May I tell you what I actually do for a living? I'm a sign painter. Really. Okay—writing about computers is a fun hobby, but I also need to eat.
Back in December of 1959 I was an unemployed sign painter who'd just married a woman with two small kids. We moved to Fullerton, California because Elaine's married sister lived there and we thought maybe she could help with baby-sitting while Elaine worked as an RN. But this idea never came to pass.
Since I couldn't find a steady job,* Elaine decided to go to all the Fullerton stores and pass out business cards, in hopes of getting me some work painting "Season's Greetings" messages on their windows.
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I worked part time for John McConnell at Anaheim Signs and for Red Rhinehardt at Nuart Neon. I even did a little work for Llyod Blank whose downtown Fullerton shop had an interesting name: BLANK SIGNS. I also worked for Bob and Frances Laster at Union Sign Company in Santa Ana. |
When the holiday season ended Elaine went on to find me other lettering jobs around town. She was so good at this we rented a small shop and called ourselves Hi-Fi Signs. (Eventually we changed the name to Banner Sign Co., since so many people were coming in expecting us to repair their stereos and TVs.)
Ultimately, the hand-lettering was replaced by silk screen printing and we moved to larger quarters a couple of times with more employees each time. Later on our daughter-in-law Alana Fugnetti joined the firm and quickly showed us she had the skills to be a first-class manager.
I could go on and on about what a fantastic job Alana has done over the years, but suffice it to say we eventually incorporated and gave Alana and her husband Dennis (my step-son) half the business.
Well, as I began spending more time with computers (writing a newspaper column, teaching computer apps in various schools and doing private tutoring) Alana took on more and more of the burden of managing the shop—to the point where we decided it was time to sell. So Alana went out and found a wonderful buyer and worked out all the details of the sale.
In December of 2001 we signed the final papers—and Alana agreed to stay on with the new owner for three years. Only now she's doing just the kind of work she loves best—sales and PR. (And I'm doing the kind of work I love best—well, you know what that is.)
Okay—now that I'm no longer on call for Banner, I'm trying harder to keep up with all the email that flows in daily. As the readership of PC Chat (now called Computer Tutor Don in a couple of newspapers) has grown, the amount of emails and phone calls I receive have grown way beyond my ability to handle them all properly.
If you are one of the folks who never got a reply, I do apologize—but please try again. I can't promise 100%, but I try to incorporate replies into the columns, whenever possible.
In the meantime, I'm usually available at (949) 646-8615.
Thank you for your time and interest,