I begin in the mid 80's, when "big hair" was in (for both women & men) and the Chicago Bears actually won the Superbowl!
Before entering High School (where I had to walk uphill both ways in Freezing temperatures), I joined the Thornton Volunteer Fire Department. I didn't know it yet, but this would begin my decade-long career in the Fire Service.
Going to California
In 1985 I left the small Chicago Suburb and made the trek across the country to a not-so-small town in sunny California. After settling in, I joined the Orange County Fire Exploring Program, where I continued my FireFighting education.
This was also my first Christmas in California. Eighty degrees! Far cry from the eighty degrees BELOW ZERO I was used to!
In 1987, I became a Captain (and fill-in Battalion Chief) in the Fire Academy. In 1988 I earned the Golden Boot Award (which still hangs in Station 31), graduated from High School, and left the Exploring Program to become a PCF (Paid Call FireFighter) for the OCFD
Throughout my PCF career, I instructed at the Fire Academy, worked in the Emergency Medical Service's Office, and was part of the team that outfitted the departments first phase of Type I Quint Fire Engines. This was all in addition to responding to emergency calls like fires, rescues and traffic accidents.
The 90's : Marriage, Kids and TV
The early 90's had many milestones for me. I got married to my gorgeous wife Katie, my first son was born and I made my television debut. I played a Firefighter and a good Samaritan in the USA Networks original movie "After the Shock". I also played a Firefighter on the TV shows "Family Man" and "Perfect Strangers".
The year 1993 became the year I made the difficult decision to leave the Fire Service. My second son was just born, and I decided a technical career in Computer Science would suit our family better. A few months after leaving the Fire Service, Katie and I founded the first Internet based Grocery Delivery Service. Gone Shoppin', as it was named, was a great concept, but proved to be a concept years ahead of it's time.
During this time I had been dabbling in Web Development (the "WWW" was still in the early stages) so in
December 1993, PageCrafter Internet Services was born (and today is
the parent company to many Web Properties that I operate). PageCrafter helped businesses large and small
enter the "Internet Age". The year 1994 brought another member of the family; our third son.
(In 2005 PageCrafter Internet Services was renamed to PageCrafter Media Group to refelct it's new focus.)
Around 1996, after my daughter was born, I started consulting with an IBM business partner, and became their Lotus/Web Developer and later their eBusiness Director. That led to postilions with other 2 other IBM Business Partners. It was these years that I focused mainly on Lotus technologies (Notes, Domino, Sametime). I hold certifications in both Lotus Notes/Domino Development and Administration.
Things are LookinUP (.com)
In 1998, my wife (and "Idea Generator") thought of local search/community idea which after a year and a half of hard work, became LookinUP.com. The web site brought people, business, and information/resources together in one place.
The New Millennium
Y2K. Boy was that a time, especially for those of us in the computer industry. In 2002, I decided to build on something I had worked on a couple years prior. I had been the designer for an auction site that sold computer hardware for IBM Business Partners (this wasn't my site, I was just the designer); sort of like an eBay for IBM'ers.
I created "PhiremanPhil Auctions" and after a few very successful sales, decided to take the business full-time. LikePhate was founded in 2003, and after a couple of months became an eBay PowerSeller, and authorized eBay Trading Assistant.
In 2004 our Trading Assistant contract was featured in the Book "Time Saving Techniques for Dummies", by Marsha Collier. The Orange County Register also did a feature article on us. Taking my knowledge in both computers and eBay, I started to teach, and became an eBay Education Specialist.
After Meg Whitman decided to run eBay into the ground, LikePhate was morphed into strictly an Internet Consultancy Firm, and I left eBay to the spammers and those who could afford the outlandish fees.
In mid-2005, I decided to take my love for music, and my expert skills as a web developer and started working on a project, then code-named the "Lighthouse Project". It went through various incarnations which included an online magazine paired with radio to what is now known as Phibble Media
Phibble has grown to about 100 bands that we help promote and distribute both music and merchandise for. We cater to artists all over the world; including Sweden, UK, USA, France, Finland, Australia, the Middle East and the Russian Federation.
In the summer of 2007, we decided to take on the challenge of making a movie. We had no budget, no experience, no time and a few unseen obstacles along the way (like snow in September). The movie, which we called Crossed was released on Halloween. While it won't win any awards, we had fun making it, we learned a ton, and we are very proud of the fact that we were able to pull off making a short film in two months - from concept to upload!
I've got lot's of cool things planned for the remainder of 2010 and 2011.