cyclone system available today and currently operate the not for profit Cyclone and Dust Collection Research web pages.
References available upon request.