User Profile

I am in my late fifties and am currently living with and taking care of my mother, who is 91 and has dementia. I have had a varied life with many types of activities and jobs. I started out life as an artist and was once an art major in college. I did pretty much my last real painting in my thirties -- when work interferred too much, and I realized I could not give my art enough time.

Later, also in my thirties, I returned to college and studied computer programming. I have attended numerous colleges (including University of Washington and San Diego State), but I never graduated (no money later in my thirties to finish). So to find programming work (unable to be hired by a large corporation without a degree), I became an independent computer consultant. This entailed my doing a lot of teaching and tech support initially, but eventually I ended up just programming. I designed programs for what is called "vertical markets" -- specialized interests -- for small companies, or for small divisions of large companies. Only one of the companies that I did programming for was a Fortune 500 company (earlier, when I was still doing mainly tech support and teaching, I consulted for two divisions of two different Fortune 500 companies). I did this off and on for about 12 years. I also did some temp work in between consulting jobs, when/if they were few and far between.

In my thirties I was also in a singles group for about eight years. I started out as their newsletter editor and ended up as their membership person. And in between I was the president of the group for two years.

Later I was in N.O.W. for about five years (again being a newsletter editor) and have done various types of other activism. Not my whole life, but starting in my early to mid forties when I came to know that individual actions DO matter and one person CAN make a difference. (Actually, I got very pissed off about something and that motivated me off my ass.)

I have also done other types of work, but for most of my adult life I have been self-employed in one capacity or another. I am a very independent person who always has been, and always will be, a non-conformist.

Adding to my work resume, I am now operating a small home-based business, selling used books online through Amazon.com. I am also working on various independent programming projects that involve consuming web services. None are completed yet at this date. And my current passion/hobby is photography.