About Me
Most of you who visit these pages will probably do so at my invitation, so I suspect that you know most of the following facts about me without my telling you, but in case you don't already know, let me introduce myself.
I'm a southern boy (or at least about 50 years ago I was a boy) who lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. I moved here from the Atlanta area (Stone Mountain, to be specific) about 20 years ago to take a job with Vernine and Associates. Having lived here for this long, I've become a proud Tennessean. I love the area in which I live, blessed as it is with its beautiful mountains and good people. And despite my ties to the Atlanta area and my undying devotion to Atlanta's sports teams, I can't envision my ever moving back there. Atlanta has grown and changed so much and Knoxville has become so much a part of me, that I could never leave Knoxville to return to my boyhood home.
I've spent most of the last 40 years working as a consultant to a variety of industries, but mostly to the Utility Industry (as an associate with Vernine and Associates). My consulting activities focused primarily on helping organizations improve their relationship with their customers and with their employees. I've taught communications skills to front-line customer service associates, supervisory skills to managers and supervisors in a number of industries, and I've helped organizations to respond creatively to the challenging issues, problems and opportunities they faced.
One of the hobbies that I have enjoyed the most through the years is singing Barbershop harmony. For about three years, I sang baritone with a successful performing Barbershop Quartet called The Fun Addicts. Recently, we used some recordings we had of our performances to create some professional quality CDs. I then created a web page devoted to our quartet and dedicated to promoting the sale of those CDs. That web site is located at this URL http://www.thefunaddicts.com. If you happen to be interested in one of our CDs you can find more information about obtaining them at that web site.
Soon after I joined Vernine and Associates in 1979, our company bought its first computers, Apple IIe's. In due time, we obtained Compaq Deskpro desktops for the staff and at that point my acquaintance (and subsequently my fascination) with computers began. Since no one in our company knew much about computers, I assumed the role of "alpha geek." I jumped in and learned how to do things and particularly became infatuated with using the computers as a communication tool. My friend, Jane Hascall, and I spent hours struggling with ASCII EXPRESS PRO, an early communications program, to try to establish links that worked. Of course, in those early days, just being able to connect was a major achievement, and we never really became proficient in using the computer to communicate data back and forth for the company's benefit.
But those early efforts inspired me to get a CompuServe account where I paid for access by the hour. The more I communicated using the computer, the more I became convinced that what I was doing at the time was only the beginning. Since that time, I am still convinced that what we are now doing with the computer as a tool of communication is only in its infancy. When you think about it, people who began using the Internet in 1995 think of themselves as pioneers, and in once sense they are -- we all are. But the future of computer communications is as far ahead of what we are doing now as a car made in 2000 is ahead of Henry Ford's Model T.
About a year ago, I joined a company that provides technical support for BellSouth's FastAccess ADSL Internet Service. So now, after all these years of telling others how to do it, I am given the opportunity to prove that my recommendations about how to deal with customers actually do work. And I'm delighted to report THEY DO! I derive a lot of pleasure from working directly with BellSouth's customers, helping them to keep their access to the Internet functioning properly.
During the last year, I have also been involved in helping to organize a group called the New Edge Leadership Alliance which is dedicated to helping the organizations with which we work make the transition to the new networked economy. We have carried on a lively discussion since January of this year, using the YahooGroups' mailing list program. If you are interested in seeing what has transpired in those discussions you can visit the discussion site by clicking here. We have also recently created a web site for our alliance at this URL http://www.NewEdgeLeadership.com. We'd be happy to have you visit our site and/or join in our discussions.
I am hopeful that making these pages available on the net gives me a place where those who sometimes call on me for help with their computers can find links and information that might be helpful to them. Also this site gives me a place where I can speak my mind, keep friends and relatives informed about what is going on with me, and where I can explore techniques for posting things to the Internet. In short, these pages are a playground for me. If they prove valuable to anyone else, that's just gravy. If not and they only entertain me, then that is their purpose.
In any event, welcome to my pages. Come back whenever you wish, and use what you find here to your own advantage as well as you can. If you'd like to contact me, click on the "Contact Me" link.
Perry
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