It's time to teach the world!

I was given my first computer when I was 8. It was a Commodore VIC-20 computer that plugged into our little black & white television. It didn't have a disc drive, cd-rom or USB... but an audio cassette drive to load & save files on. Technology sure has come a long ways since then!

In school I was an outcast. While my peers focused on sports & socializing, I was stuck at our little farmhouse miles in the country reading and playing with my computer. By high school I was typing 80 words per minute and helping the school order their first multimedia computer... a 486 that ran at a whopping 166 Mhz. It was a piece of junk compared to todays 7,000 Mhz computers but it was quite impressive back then. I also helped them set up their first BBS... which is basically a website before the internet.

As an adult, I found my computer skills gave me a HUGE advantage in the workplace and it got me promoted time and time again. Before I knew it, I was a high level IT Manager at Verizon Business leading a team of 30 project managers who all had college degrees. They jokingly called me the guru, because I could fix all their problems. I built a huge encyclopedia of all the computer systems, processes and data. I drew up huge diagrams of how the computer systems talked to each other. I taught classes to groups of 50-200 coworkers showing them how things worked, where to find information and how they could make their jobs easier. I found ways to simplify or automate nearly everything I touched. And by the time I left, their data setup that originally took 2 months of headaches, only took 3-5 days. I truly worked myself out of my job.

Since leaving Verizon, I have been trying to figure out where my talents are needed the most. Rather than using my gifts to make a rich corporation even richer, I want to help the people. I can improve people's lives and make things easier for everyone by teaching! I have taught many groups about multimedia, image editing, audio recording software and web design. It's great to hear how excited people get from my little tidbits of wisdom. And I wished I could help more people... when my closest advisor, my mom, suggest I record my classes on video and post them online for everyone to watch. And so...

It's time to teach the world!

Subjects that will be covered in this blog include:
-Using Windows more productively
-Using Office Software (word processing, spreadsheets, flowcharts, presentations)
-Managing projects
-Building wiki encyclopedias
-Researching online
-Using social networking to unite and to teach
-Editing images with Picasa, GIMP & Photoshop
-Using audio programs to create music
-Using webcams
-Recording and editing videos
-Sharing effectively
-And more!

I want everyone that watches my videos to walk away excited about what they learned, and want them to share it with everyone they know. It's 2012. The beginning of a new world!