Peter Vatistas

I have been into computers for over 14 years and professionally for over 8 years. Back when I was 8 years old I got my first computer which was an Intel 286 running Microsoft DOS and came with a few games. This computer weighed like 30 lbs. and was the bad ass of computers when it came out, probably costing upwards of $2k. Ever since that early Christmas morning I was glued to that computer, playing games, navigating through MS DOS, and secretly opening the case to see what was inside.

It wasn’t to long after that when I screwed something up and my parents had to call out a computer guy to fix it. Every time I broke the computer (which was quite often) the tech would come out to fix it and I would watch him like a hawk to see what he did to troubleshoot the problem and how he ended up resolving the issues. As time passed and it was time to upgrade I would watch the computer guy open the box, pull out old drives and throw in new ones. I was so fascinated by this that I started doing it by myself. I actually remember one night I completely disassembled the computer and timed myself to see how long it would take me to put it all together and install DOS on the freshly formatted drives.

My next computer was an Acer 386 laptop, the computer I installed Windows 3.1 on! The computer guy was at our place regularly now, not only was I doing the same stuff before (I can’t believe I was taking apart laptops) but now I was totally digging into the very unstable Microsoft Windows 3.1! This is where I (and the rest of the computer enthusiast world) learn all the cool things you could do with Windows like opening a program being presented with a bluescreen, just because it felt like it. I think this is where I started acquiring a temper and a thing for punching my monitor. I was so used to being the cause of all my computer problems that I think I was getting a bit jealous, my futuristic computer can screw itself up and I won’t know what the cause was!!

At the age of 11, now living in Athens, Greece, my brother sends me one of his brand new computers from his office… a 486SX!! Holy crap was this thing fast; it had 2MB ram, a big 100MB hard drive, a sound card, and a frickin TURBO BUTTON! This is where I really got into both hardware and software, I remember visiting my brothers office in Phoenix, AZ, taking RAM chips out of a few other office computers and popping them into mine. At one point that computer had a whopping 8MB RAM and a LAN card.

At this time I became fascinated with networks, programming in Q-Basic, and the internet. When I was 13 we had moved back to the United States and I stumbled on this internet program called Imagination (INN). This thing was the coolest online community I had ever seen! It was a 3D world, basically a graphical map of a imaginary town that you could click on to go to different parts of the internet. One building would take you to chat rooms, another for games, and one even to meet people to have sex with, LOL.

After Imagination came AOL which for me came hacking. Back when AOL was just a baby I used to make free accounts, spam chat rooms, kick people, ban people, and hit their servers so hard that it would shut them down for short periods of time. I ended up writing a piece of software that people could use to generate free accounts for AOL, which at that time sold for $30 and only lasted a few weeks, until my parents caught me.

I became very bored with AOL at this point and I moved on to mIRC chat rooms, hosting my own warez channels and using my computer (a pentium III) as a warez database. As illegal as this was I also learned a lot about more advanced applications from companies like Adobe, Macromedia, Microsoft, and etc… I also learned a ton about the internet and networking, more on the hosting side using DNS and Unix. At one point my parents got me my own phone line which I used specifically to host my own IRC server running a flavor of Unix, just for warez and the power of kicking and banning people when I felt like it.

I guess I got really tired of stealing applications and trading them and more interested in networking and the advancements Microsoft was making with Windows NT 3.51. Fortunately for me my brother’s company was growing fast and at that point had a ton of computers and servers running Windows NT, Microsoft Back Office and Microsoft Octopus. He also has a computer guy who was awesome and always open to have me hovering over him when he built and configured these massive servers and desktops. I am not sure if he still owns his own company, which at this point was from home, but his name was Tom Stone and his company was called Hard and Soft Answers. I owe a ton of my knowledge to Tom and his employees.

A year or two passes and my brother acquires a very large title company in Arizona. This time I get to work for the company and learn from a guy named Ron. Ron planned and built out the entire network, both computers and servers. I learn a lot about troubleshooting desktops and servers running Windows NT4.0; this was also the first time I ever saw a mini server which I thought was pretty huge. I learned in-depth about networking and server configurations and the new active directory (which back then I think was called something else). Another year passes and my brother sells the company to Continental Homes which is a huge company with tons of computer techs run by a MIS.

The MIS took me under his wing for a few days in their NOC and showed me the ropes. Here I learned a lot about TCP/IP, load balancing, disaster recovery, server configuration and implementation, and much more. The information I learn in this short amount of time was overwhelming but has stuck with me forever. I was pulling and terminating CAT3, configuring routers and switches, and learning about what all of this meant.

After leaving my brother’s company I went off into the real world and started working for companies like Discount Tire Corporate, a real estate company, a couple financial firms, and a telecommunication company. I have been blessed with an real life education and experiences that cannot be beat, above all they were all free!

I guess the part that gets me when I think back to my life with computers and networking is that I never stepped into a classroom to learn about this stuff, I learned it by doing it on my own and having people help me along the way. I have always had a drive to learn new things and especially new technologies and all of this now puts food in my child’s mouth and lights the house for my wife to relax in. Now I spend my time doing what I love for a living and giving my son the same opportunities I had to learn and grow.

My son is 3 now and for the last 7 months he has been turning on the computer, opening the internet browser, going to his favorite website (The Little Einsteins) to play his favorite games and watch his favorite movies. Niko (my son) is doing now what I did when I was around 13 or 14 years old (minus the illegal junk), I can’t imagine what he will be doing with computers and the internet when he is 13, or when he is my age…

I owe a lot to my brother John for providing me with my first computer and the experiences of working for his companies, placing me with the cream of the crop computer guys who were willing (or forced) to teach me. I owe a lot to my parents for spending way to much money to have computer guys come out weekly (sometimes daily) to fix my computer. I owe a lot to my wife and my son for allowing me the time to continue with my passion and my need for higher learning, it takes a very loving and understanding wife to go to sleep alone many nights so I can learn new things and expand my horizons.

I thank my current employer for paying a kid with just a high school education as much as they do.

;)

I thought it would be a smart idea to purchase a water softener in my new house for the endless amount of benefits you get by having one. My wife and I went to Home Depot and checked out the water softeners in stock and I basically just picked the biggest one they had to support the size of our house (3500 square feet which eliminates many smaller ones). The nice things about Home Depot is they provide free installation when you buy the water softener so I did just that, I bought it and brought it home.

The next day I called the number on the brochure the Home Depot employee gave me to schedule the free install. When I called, the lady on the phone said the only way they install is by coming out to your house, testing your water, and recommending a system, not after you buy one in the store and bring it home. I was pretty pissed considering the guy who sold me on this softener told me to call the number to have them come out and install it. I was even more confident he knew what he was talking about considering he had a 17 year badge on his shirt.

Well after arguing about it I decided to call a local plumber to have them just install the damn thing. The plumber came out, ripped open the box, looked at my soft water loop, and said it would cost $1800 to install. LOL!! I told him to get his stuff and get out. Now I am pretty pissed, a week has passed and I still don’t have a water softener (not that I had to have one). Now I need to return this stupid thing and the box is ripped to shreds, I am expecting that Home Depot won’t return it now and I will have to throw down with the guy who sold this to me. I get a hold of the guy and luckily he said I could return it with no problems, so the next day I return it.

The same day I call Home Depot and have them schedule a sales guy specialist to come sell advise me on a system. A week later he does and I end up buying the latest and best system on the market, don’t worry I got raped it was only $3800. Oh and the kicker is it is going to cost me $125 to install, man I am getting bent over. Anyways, they schedule it to be delivered and installed two days later.

A week later they deliver the stupid thing and get the install started. So basically if your not sure what a soft water loop is, its a copper pipe that comes out of the wall and goes back in to the wall, like the letter U. Normally the water from the water company comes in on the left hand side of the loop and goes out (into the house) on the right hand side. The installer explained this to me and said he always double check to make sure because sometimes the water actually runs the other way (from right to left). He cuts the pipe, turns on the water and what do you know, it runs the opposite way (from right to left). Man I am thinking this guy knows his stuff and I am in good hands.

An hour later my soft water system is installed and even has a whole house water filter. I am so excited because of all the benefits I have heard like how different and awesome it feels taking a shower, how cool your skin feels, how much better it is for your clothes, appliances (that use water), pipes, and of coarse no more hard water stains. A week goes by and I don’t feel a damn thing, NOTHING!!

Remembering what they said about how sometimes the water loop can be reversed I decide to look at it to see if it is alright and to see if the system is working properly. After .01 seconds of inspecting the freaking system I realize it in fact has been installed in reverse!! The stupid ass installer INSTALLED THE SYSTEM BACKWARDS even after explaining how that can happen and how he double checks which like I said before HE DID that bastard.

I call the company Pristine Water who installed the softener and told them it has been installed backwards. They giggle and ask if I am sure… “I am sure”. These brilliant people come back out a week later and check everything and of coarse they confirm it has been installed backwards. They fix it and their gone.

Now (today, a week later) I still have yet to notice any difference in the water and I worry that the little beads that are inside the water softener are either jacked up from the system being in reverse, the carbon filter pumping all the black crap into the softener, or the beads are no longer in the softener at all (and in my water pipes). I call and in a few days they will be here to check the system and test my water.

Oh by the way I forgot to mention this system is so advanced that the salt only needs to be refilled every 12-14 months, instead of the normal 2-3 months. I’ve filled it up already and its only been a month and a half…

When the guy comes, should I go Wu-Tang on him or what?

This may be worth taking a look at if your one of the many people getting bent over for income tax:

“The FairTax plan is a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal income and payroll based taxes with an integrated approach including a progressive national retail sales tax, a prebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar federal revenue neutrality, and, through companion legislation, the repeal of the 16th Amendment.

The FairTax Act (HR 25, S 1025) is nonpartisan legislation. It abolishes all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, and self-employment taxes and replaces them with one simple, visible, federal retail sales tax  administered primarily by existing state sales tax authorities.

The FairTax taxes us only on what we choose to spend on new goods or services, not on what we earn. The FairTax is a fair, efficient, transparent, and intelligent solution to the frustration and inequity of our current tax system. ”

Basically, instead of having your money “taken” from you, you pay more taxes based on what you purchase when you purchase it. The actual tax rate would vary on the class of goods sold i.e. luxury cars would be taxed more than canned goods. Now think of how many people dodge the IRS and don’t pay their taxes, and the amount of money the IRS spends to track and collect from these individuals and businesses, I am sure there is benefit here for the government as well.

Anyways, there are always solutions out there and sometimes they are good, sometimes they are bad. What do you think about the FairTax Plan? Do you think this would benefit both the rich and poor or do you think we would be in the same boat? I do think it would suck to go an buy a TV that costs $900 an pay another $300 in taxes, don’t you?

I also don’t like the idea that every check I get seems to be missing thousands of dollars. I think I would like knowing that I am contributing to a system I agree with and if I feel like the goverment is making stupid decisions (like the war) then I can go on strike by not buying expensive toys for a while. Now imagine if we all went on strike for a period of time, maybe its a far fetched idea but at least the control is in our hands, not the government.

Americans for Fair Taxation

This has to be the funniest interview ever and if you haven’t heard of Chris Hooley your missing out. Chris is employed by NextStudent and has set the bar very high when it comes to SEO & SEM in the student lending industry. I find Chris both hilarious and informative with a talent worth following.

 Here are some funny parts, be sure to click the link below to see the full interview:

- “Cool. I have to admit, this interview is riveting.

   Before you ask, it’s huge. ”

- “I used to be able to dunk and freestyle rap.

    I thought you were supposed to wait for me to ask you a question.

    Oh yeah sorry I just wanted everybody to know that. “

Now, for the funniest SEO interview ever: Chris Hooley interviews Chris Hooley!

I am sure by now most of you have had a chance to see Microsoft’s new OS called Windows Vista. You’ve also probably heard of the many issues people have with Vista on their computers and I have to tell you there are a good amount. I have several new computers and have upgraded all to Vista Ultimate over the last few days, actually one of the computers I upgraded the day Vista Ultimate came out (bad idea).Each computer after the Vista upgrade has had their own unique issues ranging from incompatible drivers to incompatible hardware. Being that all the computers I own are brand new, Vista Premium Ready, and well beyond the best recommendations for installation I was pretty bummed by the issues I was facing.

The breakdown:

Desktop computer: Dual-Quad Core Xeon 3.0GHz Processors, 6GB 667MHz ECC RAM, 4-146GB SAS 15k drives, and Dual 768MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 Ultra video cards with AGEIA PhysX physics accelerator. This computer is a bad mamma jamma and has given me a lot of problems when upgrading to Vista.

First (and also the most expensive problem) was the memory. At the time of the upgrade I had 1 GB of ram (which Microsoft recommends) and though it was barely decent when I ran Vista without all the cool aesthetics, there was a much bigger problem; it was incompatible (blue screen every few hours during different tasks using different applications)! I had to go to Dell and order a newer set of memory and because I noticed how crap the performance was while running Vista in Aero mode (the more graphically intensive desktop) I ordered 6GB’s of the new memory (overkill, I know). Problem fixed, no more blue screens, no more slowness at all.

On to the next problem: The FireWire card; just not compatible whatsoever, end of story, bought a brand new one and works fine.

And the next: Applications! Odd right? Okay I totally expected a few applications to have issues and there were: CuteFTP, MS Office 2003 Pro (WIERD!?!?), and a few other titles which I just had to wait it out until they released updates (Adobe, Macromedia, etc…).

Oh and one more: My $400 sound card, seriously come on already!! This was a card that I actually bought 6 months before I bought the computer & Vista but it was recommended to me and labeled as “compatible with Windows Vista”. It’s actually quite funny because while I was fighting to get everything to work properly I never actually remembered hearing anything, no OS sounds, no music, nothing… LOL! Oh well, I’m already down $1800, what’s another $450 right? Replaced and problem solved.

Okay now I am sure your thinking that taking the leap to Windows Vista is a bad idea but I do have to say my incompatible drivers and peripherals were a unique problem and everyone will have a different “compatibility” problem. With that being said, please stay tuned and check out my next post on how bad ass I think Microsoft’s Windows Vista really is, after the war on compatibility.

I am so excited for the three day weekend you have no idea!! During the week I get an average of 5 hours of sleep so the weekend for me is really important to catch up on both sleep and family time. Three day weekends are great for me because with the new house I just bought comes a lot of work, escpecially the yard (or lack there of)!

 This weekend I hope to rent a trencher so I can dig for my sprinklers. I want to do the sprinkers and sod myself becuase I am a DIYer big time and with the help of Rain Bird, I know exactly what I need to do and what I need to buy (or rent). Rain Bird has this awesome brochure (packet) that you fill out with information like your home’s water pressure, GPM, as well as a 1×10 scale drawing of your back yard. You send the Rain Bird packet(for free) and a week later you’ve got 10 pages of detailed drawings, instructions, and a parts list for anything and everything that you’ll need to do and buy to install sprinklers in your yard. AWESOME!!

So, this weekend is the beginning of my backyard. I am going to take some pictures for before, during, and after so I can take you along the magical ride of dirt and my temper (yes I am very sure I’ll lose my temper with this project and something will get broke).

-Peter

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