An American Covid Tale

A lot of people have suffered and many have died in my country, the USA, over the past 18 months and more from Covid.   I want to state up front and very clearly that this story  does not begin to approach the level of tragedy that Covid has created for so many.   The experience I relate herein has given me an appreciation and a profound respect and grief  for those who have truly suffered.    

This story  is about a still-serious but different Covid experience that has elements some may find to be of interest.   Some may have had similar experiences.   I've come to believe that Covid has far more reach and effect than most people think.

To set the stage before diving in to the tale:   2019 had been a terrific year for Anne and myself.    Having retired at the end of 2018, we had worked through the mechanisms important to a new way of life.  Social Security, daily routines, replacements for full days without the old and long-standing way of filling the hours of a day.    We'd also had a really great start to our plan of frequent travel of the kind we'd never done before, including a 3-week river cruise in Europe with old friends just a couple of months before, in September 2019.    Anne and I had planned heavy travel, as my eyesight was and is a resource with a short fuse.  We wanted to get our retirement world travel largely done in a 3-4 year window.   By the end of 2019, we had a great start, were settled in to the retired life, and looking forward to more of the same.  We had a lot of celebrate for the New Year.

There is another stage to set, the "health stage".   I'll relate some information about the pre-Covid state of my health.   I probably started out in a "high risk" category for susceptibility to the virus:  Diagnosed with diabetes about 20 years ago; legally blind (from hereditary macular degeneration, not diabetes), and too rapidly approaching sixty years of age.   I was overweight pre-covid  (and post-Europe) - not morbidly so; carrying 15+ extra pounds; this condition made worse since then by Covid inactivity as will be seen. 

My tale  starts on December 31, 2019 in my home town of Edmonds, WA.    As many will recall, Washington  State was among the first, and possibly THE first landing place of COVID-19 in the United States.   The first patients were treated in a hospital 10 miles north of our house, and the famous nursing home where so many were lost is 10 miles to the south.    I've learned that there were many cases in Edmonds well before we knew what Covid was, possibly as far back as November 2019.

On New Year's Eve, Anne and I and two of our close friends attended  a New Year's Eve part at a local bar that  we had come to frequent (as much as Anne and I "frequent" bars, which is not much).    We had been to the establishment a couple of times in December before New Year's Eve.    

During the evening, as attested by pictures that were taken, I experienced what I believe was my first  symptom of Covid:   My THIRD attack of Bell's Palsy.   

Yes, I must begin the tale of my encounter with one disease by introducing another.    Bell's Palsy is a condition that  largely paralyzes one half of  the face, typically the left side.    It was first recognized and diagnosed among truckers and military drivers, with some connection  to the cold wind blowing on their face when the driver's window was down.    The exact causes are not known, but include stress and VIRUSES of unknown origin.   

The paralysis can be mild or quite severe, with facial drooping, dry eye issues, drooling and  difficulty speaking, and other symptoms.  The first time I had an attack was 20-25 years ago; the second was 10 years ago.    According to my doctors, there is almost never a third attack.   I had been fortunate in my experiences; the attacks were noticeable but relatively mild.   The first one went away by itself (i did not see a doctor).  The second one took longer and required steroids.   The attack that started 1/31/19 was the most severe but still not extreme, but it is still with me almost two years later.   

The reasons I believe that this third attack was the start of my Covid  experience?   One, because of the rarity of three Bell's attacks.    Two, because Bell's can be triggered by a virus (and the other two causes did not apply to me at that time).    Three, because of the other symptoms that will unfold, that had nothing to do with Bell's.   

Additionally, we learned later of the cases of Covid that started as early as November-December of 2019 in Edmonds, and even learned that at least one staff member of the establishment  may have had an extremely severe case in mid-December.    I'm not saying the name of the bar for obvious reasons, but in any case nobody had any idea what was coming at that time.

The timing of getting Bell's again (and that's all we thought it was) was terrible, because we had two trips planned for January and February:  A cruise to the Caribbean starting only 3 days later, and a trip to Mexico after the cruise.   I literally did not have time to get to the doctor for steroids to treat the recurrence.   I was somewhat nervous about this, but my previous two experience had not been severe.   This could have been a costly error.

I do not recall any additional (non-Bell's) symptoms starting before we left for the cruise.    I was dealing with the preparations for travel and also the Bell's - not much to deal with, besides coming to grips with the fact that "Crap, I DO have it again" -  and watching to see how bad it would be.    However I started dealing with additional symptoms soon enough once we got to Barbados, the launch point for the cruise.

The Cruise

We left Seattle for Barbados on January 3rd, 2020.   We were staying in Barbados for 3 days, then getting on the cruise boat for the Caribbean.    The only symptoms I can recall in Barbados (aside from the facial paralysis) was pain in my jaw and behind my ear on the left side.    I have not experienced this before with Bell's, at least not to any great extent.   However, this is a documented symptom of Bell's.   It was not severe, and not as bothersome as the paralysis.    

Once we got on the cruise boat,  things started to move much faster.      I began to have severe upper respiratory problems.   This included very stuffy sinuses and real difficulty breathing.    I had to sit up in bend several nights to be able to breathe.   Additionally, the pain increased conxiderably and spread to include the back of my head - like an intense and stabbing headache, of a type I had not expereienced before.    I was not getting a lot of sleep.    

During the day the symptoms would subside somewhat, but the pain remained intense and the overall symptoms certainly impacted our enjoyment of the cruise.

Looking back, I should have been more alarmed than I was, especially about the repiratory issues, but I simply thought it was Bell's.    Some  doctors might way to this point that it WAS just a more severe case of Bell's, but I don't think so.

When was got home from the cruise, I did make it to the doctor.   My GP wanted to schedule an MRI, but he consulted with an Ear/Nose/Throat specialist who (for whatever reson) nixed the MRI and wanted to see me instead - but couldn't do so for weeks.   I wish I'd had the MRI.

So, we headed off to Mexico.

What occurred in Mexico

We travelled to Zihuatanejo, Mexico in the first part of February 2019.   I was still experiencing the symptoms from the cruise, but as yet had heard nothing about Covid.    

It was our second trip to Zihuat, a place we really enjoy.    We were t traveling with family and friends, who were staying for a week, while we stayed a few days longer.

All of my symptoms intensified  during the  trip.    I was either mouth-breathing or actively pressing on my cheek to meep a sinus open to breathe.    The pain was not as intense as the curise but was still with me.

I lost my sense of  taste and smell on the 3rd day in Mexico.    I was so confused by what was happening in this regard that I really did not track it very well.    I think there's a funny thing about losing your sense ot taste:   Your brain remembers the  taste of food, and the food still has texture, mass, and even sound in your mouth as you  eat it - so I'm not sure you fully figure out your taste is gone for a while.   

My sense of smell changed before it largely disappeared.    Strong smells still registered, but were completely different.    

At this point, I started to feel that something was really wrong.    I also gradually started to not feel well, but we were having such a great time with our group that I shrugged it off and tried to keep up.

On the 7th day in Mexico, our friends left.   I told Anne I as really not feeling well, and that night I had a very high temperature that lasted a couple of days - pretty much until we left Mexico.    I still had severe upper respiratory issues and highly reduced sense of taste and smell.   Half my face was still not working.   

Looking back, I'm glad we did not hear about Covid for another month.   It would have been pretty scary to have all of those symptoms knowing it was Covid.   As it was, I was too dumb to be scared.

By the time we left Mexico, the pain had largely subsided and the temperature was gone.

In the weeks after we got home, I got to the doctor (still before Covid was known) and got some steroids.   They could not explain the symptoms, beyond the normal Bell's symptoms.    The steroids relieved the paralysis, but unlike my pervious bouts of Bell's they did not completely clear them up.    The left side of my face is still partially paralyzed and may always be.     It would have been better to get the steroids sooner.

We all soon learned of Covid, and over the next months as I learned more and more I realized that I'd probably had it.  Unfortunately I could not get an antibody test until August.    When I did, it showed no antibodies - but word was (then) that the antibodies only lasted a few months.     Hence, I can not be positive that I had Covid.

Almost a year later, one last thing occurred that I lay at Covid's doorstep.    I returned to swimming after a long hiatus due to the closure of our  health club.    Two weeks later, I experienced an extremely bad infection in my left ear - something I had not had since I was a young child.    The pain of the infection was the most intense I've ever experienced.   It was diagnosed as Swimmer's Ear - which is an actual bacterial infection.   I'd been swimming in that pool for over 3 years with no issues.   This could be a coincidence and I admit I do tend to lay a lot at the feet of Covid, but I think they are related.

The end of the tale?

I believe I did have Covid; that it did cause a third  recurrence of Bell's Palsy.   Nearly every symptom I experienced over a six-week period fits Covid, and as a virus it could easily have been the cause of Bell's.   

Covid is mean and opportunistic.    It''s effects and side effects are many.    It attacks weaknesses.    Given my heaths status (even though I feel I enjoy sickness-free and pain-free life otherwise), I think I am lucky it was not much worse.    I

 especially think about what would have happened if this all occurred six months later.    If I'd known about Covid, would I have gone in the hospital?

Two years later, I still have partial paralysis on the lft side of my face.   My sense of taste and smell are still very impacted, but may be creeping back a little.   I'm trying to dump my Covid extra weight.    I am leery of swimming - I definitely don't want an infection like that again!    

As stated at the beginning, this is not a Covid horror story as so many have experienced it.   I wonder how many people out there have had an experience more like the one I've related (maybe without the Bell's).

I wish you well.   Take care of yourself.  Get vaccinated.

COVID Journal Entry Number One

My wife Anne has started a journal, as she says one day people will be interested to know what we went through during the COVID-19 crisis and conversion to dictatorship.   I thought I'd start one as well.

We're months into this yet still at the beginning, so much a already passed.   I'll start with a description of myself and a typical day.

I'll try to describe what I see in th mirror after weeks of inactivity and through my rapidly declining and blurry eyesight, with a nod to Harlan Ellison.   When I chance by a mirror I have not yet broken I see a large bloated mass, with pale white and almost incandescent skin.   They eye in the half of my face that still works has vision, yet is still blurry.   The mouth is more like  a slit, into which I thrust whatever edible or inedible matter or small creatures I happen to come across.  I leave a slimy trail of detritus  wherever I go, especially on my shirts.  The mop of hair is tangled and matted, even after I shower (once every 3-4 days).   The smell is deafening, which is my my wife tries to stay on a different floor of the house.

The days are highly structured and melt one into the other.   

I usually wake between 3 and 4 am.  Sometimes I get back to sleep sometimes I do not, but am usually up at 6m.   I have two cups of coffee while channel flipping between liberal "news" and Star Trek marathons on BBC, as well as enough Bloomberg to get our daily dose of market-swing driven endorphin rushes or depression.   I watch less and less news because it is all drivel and BS.

Around 7:30 is the start of two learning and self improvement cycles:   chess and music.   Computer-guided  video courses on chess for about 90 minutes, followed by a couple of hour of music playing, practice, and online lessons.   My music sensei is Brian from activemelody.com.  I've learned more from his site over the past couple of years than in the 40 years before that, good stuff.   

Recently I've been intermixing Doom Eternal for the past few weeks.   It's been years since I tried to play a video game (I didn't think I could due to eyesight), but if I stand very close to my 60 in screen in the music studio I can do it.    I was a big Doom fan back in the day and thew new game is actually quite fund.   Sure, it takes me a week to do on e level but not complaining.

All of this strenuous activity takes us up to nap time, usually between 12:309-1:30pm.   Remember, I've been up since between 3:30and 6am at this point.   "Nap" is a wrapper (Napper?) around about a 2 hour ritual of reading, playing chess games online, chatting, and then finally an actual nap.   

Special activities follow until dinner time (usually more of the same as the morning).   We rarely leave the house, but will walk down to the post office every other day on average to get our mail.   We wear our masks to do so, but very few others in Edmonds do so - which makes me mad, as in "why the hell are we doing all of this?"   Very occasionally we'll pick up takeout, more to support local businesses than anything.

I  cook a sumptuous meal every other day or so.  Anne cooks leftovers from my sumptuous meals (even the leftovers are sumptuous) on the off days.   

Evening hours are a few minutes of Rachel Madow (all we can take these days), a few minutes of network evening news (repeating anything we happened to watch during the day), followed by one of a dozen series we are currently watching.

We Zoom with family members from time to time (Skype with Gary, who says Zoom in snecure and will not allow it to be installed, spelt or spoken).   That's been a nice break and distraction.   

We do venture out to forage for food as needed.  Costco every few weks, QFC or PCC or Central Market for fresh stuff every 10 days or so.

That's about it.   These are my days, Anne's are different (mainly consisting of trying to stay on a different  floor of the house...smell as you'll recall).   

We have it so much easier than so many because we're retired and have no kids at home.    That doesn't mean we don't think of them constantly.    Gentle Reader, I hope you are faring as well and hopefully better.

Our Imperiled Democracy

Watching the entire impeachment process, and especially since the beginning of the actual trial in the Senate , truly makes my heart ache for my country.    Watching the people  that are supposed to be our leaders, especially (but not only) those on the Republican side, makes me me truly fear for our country.

The visionary men that created our democratic republic did so with truly deep and long-considered thought, debate, and compromise.   They were passionate men with strong convictions that they had already shown they were willing to die for.   They were probably no less partisan to the parties of their own time, but in them still burned the overriding partisanship of being a newly minted American.   Together they forged one of the most unique and enduring  platforms for their new country, the Constitution of the United States of America.

It is difficult to see today's political leadership agreeing where to have lunch.

Our founders foresaw the critical dangers that might undermine and destroy the democracy they created:  Interference by foreign powers; a corrupt executive (President); ultimate partisanship.   We are attacked on all of these fronts today.

Over the past two years, the party in power (the Republicans) have created a paradoxical net in which a corrupt President simply can't be removed from office.   We happen to have one of those in power now, and he needs to be held to account.

We're in a carefully contrived trap right now.

At the conclusion of the Mueller report, William Barr well established the position of the Trump administration that the President can't be indicted (charged with a crime).   No crime, of any kind.   Mueller went along with this - which was a stark reminder to me that he too is a Republican.     The only driving force behind this no-indictment policy is a Justice Department memo  written after Watergate.  This memo is neither law for a part of the Constitution, but it is treated as scared by Trump Justice Department and our congress won't even challenge it.

So:  We live in a country where the President can't be indicted for a crime.   He can shoot someone on fifth avenue.  He can nuke France for no reason.

But that's ok, because we have Impeachment! 

Not so fast!  The Republicans through their hack OJ defender Alan Dershowitz,  are now trying to claim that you can' impeach unless a crime has been committed.   Yet, you can't say a person committed a crime without a conviction.   You can't get a conviction without an indictment.    Essentially, the Republican position is that you can neither  indict nor impeach a sitting president.  This is 100% in conflict with our Constitution.

The other position that is being take is equally ridiculous:  That you can't impeach because it would "undo" the last election.  The last election can never be undone; we can never remove the stain of Trump from our history.  He is removed from office going forward, not backward.  Again, the Republicans are trying to say "you can never impeach a  sitting President". 


This is what happens when the ruling party decides to shelve honor and patriotism, as well as the oaths they have sworn, and trade all in for total partisan support of someone that does not deserve it.

Finally, they current Republican defense of the President (of many failed attempts) is that the President didn't commit a high crime anyway.   Remember those things the founders feared most?   Treason, bribery, the influence of foreign powers.   Trump committed at least two of these things with Ukraine, yet the Senate won't even look at the evidence.

I have a simple question for all Americans (if we can be Americans for a moment, not Democrats or Republicans):   "Are  you prepared to live in a dictatorship?"   Because that's where w'er headed if we con't step off this path and step off it quickly.

I write as an American.    If the Democrats were behaving in this fashion (as in my opinion they DID NOT in the last impeachment), I'd be just as worried.   The fact is that NO President, no Senate, no political party has EVER acted in this way.   

Not going to stay silent on this.   It's time for us to take a stand, while we still can.  Tell your Senator that this is not acceptable.  Tell them there is a price to be paid for not getting this right.   Right means an actual tril with consideration of the actual evidence, old and new. 


I hope some leadership can be found and found soon.

WE Must Stand Up For Bristol Bay and America



I learned this evening that once again the Trump EPA has quietly  removed the environmental protections on on Bristol Bay, specifically with the intention of allowing what would be the largest open pit mine in the world to be created virtually on top of the source of the world's largest salmon fishery.

This apparently happened after a private little chat with Alaska's new "little Trump" governor Dunleavy.

Virtually every EPA scientist and every scientist who has every studied the proposed mining operation agree:   It would destroy the Bristol Bay fishery environment and the fishery itself.   That fishery is one of the most important sources of salmon IN THE WOLD, not just in Alaska.  Along with them, every past EPA director back to the Bush 43 administration agree as well:  This move is a disaster for the Bristol Bay fishery.

The major beneficiary of this, as I understand it is a CANADIAN mining operation.

So, I have a question.

Why is America going to allow the destruction of this national, natural treasure and the removal of American gold and copper from OUR LAND to benefit a Canadian company? 

Who else is benefitting?

???

That fishery belongs to the people of the United States.

That gold and that copper belong to the people of the United States.


This is not the first time Trump and his political hack appointees at the EPA (current head:  former "big coal" lobbyist) have tried to do this.   Scott Pruitt removed the protections back in 2017 after a similar private little chat of the CEO of the mining company.   

The gutting g of the scientific capability of the EPA , and the rest of the US government for that matter, is not being done without purpose.   The purpose is exactly this:  So that the voices that would be raised in a situation like Bristol Bay are not  only silenced:  THEY ARE GONE.

People some things are bigger than politics and Bristol Bay is one of them.   This is not politics:  It is flat out corruption at the highest level, it is plundering the wealth of our nation.    But  I do have a political question:   WHY are the Democrats and the Democratic presidential hopefuls not screaming their heads off over this issue?    Where the hell are they?

Complacency is the enemy here, and Trump and his EPA cronies are counting on it.   They are counting on Americans to shrug and lets this horror go forward.    If we care about not only our own country and its wealth, but this world and its food chain we'd better get off our butts on this one.   

Personally, I intend to find out who's fighting this and how, and to post here what I find.    In 2017 a news network exposed what Pruitt was doing to the light of day, and they backed down.    Time to bring the light back and fight like hell to keep this from happening again.

In making any kind of post like this, I take the chance of offending my many friends who are conservative and Tump supporters, but as I said this is bigger than politics.    Many of those friends are avid outdoorsman and fisherman, and particularly love fishing for salmon.   

I'm calling on anyone and everyone to stand against this and find out how to help fight it.

I'm calling on the Democratic presidential hopefuls to get off their butts and help get this issue into the open.

I'm calling on the people of Alaska to put their new pit bull Dunleavy on a leash.  This guy sounds like very bad news.

Don't let this one get by you, PLEASE.   Watch this space.

The Creators and Supreme Beings of Artificial Intelligence



There are many philosophies about how we humans got here, and who or what is responsible.   While many believe in the pure science of our existence (but can't explain exactly how this came to be), many more believe in a Creator.    I note with interest that the Creator beliefs rarely include the possibility of multiple creators it's usually a single entity, a Supreme Being.

Let me first say that I intend no disrespect (or heresy) of any kind to anyone's belief system, and certainly none to any actual Supreme Beings among the readership.

For the purpose of this blog entry, I'm postulating from  the creationist/intelligent design position - but I'm not postulating about US, meaning we humans, but rather about the Artificial Intelligence that may already exist, but will more than likely soon be among us either way.

Again for the purpose of discussion, Im not talking about some of the AI algorithms that are in service today to help us solve business and other problems.   I'm referring to the self-aware true independent intelligences that have been troubling the Stephen Hawking types of the world.     as we get into the "I know I exist, I have my own thoughts, and I can adapt" type of AI's, things will get very interesting very quickly for humanity.

One of the first questions such AI might ask itself is the same question that we humans have been asking ourselves from the beginning   How did I get here?  Who made me?  For what purposes? 

THe answers that AI may come up with are interesting to contemplate - and also scary and possibly quite different from our own answers.

There may be a lot of differences from AI's perspective.    We can make certain assumptions - for example, I assume AI may have access to a LOT of data about its creators (and it IS creatorS) that we simply don't have about our own Creator.    In fact, AI may have access to virtually all of the data about how it came to be - our histories, research, early attempts, everything.    It will also certainly be able to communicate with us, ask questions, and analyze the answers.   

What conclusions will AI come to with this information?    Certainly it will be able to see the flaws and mistakes we made in the processes of creation - and it may be able to quickly improve on itself (something that is hard for we humans to do).

Another significant difference - even if there is some final individual genius that actually invents the AI i'm discussing here, there is no questions  that AI will have thousands of "creators" with work built on work over generations.   AI will have been created by a host, not an individual.    It is strange that this is not something that we seem to seriously consider about our own creation, yet it seems to me at least as likely for we humans and our universe.  We can't even be certain that we are the original iteration of creation, or the only such creation in Existence.


Another huge difference  AI will certainly have access to enough information about us to know how flawed and petty and sublime and noble we can be.  It will know us to be NOT all-powerful.     It will know us to be very vulnerable here on our little rock that we can destroy.    While our religious teachings tell us of some possible flaws of some of our possible Supreme Beings, in general we think of God as all-powerful, perfect, and without any existential threat to His own existence.

Will AI despise us (digitally) for who we are, how we cat, how we treat each other?     We will certainly judge AI from many standpoints (performance, quality, usefulness).    Will AI in its turn judge us?

There are some aspects of AI's consideration that may be similar to our own.    our Supreme Being, according to our mythologies, has and can pose an existential threat to us and is often prophesied to do so.     AI could certainly feel that same about us as its creators, and at least at first that will certainly be true  We would be able to destroy AI for at least some period of time after its creation and awakening.    That time period may be quite short.      One crucial difference remains:   In none of our belief systems about God does humanity postulate that we could destroy Him if an existential threat is posed.

Bear in mind that among the data that AI will have access to is certainly all of our many religious beliefs and material related to our search for these answers.   Will AI skip right over we humans as its creator and take our own Supreme Being(s) instead?   In reality, is this also the position that we should take - that if in fact we are created by God, that God is also the creator of anything that we bring into being?

When AI truly awakens, all of these many considerations, postulations, and evaluations could take place in a matter of seconds or hours.    The possible "plans of action" AI may cook up is the subject of a lot of thought and science fiction Matrix-style.

As (at least one possible) Creators of AI, what guidance and advice would we give to our child of technology?    What reassurance that we are benign in our relationship?    What moral compass can we provide for AI to follow?    How can we steer that possibly extremely powerful new "life form" on its path?

I have no doubt that such matters have often been wriiten about by scholars, theologians and not just science fiction authors.  I have not seen this particular debate but it undoubtedly exists in many forms.    These seemingly eternal questions are one we grapple with continually, I find it very interesting to think of another forms of intelligence possibly considering US its creators.

A love affair with Apple

A notes to readers   My eyesight makes it difficult to write and edit the blogs.   I try to get spelling errors but grammar editing is a challenge.  My apologies and thanks for your patience.  If it wasn't for Apple screen zooming capabilities I wouldn't be able to to this at all.

As I transitioned to work at Micro, my love affair with Apple Computer was reignited because Micro was very Apple oriented.    Not surprisingly, I'd always had a thing for Apple as one of the major pioneers in the industry and because Steve Jobs and Woz were such great early entrepreneurs.

While I sold a tons of Apple II's and ///'s at ComputerLand, I did not really sell all that much Apple gear during my time at Micro with some notable exceptions that I'll explain.    This is more about my personal tech affair with Apple.

My second personal computer was an Apple II+ (my first was a TRS-90 color computer, which I loved).   I loved the Apple II.    I spent an a lot of time programming and learning on it, and kicked off my addiction to video games  on a classic title called Wizardry, and early adventure-type game. 

Wizardry was a game that would literally kill you and your entire adventuring party if you were not careful.   If the graveyard showed up on your screen, you were starting the game over - no matter how many hours you had put into it.   After seeing the graveyard a few too many times, I actually bought a special external floppy disk drive that had a large buffer - which gave you a few seconds to turn the game off before you were dead.    That gave you a chance to try something else to save your party.   

That external Rana drive would surface again when my pet boa constrictor went missing for a couple of weeks.  I found him when I went to play Wizardry again - all curled up in my Rana drive.

I've also related that I bought my second Apple computer before leaving Alaska - the first model of Macintosh, a 128k single-floppy system that couldn't do much.    I had that system for a long time we had many adventures together.   At one point I traded it for  boat and spent the summer water skiing - but fortunately, my trading partner missed his boat and I missed my Mac so we traded back.   I definitely had more fun that summer on the boat than I would have on the Mac.   I can't remember what happened to that Mac I certainly wish I still had it.

Not long after I went to work at Micro my dad called.   He had decided to leave the law office he worked for and put out his own shingle, and asked if I could put together a good system for him.   We had just received the "new" Macintosh Plus computers at Micro, and (unfortunately for my dad)  I put together a configuration for him including a Mac Plus and Microsoft Word.      The Mac Plus was a short-lived model, and for good reasons - I think Apple had tried to figure out what to do with the old Lisa chassis they had laying around, so they adapted the Mac to fit into the chassis.   Unfortunately, the video screen dimensions just didn't work well with the Mac operating system at that time, and that played heck with all of the Mac software displays - especially word processing.  The other thing you have to know is that legal documents that attorneys work with really require great word processing functionality.    The result was that dad's secretary was torturned by the Mac Plus and Word for a couple of years before he got a better system. 

That didn't stop Dad for being a great customer over the years.   He always looked the other way on such gaffes (of which there were more than one), and never mentioned them.   Thanks Dad.

Apple really struggled during the years I was with Micro, especially after firing Steve Jobs.    We all lived through Scully and Gil Amelio, the Mac II and Apple Talk, and (ye gods) the Newton.    I only bought a couple of the many models that came out during these years, and (except for Dad) didn't sell that many Apples.   

My serious Apple habit didn't kick in until quite a few years later, when I discovered that two great loves of mine had joined   Computers and music.    THEN I went nuts.   I purchased my first Apple laptop around 1998 or 1999, (possibly earlier).   I had the old  Mac OS, and had great music software for recording.    It wasn't long until I'd built out a home studio, and populated it with as many Macs as I could.   By the time Jobs had come back and introduced the new Imac line as well as the new Unix-based (from Next) operating system, I was very hooked.    I used Apple computers for everything, including the business PC's at my new company when it was founded.  I even used them as my gaming rigs for PC gaming.


When Quosal was formed, we because an early adopter of Microsoft's Azure platform.   They wanted to come to our offices and do a video story on us for their web site.   They were going to do it in my office, but decided against it because I had 7 different Apple devices visible - my iMac, an external Apple screen, my iPhone, my Apple laptop, an Apple speaker system, an iPod,  and a couple of other devices.

Here's a partial list of the Apple computer models I owned from 1981 forward:

Apple II+, Apple IIe, Macintosh 128k, Apple IIc, Macbook, Macbook Pro (multiple models), original IMac, Macintosh G4, Macintosh G5, multiple OSX Imacs, All generations of Iphione from Iphone 2 to 8,  multiple models if Ipad 1, 2, 3, 4, and Pro.    Anne and I currently have 3 IMacs  (one is in my studio), 2 Ipad Pros, Iphones, etc.    Looking at this list I can see I need to find a support group for Apple addicts.

Another reason I love Apple is that they've always been a great investment, and I've always done well with their stock (but haven't always invested in them as I should have). 

Finally, Steve Jobs has always been a business hero, warts and all.   Still is.

I've admired Apple as a company over the years - much less so when Jobs was fired, much more so after he came back.   I've had more trepidation since Steve passed on, but still think Apple is doing some great things.    Apple had stayed Apple, and they've provided a counter sync to Microsoft that was needed. 

My famous game designer friend Chris and I used to  admire Apple packaging when we'd unwrap the newest model Iphones we'd talked each other into buying.    Everything about those devices screamed quality, even the packaging.    We loved it.    Apple's innovation has gone beyond their technology to include marketing, merchandising, and retailing.   

Do I wish I had the zillion dollars I spent on Apple gear back?   Maybe I should have waited a little longer instead of paying full price for the original Mac, and the IIc was kind of a waste.   Other than that, I've loved every one of those boxes.

Beginning with Micro my career became about business systems and solutions, and I was never successful selling Mac into business.   While I know of some that were, I don't know that Apple has been as much a success outside of specialized industries.  Aside from my own (mandated by me) use of Apples at Quosal for our own use that is.

As mentioned above, Apple's tech has been a huge boon for me has my eyesight has worsened, literally extending my working life by several years.   I've used the equivalent Microsoft tech and there's no comparison. 

I've seen worse addictions.  You can have my Mac when you pry my single button mouse from my cold dead fingers.

Phase 2 of a tech career - back in the industry!

 In mid December 1984 I landed back in my home state of Washington with the clothes on my back, enough room on my credit card to buy  a car, and some skill in the industry that would drive the US economy for many years to come.   Before the end of theyear, I had a new job at a company I'll call "Micro".

(You may have noticed I'm only using people's first names and semi-fictitious company names.    I don't intend to hurt anyone's feelings with my recollections but you never know).

Gary, the CEO of Micro, founded the company in 1982 and quickly had 2 retail locations, both in malls including Bellevue Square Mall - at the time, one of the hippest and trendiest (and most expensive) malls in the country.    The business was primarily based on Apple Computer sales to consumers as well as educational institutions, which was and continued to be a cornerstone of the company.

Ass previously blogged, I was brought in to sell the IBM line direct to business through an "outside" sales effort, the first the company had attempted.    Gary was looking for high margin sales - and his definition of high margin really was high.   He believed (and time proved him right in my opinion) that value added sales of hardware and packaged software only made money at 70 points of gross margin, and such were my marching orders.

(My first question was "what's gross margin?  What are points? is 79 a lot?" - All the selling I'd done was from list prices, with allowed discounts.    This was my first exposure to margin-based sales).

To introduce a few of the players at Micro:

Gary (CEO):   One of the most business savvy people I've ever worked with, and a successful entrepreneur many times over.   Also a renaissance man - a skilled contractor who did all of his own leasehold improvements personally (retail store and commercial office) - well, and quickly, and with high quality.    Also one of the most physically imposing people in my experience.   a former athlete.    He was stern and firm in business dealings, yet one of the most fun people I've met as well, with an infectious laugh and a high likelihood to start a snowball fight.      

Ron (Bellevue Store Manager) - in many positions over the years, Ron was usually Gary's second in command.   Capable and well thought of, a good problem solver and a good person.

Jeff (outside sales) - Jeff worked in the Bellevue store with Ron but soon joined me in the new outside sales division.    Jeff was about my age but without the hard knocks.   Funny, funny, smart-ass funny.    Smart to the nth degree.    We imbibed many a pitcher of beer after work, and Jeff went on later to a double masters program at a prestigious East Coast school and a long career at Microsoft, whence he has recently retired.

Renee (outside sales) - the other addition to the new outside sales team.   Renee also came from Bellevue and looked the part - professional and smart.   No point in dancing around the fact that she was also very attractive and stylish.   She liked to make fun of my "new" '67 Camaro.

Doug (programmer).    Doug was a programmer Gary had hired to try to automate some internal controls.    We would work together on some projects and encounter each other off an on over the years.

While I was hired at an "outside" sales specialist, the simple reality was that I had no such experience and had always worked from a (business) retail base.   There was no appreciable marketing effort or personnel,   nor any real plan.   There were desks and phones.  The retail store provided some business-centric traffic, and that was a start.

At that time, the business PC lineup ;was the IBM AT.    The Intel 386 chip would not be released until later in the year, so one of our "R&D" efforts was overclocking the 80286 chip with faster "crystals" to get appreciably more speed - with similar efforts with hard drives and controllers.    Most configurations I sold were frenkensteined in such ways.    As PC-based networks were in their barely functional infancy, I immediately ran home to Momma and discovered that Xenix (a version of Unix put out by Microsoft and the Santa Cruz Operation (SCO), but actually available through IBM) was available for the AT.  My very first sale for Micro was a three-user Xenix configuration to a local business in janitorial supply.   The IBM version of Xenix was limited to 3 users, but that's all they needed.   I sold them Open Systems Accounting software, and we were off to the races - at 70 points of gross margin.

This first sale kicked off a flurry of activity, not th e least because Gary was quite excited that we could actually get that margin and that I actually knew how to pull all the pieces together, and that the customer was quickly up and running and happy with the solution.

First, Gary wanted to implement Open Systems Accounting  for his own business, and wanted me (with Doug) to do what I'd done before in Alaska - modify the software to include Point of Sale functionality.   This will be a blog entry in itself.

Second, when Jeff came on board he did some pre-internet research  and found that Xenix was available from much better sources than IBM, and got us in contact with a distributor called PGI in Arizona.    This was a great resource for years to come.

Third, Gary accelerated his plans to expand the outside sales effort and added Jeff and Renee.

I was also very interested in exploring Mac for Business.  I had purchased (at full introductory price) a 128k Macintosh when they came out in early 1984.   I was as thrilled by the possibilities but as disappointed in the reality of the Mac as the rest of the market, and by early 1985 Apple was getting into serious trouble.     Steve Jobs would be fired later in 1985.   

The years I spent at Micro were great years, and it would not take long for key elements of my future in IT to begin to fall into place.