Using skills and techniques originally honed at Fast Pace, and freshly updated equipment, I struck out on my own to build a customer base of local court reporting firms that keep me shooting almost daily. Thanks to my attention to detail and constant efforts to improve hardware and strategies, many firms consider me their most trusted shooter. In 2020, I still have active clients I obtained back in 2009. For info on my video services, see my video page.

I've hosted multiple internet domains for many years, both at my residence, and at a co-location server farm at a local Internet Service Provider. Running my own servers, I've gained intimate knowledge of POP3, SMTP, FTP, web servers, remote desktop control, PHP, and MySQL. I've installed and configured many third party web applications such as discussion forums, group schedulers, guest books, web-based email, etc.

When my servers were located downtown at an ISP co-location farm, I found it necessary to employ remote control software, such as WinVNC to administer the machines remotely. While this helped considerably, I discovered that total system crashes were usually beyond the reach of remote control software. To avoid 3am trips to the server farm just to push a power button, I developed a microcontroller-based remote rebooter which allowed me to remotely control power to my servers. This device was based on the Siteplayer webserver-on-a-chip device and utilized an Atmel AVR microcontroller as a watchdog to keep the device running reliably for years at a time. My AVR projects are compiled with the Codevision compiler environment.

My legal videographer duties required me to film depositions using a mobile audio/video recording station of my own design. The station consisted of redundant digital video recorders and was specifically wired to form a single chain of devices. This allowed me to monitor the audio/video passing through all of them at once, eliminating the possibility of recordings with no sound or video. Additionally, I designed the modular equipment cart with a removable platform which allowed the equipment to remain pre-wired, even when lifted off (in one piece) for use on other tables when limited space couldn't accomodate the cart. This shortened my required setup time from 45 minutes to about 10 minutes.

At Fast Pace, I also maintained the internal network and resolved problems with computers, email, spam control, and general network connectivity. I found it beneficial to transition to a Linux operating system where possible, to offset security issues common in Windows and Internet Explorer.

While at Compaq, I replaced most of the tools used by the testers with friendlier, more reliable ones. The use of my new tools simplified integration testing requirements, enabled schedules to be met more reliably, eliminated common mistakes, reduced costs, and facilitated integration with Windows-based project tracking applications. My efforts for the integration department helped create a new group dedicated to implementing and deploying automated testing tools across several divisions.

In my time at Compaq, I gained experience with Win32 apps, interfacing C/C++ apps to SQL databases, strategies of multi-user access systems, unattended end-user software installations, Windows setup under multiple languages and OSes, large scale network operations.

On the hardware facet of this position, I was the project manager for a line of microcontroller-based stepping motor controllers. I managed inventory, production schedules, part-time assemblers, troubleshooting, and produced technical documentation to provide complete manufacturing details and support of the product. Following the buyout of Maxwell Electronics (below), I was brought on board TBS to continue the manufacture of the motor controllers and to train fellow employees on its manufacture and support. With less TBS support materializing than promised, I was essentially a one-man division manufacturing a pre-existing line of products from within their building with little or no funding beyond the purchasing of parts. I interacted directly with end users on support issues, acquired new clients via word-of-mouth referrals, and faxed out technical bulletins and sales flyers to prospective new customers. I built, tested, and hand-tailored each unit to the diverse requirements of each new target application. Eventually, the demand for the product grew large enough that it was absorbed into normal TBS production channels.