Welcome and Purpose

Welcome to my new tech blog! The purpose of this blog is to make you, as a technology consumer a little more informed. I hope I can answer some common questions that I often get from my family and friends about computers and electronics. Questions such as Aunt Matilda's burning questions about burning DVD's or Uncle George's questions of what a VOIP is.

Maybe you have had questions about gigabytes, megapixels, or other wacky terms used these days. Maybe you've wondered about the best storage options for your photos and videos or perhaps just what is new in the world of technology these days. I hope to use plain-language and describe many items and new questions as they come up.

This blog is something I've always wanted to do, and now is the time for me to do it. I'll provide my two-cents-worth and opinion based on my years of experience and knowledge. Come along for the ride, join in the discussion, leave your comments! You too can be part of my extended online family asking those questions and I'll do my best to put it in no-nonsense plain-language terms for you to understand.

I have always been known as the "computer geek" of the family. I always seem to get the questions of "how does this work Blaine?" or "Can you come fix my computer?" or "What would you buy?" from my family. These questions have led me to write many articles in my mind for some time now. I am looking forward to getting these down on electronic paper on this blog and I hope they will benefit you.

-Blaine

p.s. I'm doing this mostly for fun and for your information (well remember free advice is worth what you pay for it) but along the way if I can generate some revenue for myself that would be "icing on the cake" as well. Therefore you'll find some ads on this site and you will eventually find some cases where I might provide a link to sign up for a product I have used and love and I might get a small cut if you do sign up. I'm not out to make money (I'll keep my day job thanks) I'll only do it for a few products I am very happy with.

About Me

Here's a little bit about me:

I grew up loving computers. Years ago I went to my local public library (I must have been about 10 years old?) and got a book on computers. I quickly devoured the college text on bits, bytes, and even nibbles. A lot of it went over my head, but a lot of what I learned I still remember today.

I went in with some friends to purchase my first computer, a Commodore Vic20, and three of us shared it in a garage. I started playing games and programming that Vic20 until it ran out of the 5K of RAM it had. We saved and loaded programs on a tape drive. I moved on to a Commodore 64, and then to an IBM in high school.

While in high school I had a short 'career' writing articles for a local computer user group. I remember well the thrill of writing my first article and transmitting it across town to the computer store using a blazing fast 300 baud modem! Those were the days. I worked in college with PCs and a Mac on rare occasion and eventually graduated with a degree in Information Systems. Nowadays I earn a living in the technology field as a programmer supporting automation for software test engineers.

I have always had an interest in technology. I like hardware and newer, faster machines and hardware. I've built systems from scratch and know the basics of what's out there today in the market. Maybe not the latest or the coolest gaming system (I'm not a gamer) but I do seem to know what gets the job done for home use.

I also have an interest in digital photography and video making. I enjoy making home movies and preserving memories for my family. It takes a long time to produce a good-quality home movie DVD, I have not done as much of this lately.

That's about it about me. I think you'll agree it qualifies me to write about a variety of basic technological items and again my purpose is to inform you and answer your questions and to make you smarter about technology.