At the end of 1996, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I had just turned thirty and I had to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up. I needed to put some focus in my life.

My dream of opening a resturant didn't seem as appealing as it once did. Just blindly getting my MBA wasn't likely to help. The only thing that I knew for sure was that I wanted a computer.

Way back in the early 80's, I was pretty good with computers, I knew how to program in basic and I was learning assembly language. I did't keep up with the hands on learning, but I did see the changes (I read/watch a lot of news).

After months of reading, pricing and learing, I took the big leap and bought a computer and got on line the same day. I choose a local ISP with national presence (mindspring). The computer I got from a small computer shop (a 586 with 1 gig HD ,16 meg ram, and a modem).

I had heard that creating web pages was the big thing, so my first effort of study was HTML. I bought a couple of books and I learned the tags and the syntax. Java and JavaScript caught my interest and I dove into the complexities of object oriented programing. After about two months I found that I was way over my head. I was missing the fundimentals.

By this time I was a frequent shopper at CompUSA. One day they got a big shipment of books from Sybex, Windows NT study guides. I understood that Bill Gates was investing a lot of money into Windows NT. Later, I found out what the MCSE was all about.

I was getting ready to take my first test (Networking Essentials) when I ran accross the Altanta MCSE study group. Since November, I have spent most every Saturday morning with the group, and it has been the best source of information.

I have also been hard at work upgrading my system. I have torn apart and rebuilt my system at least a half dozen times. Adding a printer, sound card, a second hard drive, RAM, a scanner, a digital camera, joystick, and I changed the motherboard (a 686 mx 200+). I added Windows NT Workstation 4.0 and Windows 98 (beta). I am very comfortable with Internet Explorer 4.0, Outlook, Netscape Navigator 4.0