Kevin's Additional Educational and Work Experiences

Credit Courses

January 1988	UW-Whitewater	The Logic of Chess	1.0 credit
January 1990	UW-Rock	Introduction to Computers	3.0 credits

Non-credit Courses

November 1989	Blackhawk Tech, Edgerton	Microcomputer I	2.0 CEU*
November 1990	Blackhawk Tech, Central	C Programming I	1.6 CEU
October 1992	Blackhawk Tech, Central	Introduction to Wordperfect	2.0 CEU
October 1992	Blackhawk Tech, Central	Introduction to Microsoft Windows	1.0 CEU
December 1992	Blackhawk Tech, Central	Intermediate WordPerfect	2.0 CEU
February 1993	Blackhawk Tech, Central	Introduction to Lotus 123	2.0 CEU
March 1993	Blackhawk Tech, Central	Introduction to Novell Networking	2.0 CEU
March 1993	Blackhawk Tech, Central	Introduction to the Macintosh Computer	2.0 CEU

* CEU represents Continuing Education Units

Worked:
National Vendor Presentation, August 2005 - sponsored by LeMans Corp.
Trade show for dealers of motorcycles and powersports equipment.

National Vendor Presentation, August 2006 - sponsored by LeMans Corp.
Trade show for dealers of motorcycles and powersports equipment.

Attended:
PC Expo in Chicago, October, 1994 - sponsored by Bruno Blenheim, Inc.
Computer trade show, with major hardware and software manufacturers, computer systems and services

Cyber-Expo in Las Vegas, June 1995 - sponsored by Sysop News & World Report
Trade show and seminars for BBS and online service providers, software and hardware manufacturers. I attended seminars covering business and marketing models, technical and creative use of software, legal and legislative considerations for online services.

Internet Expo / Web World / EMail World in Chicago, June 1996 - sponsored by Digital Consulting, Inc.
Internet and marketing management software companies, regional Internet service providers, and hardware/software companies interested in the Midwest market.

Comdex Spring '99 in Chicago, April 1999 - sponsored by Ziff-Davis, Inc.
Computer, Internet and networking industry trade show, with emphasis on business markets and solutions for IT/MIS people.

National Vendor Presentation, August 2004 - sponsored by LeMans Corp.
Trade show for dealers of motorcycles and powersports equipment.

Monolithic Dome Workshop, May 2006 - conducted by the Monolithic Dome Institute
Week-long training and education about the design, construction, and uses of monolithic domes.

Monolithic Dome Institute Learn to build your own Monolithic Dome

dome info page photos I took during the workshop

Online Services:
In 1992, after becoming acquainted with local computer Bulletin Board Services and demonstrating some proficiency in using a modem to communicate with and navigate about them, I was offered a technical position on The Connecting Line BBS, as file manager of their entertainment system. At the time, it was a single line free board running TAG software on a 40 megabyte hard drive. It had a very popular message base but managing the few files the system could store was not much of a chore.

That soon changed after the owners decided to switch to a multi-line BBS running MBBS software. The cost of the software and hardware necessitated changing to a subscription format. I helped develop membership and operation policy and planned growth which took The Connecting Line to twenty phone lines. I assisted in processing new accounts, maintaining public files, writing documentation files to assist callers and providing on-line assistance. I developed and implemented advertising - including print, billboard, and merchandise.

By 1995, The Connecting Line had peaked in size and membership. The Internet was just starting to become locally available in the stateline area. Due to the costs of the required software and Internet access, The Connecting Line was unable to make the next step for online services. I decided to start my own board, Castle Rock BBS.

Several local BBSes had been struggling (for the most part, unsuccessfully) to compete with Internet Service Providers. I decided to avoid offering PPP connections and stick with traditional BBS fare: files, forums, games, and chat. I added incoming telnet capability to gain access to a larger subscriber market and outgoing telnet access, internet e-mail, and WorldLink - a proprietary chat interface linking Castle Rock with other BBSes in the World - to offer more content to local callers.

WorldLink, and Galacticomm, the company that wrote and sold the MBBS software, fell victim to the widespread use of mIRC, AOL Instant Messenger, and other programs that operated off a common standard, unlike the various brands bulletin board software, which usually developed proprietary client interfaces.

Castle Rock BBS currently serves local subscribers with 1 local 33.6K dial-up modem and people who telnet in from the Internet to play MajorMud and other games via dedicated 384K DSL Internet access.

Miscellaneous:
My Internet Contests Page is mentioned in the Internet Tips section of the June 1998 issue of PC World magazine, page 302.

Some web pages I designed:

Castle Rock BBS

Jim's Woodworking (domain registry has lapsed, files on old host server)

Talcott Free Library (now maintained by someone else)

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