Hello, my name is Russ. My picture is a bit outdated…sorry.
I must have been born with a soldering iron in my hands. As far back as I can remember I’ve been tinkering around with radios and electronics. As early as 3rd grade I was building crystal and solar powered radios. That was over 50 years ago. It taught me to be self-reliant and independent. It forced me to learn how to read technical literature. It also taught me perseverance, and that any problem can be solved given enough effort.
I put myself through college working in TV and radio repair shops. I became a ham radio operator in 1974 (WN5LPS, KF6ZY, W7ZY) and have since talked to hams in over 100 countries.
After earning my degree in biochemistry and a secondary school teaching credential I tried a stint at teaching high school. But that wasn’t for me.
I eventually went to work for a mini computer company called General Automation. Those were the days when computer input was done via teletype or IBM cards, 25Mb disk drives were half the size of a car, and most computers had a maximum of 16K of memory.
Six years later I went to work for the Los Angeles Times in their electronics shop working on satellite and microwave communications equipment, laser devices, a myriad of computer systems, and process control.
Eventually I was promoted to an Editorial Systems Manager where I mastered more sophisticated communications, computer installations, and software. I got to travel all over the world, worked the Seoul and Barcelona Olympics, Bush/Gorbachev presidential summits in Moscow and Malta, and the 1988 democratic convention in Atlanta. In 1992 I shared in the Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the Los Angeles Riots.
But I tend to get bored doing anything for very long, so in 1989 I studied to become a stockbroker and left the LA Times (I also saw the writing on the wall in the newspaper industry). I eventually became a Certified Financial Planner and a CPA.
That brings us current. I’m now just a retired financial advisor, inactive CPA, family historian, website designer, and home automation hobbyist.