About Me

I am Collin Smith from Birmingham, Alabama. I started working in the computer industry as a student at the University of Texas’ on-campus computer store as a senior in 1985. We sold Mac’s and Zeniths, but everyone was infatuated with Macintosh. I never learned WordPerfect's forty function keys nor the slashes of Lotus 1-2-3, archaic programs replaced by Microsoft Word and Excel long before the rest of the world realized it.

In 1987, I left Austin and moved to Ames, Iowa, where I worked for Beacon MicroCenter, selling Macintoshes at this Apple Dealership. But we also began to get into the clone business -- building clones, testing them, and making them work caught my imagination. I had been used to setting up Macintoshes, selling systems to newspapers and desktop publishing companies, but setting up Novell Networks was a new education in LANs.

In 1992, I moved to Lubbock, Texas, and the following year took a job as a technician in the two-man department that was Networking at Texas Tech University in 1993. Since that time, I have become a Network Designer, helping create networks for the entire campus. Right now our biggest projects are the University Center remodel/addition, and the new English-Philosophy Education building complex.

I also love music and theater. I sang with Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church choir under the skillful direction of the late Doctor Roy Wilson from 1994 to 1996. In early 1997, I got involved in the Lubbock theater community as a sailor in United Methodist Church’s South Pacific. In September and October of 2001, I played "Frankie" in Lubbock Community Theater’s production of Forever Plaid.  I have sung with the Lubbock Chorale most seasons in the first decade of the 21st Century.  Other interests include burning custom CDs, astronomy, mountain biking, tennis, chess, historical studies, NPR, specialty beers, religion, KGSR, bowling, a good work out in the gym, traveling, camping, kayaking, and languages. ¡Viva las artes!