About me — a more personal look

Where am I from?

New York City!
Although we really lived in Briarwood, Queens at the time.
We lived upstate, near Rochester for a while. But by the time I started school we were Syosset suburbanites. Dad selected Syosset for its top-level schools and I'm very lucky he did. (This is my high school yearbook picture.)
For college I lived in Oswego, NY, attending SUNY there. After that I did stints in LA, Hartford, and New Jersey, finally landing a dream job in NYC and moving into Stuyvesant Town (NYC apt complex).
Life in NYC was amazing: Broadway shows, top clubs where I knew the management through my job, concerts and bicycling in Central Park, sailing, and much more.
Then I left to travel, calling places like London and Sydney home a while.

Returning to the US, I eventually ended up in LA and it become home thanks to great friends here. I lalso love the heated pool outside my balcony and that it's warm enough to swim almost year-round.

Did I study computers?

Nope. Just a short course in Basic during Math in High School. In High School I majored in Art and English. Art included cinematography. English included creative writing and all aspects of journalism and publication creation. (Syosset High School was amazing and some of my teachers were unbeatable. In fact, my entire professional writing education came from Mrs. Marder, Mrs. Arnold, and Don Feinstein right there in Jr and Sr High.) In college I studied TV, radio, A/V production, and printing. SUNY, college at Oswego was known for this stuff and again I had some unparalleled professors.

Professionally, I started in writing, journalism, video, and A/V. I used a computer to program slide shows and motion message boards, but that's different.

Hobbies? Likes?

I love theater. While living in NYC many friends were in TV, theater, and PR so there were plenty of Broadway shows. There's theater in LA too, but it's different.

In NYC I started bicycling. With the AYH (now International Hostelling) I rode all over NY, NJ, CT, and MA. This photo is from one of those rides. I loved the Five Borough Bike Tour in NYC. I took my bike to London too, and cycled the south of England, across Holland, north-west Germany and southern Denmark. Rode the London-Brighton ride once. Riding in LA is boring though.

I love sailing.
I sail in Marina del Rey from time to time.

I first learned to sail in NYC — yes NYC — through a group called TASCA, on the "lake" at the old World's Fair ground.
Funny story: I visited the Long Island Mac Group summer of '98 and as two members gave me a ride home, when passing the fair grounds I commented about the sailing. This couple had taught me years before!

I also took lessons in the Aisle of Wight while I lived in London. (I rode my bike down there for the course.) That's where these small-craft shots were taken.

Favorite color?

Many. All. Life would be boring without all of them.

What did I do before Mac?

For a few years, I worked in video production in and around NYC.

This is me as an engineer at WFSB-TV, Hartford. WFSB was quite an experience; I'd worked in engineering in NYC without incident but here the guys felt women didn't belong in engineering and actually gaslighted me. Not a bit of help from the other engineers I was to work with. But I figured out how to pull off my air tests alone and the other men would sure come running and scream union when, absent any help, I'd start up the ladder myself to adjust something! (I was union too. I just needed to get the job done.) All sorts of things that I did right went wrong on the air. One guy finally admitted they were all behind everything that made me look incompetent. I'm eternally grateful to Rayna for befriending and helping me.

Perhaps the best part of having an internet is that people can learn about other people and open communication. In 2004 I received an email from Rich Lenoce, VP of the Connecticut Macintosh Connection (User Group) who happens to teach broadcast video production and, having read this page, wrote me to say "I'd like you to know that several female grads from my program are working at WFSB-3 and things have changed." It was so great to learn that! I guess I get to have a small role as a broadcast pioneer.

Favorite books?

So many! Here are my top favorites. Each makes you think, most take you places, and all introduce you to unforgettable people.

• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand — I don't agree with it blindly but there is a lot to learn from.
• A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute. My favorite love story, but so much more.
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card — and the entire series. (I'm working through it all.)
• Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less by Jeffrey Archer. Heck, every book by Jeffrey Archer. They're hard to put down. He's famous for Kane and Abel but that's just a small part of what he can do.
• The Soul of Adventure by my very close friend Gary B. Hudson.
  The same week I left NYC to start my world travels in England, Gary started his world travels in Africa. (We met on the road.) Gary, a black man originally from Chicago, went to Africa expecting to find a place where instead of being a 'black man' he'd just be a 'man.' Instead he found that he was 'an American.' Along the way he learned a lot about people, cultures, lifesyles, and patience. Each of us who travels this way gains an intimate understanding of humanity on a level that cannot accurately be put into so many words — and we change a good deal inside. We can't all be black men experiencing travel in Africa, but we can all experience it through Gary's words. Unfortuately there's no website for it yet. That''s my fault.
• The Pocket and the Pendant by another new novelist, Mark Jeffrey.
  I fell in love with Mark's writing style right away and after reading the two sample chapters available at pocketandpendant.com, I was even more certain I had to buy and read this book. I've raved about it. There's even a free podcast of it. Let Mark read the story to you. You'll find it in iTunes under podcasts.

Favorite entertainers?

• Cary Grant has been my favorite actor since I fell in love with him watching Arsenic and Old Lace in my college Tavern, and then in the Hitchcock films.
• Sandra Bullock is probably my favorite modern actress. I like that she seems real and I like the characters she chooses to portray.
• My favorite magician is Magic Bob Weiss. I first saw him perform for an impromptu crowd at the Magic Castle back in Dec 1993 and asked for his card. Since then I've seen him do many an event, including my own family parties. He never fails to make everyone smile, laugh, and gasp in amazement. You might say he never misses a trick. :)
  Any vendors reading this, notice that Bob does great marketing magic.
• My favorite Broadway show was probably Dream Girls but I don't think I ever saw a bad show either on or off Broadway. (I miss Broadway!)
• And in music my favs are Dan Fogelberg (Part of the Plan), Jackson Browne, Dave Mason (Every Woman), REM... And I still love Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, thanks to my dad. (I miss my dad more than I'll ever miss Broadway.)

Favorite foods?

• Seafood! No question.
• Spinach and almost every vegetable.
• My*T*Fine Chocolate pudding. Which is common in the NY area and virtually unheard of anywhere else. Luckily, friends bring if from NY for me and it doesn't go bad.
• Tootsie Roll. It was the first candy I had when I returned to the US after my trip. I love that one can last a long time — and that it's chocolate. Funny that the Tootsie Roll company also owns my next favorite candy, Andes mints.
• Mallomars. They're common around NYC, but just known in movies to most of the rest of the US. I love 'em, but not at the price to ship them to LA. Once in a while a friend from NY brings them back for me.
• I'm also a sucker for any really good dark chocolate, Trader Joe's huge Dark Chocolate bar, and most of See's Candies pieces. (I once worked at Godiva on Park Avenue and sure loved that chocolate too!)
• Cherry Ripe is another favorite candy bar. It's made by Cadbury in Australia and not sold in the US. It's a bit like a Peter Paul Mounds bar (which I also love) — only with bits of cherry inside!
  A friend visited their factory in Sydney November 2007 and asked why they're not sold here. The response was that there was no interest. How can anyone have interest in buying something they don't know exists?! If you love dark chocolate, coconut, and cherries, let 'em know you're interested via this form.
• While on the topic, my favorite ice cream flavors are Chocolate Mint, Black Cherry, Chocolate, and Moca. My favorite brand outside of Italy is Dryers (called Edy's in NY). I also favor Rite Aide's which will always be Thrifty's ice cream to me. I either buy those two or Ralph's PS brand.
• And to combine candy and ice cream, I'll go for a dark chocolate Dove bar, any flavor ice cream inside.
• Love good (not burnt) coffee! Always have. (Not Maxwell House. I've been boycotting Maxwell House Coffee since I was 18 due to their poor customer service.)

Why'd I leave NY?

I always wanted to know the world. Suddenly all the pieces of my life came together to hit me on the head that the time was perfect, so I packed everything into storage, bought a one-way ticket to London, and hit the road. (You can see some of my travel photos on my travel pages. This shot was in Brehman, Germany.

After three years of backpacking the world, I was tired and wanted to come home. There was more to experience but I realized I could always travel again later, and it was time to rest. I returned to NY just to visit my folks and had the great experience of working at SHS, my former high school, for a semester. But I felt that I was different now, so I didn't want to step back into "same." Instead, I decided to move to San Diego. I packed my newly purchased used Honda Accord to the brim and headed across the US for the 2nd time.

I met great folks during my travels. If we met somewhere along the road, please

How'd I get into computers or Mac?

Arriving in San Diego, I bought a Sharp laptop (with two floppies!) and taught myself DOS and Word Perfect to sit outside by the pool with a cordless phone and write about the adventures of my past 3 years. I'd spent them traveling around much of the world meeting all sorts of people and learning about life, cultures, and history.

The start of 1989 saw me land in LA where my then-boyfriend suggested that rather than returning to my pre-travel video production career, I sell computers. I decided to go for it and got myself hired at the now defunct SOS Computers on LaBrea selling IBM clones, Mac, the Apple IIgs, and Amiga. Those few months were interesting times.

• The owner's son believed women couldn't know or sell computers. He'd get so annoyed when I knew things or made a sale.
• Once a man spent hours asking me questions but turned out to want a date, not to want a computer. (Flattering but not ok when on commission.)
• One of my customers called me for help, got very frustrated that I was not helping him and demanded to speak to a man. All the guys were with me on the speaker at that point so one took over. No better. Me again. I said, "are you sure you are pressing the letter c, lowercase, not with shift (pause), the letter d (pause) colon..." This time, exasperated, he said "Yes! Colon! I'm not stupid! I know what a colon is. It's that dot with the squiggle under it!" Ah, those good old DOS days....

We sold Macs, but I preferred Amigas because they did graphics so well. I sold many to TV stations for show credits and animations. Then, one fine day the Microsoft rep came in and showed us this great new interface called Windows, for 286 machines. Funny thing… it didn't work so well when I tried it myself. Funnier, that's what made me look more closely at the Macs.

Hired away by Inacomp in the spring, I moved to Orange County. There, a great Aldus rep came and showed me FreeHand (newly at 2.0) and I fell in love with it. Then came a video trade show where I saw a Mac Plus work as a video switcher! Next I discovered Prodigy online service. I was hooked on the Mac!

I loved showing people the Mac's power, but that's not what makes a good salesperson. So when Inacomp closed its storefront sales at the end of 1989, I went to work doing demos of Prodigy, doing freelance Mac office work and desktop publishing. I was fully freelance, making my living with my Mac II, OS 6, and 1200 baud modem. In 1991 I came to my first LAMG meeting, timidly answered a Q&A question, and ran for the board so I could learn more and meet people. Soon I had a great bunch of friends for the first time in California, a career doing training, and I was writing for the LAMG Digest.

Since then I've appeared at several vendor's tradeshow booths. I've been on several Macworld Expo stages including a Pundits panel, a Warm-up Rally, Mac Beginnings (many times), User Track seminars and full-day seminars. I've written columns for ComputerUser and MacCentral (which made me world-famous). I've authored for MacHome Journal, NetProfessional, and New Media magazine. I've also been on the radio in Anchorage LA, and the internet, and I've been quoted in LA newspapers.

What's my own computer setup?

My main Mac is a PowerBook is a 15" Aluminum 1.25GHz with 1.25gigs of ram (thanks to a 1gig stick from OWC.) I'm a portability fan.
With it, I always carry:

• My mouse — the BT-500 from Radtech — an optical 2-button clickable scroll wheel mouse that fits both my hand and my PowerBook bags well. (The newer PowerBook and MacBook trackpads offer the same benefits as a 2nd button and scroll wheel but for anyone else a mouse like this helps so much!)
• Dr Bott T7 hub on my desk. Belkin hub too.
• ViewSonic 19" monitor on my desk. (Not a flat panel - yet.)
• Keyspan mini USB hub in my bag.
• Lexmark Jumpdrive Trio. To read my SanDisk SD cards and to carry data.
  (I also have a SanDisk reader for SmartCards and Compact Flash.)
• Utility CDs: TechTool Pro ( have their subscription so I always know I have the latest), DiskWarrior, Norton, Panther install disks
  Why not? They fit so well in my Timbuk2 bag. :)
• SanDisk media — Compact Flash/SanDisk PCMCIA card reader, SmartCard, SD cards.
• Bongo Ties! I have some everywhere, to tie up cables and to do so much more.
• And it all gets carried in my 15" powder blue Timbuk2 Commute bag.
  Fits everything beautifully.

My other PowerBook — because it's still great, is aTitanium 400.
With it I carry:

• MadsonLine MicroAdapter
• MacWireless card
• And I carry it in my Marware SportFolio Neoprene case.

Note: The hardware I use is detailed on my Favorite Hardware page.

My other Mac is an eMac 800mhz that burns CD sand DVDs. Sometimes it's my beta-testing machine, but it's also my video editing Mac.

I own a PC too. Without a Windows machine I could not write my ClarisWorks and GoLIve books; both apps are cross-platform, and my Office 98 Bible, which needed knowledge of Office 97. And how else could I teach Windows people about Mac and Mac people about the Windows world?

My current PC was hand-built from industry-standard parts: Intel Celeron 900mhz, 100mhz System bus with 128 kb Full-speed L2 Cache. I avoided pre-build brands because of how the cripple ROM. (Added note: WIndows XP keeps telling me my ROMS are not recognized so Windows doesn't run well. No one knows why. That's life with a PC. I'm so happy Apple doesn't have these problems.) Confession: It's far easier to run Virtual PC on my Aluminum so I use that more. And I can't wait to own an Intel Mac to run Windows instead. Leopard should be great for this!

Other devices

• Palm Zire 71 & Tungsten C
• iPod — 10 gig
  wearing a TrendyGeek Pod Shield and Marware SportSuit™ Convertible case.
• Nano — 4 gig
  wearing a pink Belkin case that flips open.
• HP digital camera with SanDisk SD cards.
• Tapwave Zodiac II PalmOS gamepad — because I won it at E3. (It has Bluetooth for messaging and I may get good at video games using it.) SanDisk SD cards. Tapwave is not Mac compatible so Missing Sync by Mark/Space enables me to use it.

Other Macs I've owned

My first Mac was a Mac II I bought used. From there I moved up to a IIci. Next a PowerMac—Quadra (?) At the same time, I had my first PowerBook, a 520C. I loved that machine! It hurt to part with it. Soon my Quadra became a 7600 and it was eventually upgraded to G3. My next main Mac was a Pismo. I basically stopped using the 7600 at that point. Yes, it was a long time coming to me. Great unit! The trackpad was so comfortable that I was able to do artwork with it. (Like the buttons at GoLiveBible.com.) When it fell off a table I had to give it up and move to the Titanium. That was thanks to Safeware insurance, but then Safeware dropped me without warning. (I am no longer a Safeware fan. Over time I'd paid them more than they paid me. I was honest and open; they were not. But I am not comfortable being without the insurace.)

What's next?

I'm currently a Contributing Editor for MacLife (formerly Mac Addict) magazine. (I gave up my GoLive soon after Mac Design became Layers.) I write other stuff here and there too, and have some instructional writing projects in the works.

My biggest project is the MacGathering™. The last MacGathering was in LA May 19-20, 2006. I'm also working on bringing it to a few other cities.(Vendors interested in sponsoring or exhibiting a top-class Mac show in So Cal, feel free to )

I also created my own Macworld party, The Party For The People, last held Tuesday, Jan 10th, 2006. I do training and classes as well.

It's all fun because it's all about teaching all the amazing things our Macs can do — which extends all the things we, ourselves, can do.

There's one more thing I still want very much though: to hook up with the man of my dreams (who happens to find me the woman of his dreams) and form a family to travel through life and the world with.