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Today's Featured Biography

Ron Thompson

I am retired from computer operations (help desks) and live in Sun City Texas, located in Georgetown, Texas with my wife, since 11/19/1977, Susan. We don't have any human kids, just 2 cats, but you don't have to send them to college. And since they live indoors, we don't have to worry about them coming home drunk and/or pregnant.
Little bit about me since we were last together. Moved to Pelham, NY with my parent in 1969 and enrolled in Concordia College, a Lutheran Prep school. Most graduates went on to Wake Forest Seminary. Learned to play cards and played a lot of chess. Dropped out before flunking out, the first semester. Worked as a gas station attendant for a year, before my Aunt and uncle offered to let me live with them in Belmont, CA, so I could attend San Mateo Junior College tuition free. Finished one semester, having the best social life, ever. The school sent me a letter, saying that they did not think I was taking school seriously and asking me not to come back for a year. I moved back to NY with my parents and started working at Texaco Travel for a while. Left home when my father was transferred to Chicago. Then went to work at Burke Rehabilitation Center in White Plains, NY as a Physical Therapy Aide. I found that I had a knack of being able to help patients get on their braces and artificial limbs and had that as my primary function. A prosthetist noticed my ability with patients and offered a job with training in prosthetics. I went to work for J. E. Hanger, Orthotics and Prosthetics in NYC. Worked for them and was even sent out as a Prosthetist to clinics at hospitals in the tri-state area. I went to Westchester Community College and made Dean's list the first 3 semesters. Then went back to Burke and worked in their Orthotics department and got a Federal Grant for on the job training. In fact I was the first in the country to receive a grant in that field. I finished the year's work and went full time to NYU. All Community College credits transferred, including paramedic training I had received. (I worked as a paramedic for the Port Chester/Rye Ambulance Corps. and Medic for Westchester C.C. Even delivered a baby in the ladies room of the college.) I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Orthotics & Prosthetics in 1980. Susan & I got married on November 19, 1977. She helped get me through school. I went back to work for Hanger, but was "blackballed" for some reason and couldn't pass the national certification exam, twice. I passed the written, but we had to make a limb for a patient, which was "evaluated" by judges with out us being present. Both time, the patient said mine fit nicer than the one they were wearing. But I failed without explanation. Without Certification, Hanger didn't have to pay me more. I left working for them because the commute was almost what I was making. Susan was working as the Administrative Assistant to the president/CEO of Harris Publishing, who printed our Alumni Directory. The vice-president (also the president's son) offered me a job doing nightly backups for their mid-range computer system at a company Christmas party. I started work for for them and taught myself everything I could learn about the system. You don't want to have to call your boss up at 2am saying the system crashed or the program won't work, "What do I do now?" After about 6 months, they moved me to daytime operations. A year and half later, I was let go, saying the department was "reorganizing" and my position was no longer needed. I think it was rally because the manager would sneak out at lunch and not come back and felt that I would be telling my wife, who would then tell the president. He didn't last much longer than I did, as he was discovered and I had never told Susan until he was gone. Went from there to MBIA (which used to stand for Municipal Bond Investor's Assurance. Now it does't stand for anything.) I worked with the Computer Operation's Manager and helped start their backups system for their mid-range Wang Computers. I also started their help desk. Got them to assign 4357 (Spells HELP on a phone)to my phone and phones in the computer room. We eventually grew the help desk to 6 people. The company purchased its own building in Armonk, NY, which was just a shell. I helped the IT Manager to design their computer room and a unique wiring system that would allow several types of devices to be hooked up at any work station to a rack system in the computer room. Have done all this without formal training. When I started I was employee #111. Eleven and half years later, after acquiring several other companies, the company "reorganized" and 57 of us were let go, all at the top of our pay scale. They had a really good pension plan that I was fully vested in and a generous 401K that I had taken full advantage of. They gave me a severance package of a month's salary for each year worked. So I got a year's salary in a lump sum. At this point Susan and I had bought our own hose in Cortlandt Manor, NY (across the Hudson River, near Indian Point Nuclear Reactor.) I took quite a bit of time off and fished a lot. Eventually I went to work for Spherion, Inc. who provide professional services. I was sent to work at IBM in Fishkill, NY as a level 3 consultant on their "Commercial" help desk. Level 0 is one who takes a call and passes a message. We didn't have any level 0. Level 1 operators take a call and ask basic "triage" questions and do basic diagnostics. ("Have you re-booted?") Level 2 tries to solve the issue over the phone. Being a level 3, I would advise the level 2 or take their calls. What I couldn't resolve would go to a "deskside" tech. When I started, I supported the Campbell Soup Company. They would call and extension on their phone in Camden, NJ or Paris, TX or Brussels or any of their other locations and it would ring in Fishkill, NY. Employees were often surprised that we couldn't just "pop down" and see the problem first hand. I showed IBM how one agent could work several different accounts from their terminal and at one point was supporting NStar, (formerly Commonwealth Energy the utility supplier for Massachusetts), Astra-Zenaca (had to pass an FDA exam to support them), Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and Kodak Polychrome Graphics (They make the massive translucents signs and billboards.) Job stress was starting to get to me physically, so I retired in 2005. Susan is 9 years older than I am and was working for a school after being let go after 25 years from Harris Publishing (she was the 15th employee starting the company and there were over 5,000 and 6 locations when she left.) My father died in 2005 and left an insurance policy to my sister and me. I was able to pay off the mortgage on or house and without kids, we were comfortable. Susan quit working in 2007. My sister, Jan, class of 70, was living in Houston, TX with her husband, Bill and son Will. Will went to UT in Austin and decided to stay. Early in 2009 Jan & Bill moved to Sun City Texas in Georgetown to be closer to Will (45 minutes as opposed to 3 hours.) She said we should check it out as there is no state income tax, real estate rates were good and cost of living is better. We checked it out on a two week visit and bought a lot the second day. We moved in Halloween 2009. We live in a "new" neighborhood and all our neighbors moved in at about the same time. We all went through the same learning curves together. We have monthly block parties at somebody's house and several neighborhood functions throughout the year. Sun City Community Association sponsors bus trips to various locations, like plays or concerts. We are having a ball. I also am on the Sun City Emergency Management Committee and was the chairman of the Sun City Firewise Group for a year. (Firewise is a national program to help prevent the spread of wildfires through mitigation, like "limbing-up" trees to keep grass fires from getting up into the trees or advising homeowners not to plant volatile plants, like rosemary under their window and keep the yard and gutters free of debris that an ember could ignite. We got Sun City Community Association involved and got their landscape department additional staff and specialized equipment. We have nationally certified a Firewise Community 6 years in a row. We are the largest Firewise Community in Texas, except for a municipality.)
Well, that's about it! Gotta go! Have to get ready for a Wine Tasting Block Party at a local winery then back to the host's house for desert and games and more libations!

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