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So you want to know about me... Well, there's a lot to know. Definitely too much just to fit on this one little page. For starters, let's get the stuff that's already on my site on other pages out of the way. Here's a little sitemap:
Background
About myself. That is indeed a long story. I'll try to keep this short instead of writing a long-winded essay. Here goes...
Basics: Originally from Brighton, Michigan, I was born near Detroit in 1975. I'm from a large family, having 3 older brothers and 4 older sisters, all of whom have their own families now. I attended Elementary school at multiple schools due to my family moving from house to house on a regular basis, my father was a real estate agent. I attended middle school at the old Scranton Junior High school in Brighton, before they built the new one. I then went on to Brighton High School for my primary schooling, and spent my senior year at Howell High School because I felt they had a stronger academic program. Throughout my secondary and primary schooling I kept strong academic activities and positions, including Spelling Bee, Science Olympiad, Speech & Debate, Drama, Choir and various Writing competitions. Due to family complications overseas, I could not complete my high school diploma at Howell. I therefore graduated from Community Education when I returned, with a State-Endorsed diploma plus honors due to my outstanding GED scores. I then attended Washtenaw Community College for three semesters before transferring to Eastern Michigan University, where I spent an additional two semesters and passed over 35 credits in AP exams. Due to financial complications I was forced to drop out of college and pursue my career in Information Technology more vigorously. Throughout all of my schooling I kept an emphasis on Writing, Computer Science and the Arts/Design. I have a unique blend of creativity and analytic thinking.
Career: While I started working at the early age of 10 as a paperboy, I've come a long ways in 14 years. For five years I spent 3-6 hours every day delivering newspapers to help make a living. When I was 15 I started working in the customer service and general labor area while still attending school. I worked for a couple years as an employee of Meijer's and in the service of Chinese restaurants as a dishwasher and preparer. When I was 17 and returned from Taiwan (see below) I came home to put my computer skills to work as a PC Technician for my hometown computer store. I did that for a little over a year before getting back into school, at which point I took a job as a Site Supervisor for Burns Int'l Security, not only did it pay better but I got a management position and a place to do my homework at night. When I transferred to Eastern I had all night classes, and so took a job in a factory that paid very well until I had saved enough to start my own business. Aloe's On-Site Computer Service was geared around doing on-site PC support and networking, this is about the time I started getting big into internet related study and applications. For 9 months I worked for myself while attending college before some friends from the internet and some market research on Louisville pulled me down there to begin improving my career and experience. I started in Uptech Computer's Louisville store where I worked as a PC Tech, Salesperson and Networking Tech for over 3 months. After that I was approached by many contracting firms and was inundated into the consulting business. I worked several project-based contracts for a little over two years in Louisville in the PC Tech, Helpdesk, Network Engineering and Systems Admin areas. After a Web Devel/Design contract I was extended an offer by XeroxConnect's Louisville branch office, which I eagerly accepted. I was hired as the UNIX Team Leader, and my role would be to not only manage UNIX-based projects, but also to build a valuable team of UNIX professionals in the Louisville office. Sadly, after 6 months of hard, fast-paced work in Network Engineering, Systems Admin and Technical Consulting, our sales team was removed from the office and we no longer had a source of new contracts and revenue. Several techs and engineers, including myself, were laid-off with hefty severance packages and good faith that we'd have jobs again if they got new sales staff. At that point I decided it was time for a change, and moved to Chicago for more promising positions. My first gig was with Tribune Interactive, their internet and electronic media division, working as a Systems Admin and Webmaster responsible for a project-based contract to migrate over 450 Netscape Enterprise Servers on Sun Enterprise systems. With that contract completed after 4 months, I went back into the pool and was picked-up by FirstHealth Corp. as a Web Applications Developer, which is where I am still employed at this time. It's an open-ended contract consultant position, my responsibilities to aid the Web Apps team in applications development wherever they have needs at a particular time. This has included C/CGI programming and maintenance, consulting on Netscape Enterprise servers and other technologies, and application prototype development for upcoming applications. That's where I stand right now.
Asia: Seems like an interesting section to find on someone's background information, right? It certainly is in my case, I speak Mandarin Chinese and lived in Taiwan not just once but twice. I got over to Taiwan thanks to my brother John, who is my closest sibling, who started visiting there over 11 years ago due to his romantic interest. He quickly found that there is a great demand for learning English, and was quickly intoxicated by the elegant and friendly culture. His college major was English, and so was a perfect natural for teaching in Taiwan, and since the money was great he moved there and has been a resident for over 10 years now. When I was barely 14 and finished middle school, my family offered to send me to Taiwan for a summer to teach English and explore a new culture. I took the chance, and immensely enjoyed my time there, picking up the language and culture as best as a 14 year old could. My flight to Taiwan stopped in Korea and was delayed, so I spent a couple days there and got to see some parts of Seoul. My flight home took me to Japan for 3 weeks to visit friends who lived there, and learn more about Japan and it's culture. When I was almost 18 and finishing my senior year of high school, my brother had an emergency which required me to fly to Taiwan immediately and take over his school for 2 weeks while he renewed his work visa back in the States. So I spent another full summer in Taiwan, reinforcing my skills in Chinese and teaching English yet again. I also did work on PCs there for friends and family, it's interesting to work on computers in Chinese. That trip also got me an overnight visit to Hong Kong as well.
Miscellany: Anything that doesn't fit anywhere else fits here. Like the fact that I had a weekly technical column in a local newspaper for a couple months before school and my job got to be too much to consistently keep up with the deadline demands of writing newspaper columns. Also the fact that I've won several accreditations and awards for writing poetry and short stories, and been published in national and local print on multiple occasions.
Programming: See my Projects page for more info on that.
Whew, I guess that's all for now. Are you still reading? There's much more interesting stuff out there than this, I'm sure. But thanks for reading on anyway.
All images and page designs are © 1998, 1999 by Timothy Partee
Please do not modify or redistribute without permission!
Page last updated: October 16, 1999 - Contact Mr. Partee at: tpartee@furcen.org