I was born in the afternoon on January 3rd, 1960.  Missing the 50's by three days. I  was born to Myrna and  Donald Charpentier at St. Joseph's Hospital in Lewiston Idaho.

The first few years of my life was spent living in the Lewiston/Clarkston area.

Other places that I lived before I turned 13 were Yakima and Kennewick Washington, Carson City Nevada, Edmonton Alberta, Anaheim California, Glendale and Phoenix Arizona.

My mother was married and divorced three times before she died in an automobile accident in September, 1973 in Henderson Nevada when I was 13..  She was also married to Gene Clancy and then Richard Cater.

I am the oldest of five kids.  Three bothers and one sister.  Jon, Rod and myself have the same father.  Mike's father was Gene.  Misty's dad is Richard.

In September of '73 the five of us were split up after our mother died.  The five of us have NEVER been together at the same since then.  I was the only one of the "kids" to attend our mother's funeral.

Rod, Jon, and myself went to live in Dawson Creek, British Columbia with our dad.   Mike and Misty originally lived with Richard, and a little later on Mike lived with his dad.

In 1975 the three of us moved from Dawson Creek to live with our mother's sisters.  Rod went to live with Pam and Jim back in Clarkston.  Jon lived with Sharon and Tracy in Richland, Washington.  I went to live with Judy and Darrell in Peck, Idaho.

I attended and graduated from Orofino High School in Orofino, Idaho.  Joined the Navy's "Delayed Entry Program" while I was a Junior, thus committing myself to go into the Navy.  A month before graduation I was able to rent an apartment in Orofino.  I was there until joining the Navy in July of 1978.

Boot Camp and "Radioman" School was in San Diego.  Afterwards, my first duty station was at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Before going to Portsmouth, the furthest east I had been was on a train ride to Denver one time when I was young.

I really enjoyed Portsmouth and Kittery (Maine).  Made quite a few new friends.  I worked with both Military and Civilian employees.

Before receiving my next orders I attempted to change from being a Radioman to a Draftsman.  I was always into drafting and making maps.  But it fell through.

In 1981 I got orders to Bahrain.  I spent almost two months back in Oroville, Washington and Lewiston, Idaho before going to Bahrain.  Mainly due to a passport snafu.  I drove my pickup from Kittery, Maine to Oroville.  However on the New York Thruway just outside of Henderson, NY a deer had gotten onto the 10-lane road and it was me that hit it.  The front of my pickup was bashed in, and needed some work before I was finally able to drive it the rest of the way.  Judy and Darrell lived in Oroville at the time.  I told Darrell that I would send money back from Bahrain to fix my pickup. 

During this time I was convinced that I would ask my girlfriend at the time, Tina, to marry me.  I was 21 and she was 17.  She was also back in Maine.  So I was able to stop through Boston and visit Tina before going to Bahrain.  Asked her to marry me.   She said yes, and with her parents permission we set the date a week after her graduation from High School.

I then went to Bahrain.  Bahrain was very interesting.  It's an island nation in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Saudi Arabia.  I got there just before the Iran Hostage situation ended.  When Ronald Regan took the presidency the standing joke was that if the hostages were not released that we would wake up and see a mushroom cloud across the water.  Incidentally, Regan was my choice for President the first time I was able to vote.  It was the first and (currently) last time I voted Republican.

In June of 1981 I went back to Maine to marry Tina.  We went back to Bahrain together.  Of those stationed in Bahrain, only about a quarter of those were married.  Tina and I shared our off-base apartment with a guy we ended up calling "Bosco".  His last name was Bostain.  By sharing the apartment, we all saved money that we received from the government for the "cost of living" allowance.

Because we were able to save quite a bit of money, I put it into Persian Rugs.  I had invested about $7,000 in rugs.  Our short marriage was having problems, so we separated and she went back to Maine to live.  

I decided to get out of the Navy after four years because the civilians back in Portsmouth Naval Shipyard wanted me to work there with them as a federal employee.  After I got out Tina and I decided we would give it one more chance.  We flew to Lewiston, Idaho and eventually ended up in Oroville, Washington where my repaired pickup was waiting for me.

Tina and I decided that we would drive back to Maine via Phoenix to visit my sister Misty.  This was the trip to hell.  We did not get along at all.  Argued all the way.  Visited for two days with Misty and her grandparents (who she was living with at the time).  Drove from Phoenix to Little Rock, Arkansas where we had an incident where Tina got out of the pickup and ran away.   I waited and waited at a service station for her to return.  She finally did show up hours later.  I was debating on leaving her there, but I would NEVER have heard the end of it when I finally reached Maine.  We decided that the marriage was done.  We got back to Maine and was able to arrange an "annulment" because we had a catholic wedding.

The job at the Shipyard was there waiting for me, but President Regan had signed a FREEZE on all federal hiring. I joined the Naval Reserve in order to get additional spending money.  I had enough money to have a good "vacation" from July - October 1982. Spent quite a bit of time at the beaches of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.  Had lots of fun being a "bum". Besides, I also had the Persian Rugs which were worth quite a bit.  Of everything that Tina and I had, the only thing that we split between us were the Rugs.

In October a similar job was available in Newport, Rhode Island.  I went there for an interview on a Friday, and was hired instantly, to start Monday.  Because I was in the Navy Reserve I kept my security clearance which I needed in this job.  I lived near downtown Newport.  I really didn't like it there because the town was for rich people.  It was hard to find a place to live.  In addition, my dad had asked if it would OK if my brother Rod could come and stay with me awhile.

So Rod and I found a couple others to share an apartment with.  At one point in time, three of my six Rugs were stolen.  Must have been for drugs, as drugs were around everywhere.  I was able to finally transfer from Newport to Portsmouth.  Rod also moved up to Portsmouth with me.  Got an apartment in a little town called Lee, which is just outside of Durham.  It was nice to be back in this area. 

After a few more months Rod had went back to Canada.  I moved from Lee to Dover New Hampshire.  I moved in with two other guys whom I worked with.  It worked out quite well, as we all worked different shifts,. Tina and I had visited each other a few times but we were better off as "friends" then as a couple.  I had a couple of "girl" friends that I partied with from time to time. I was not wanting to get married again.  The friends I had were different then those of my roommates.  I had purchased a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 4 computer because a computer was something that I always wanted.  Little did I know at the time that this was my destiny.  Early 1985 I sold that computer to my roommate (who always used it) and purchased an "original" Tandy 1000 (an IBM PC Clone).

Something was missing from my life though.  Even though I was happy where I was living, I was happy with my friends and co-workers, something was still missing.   Maybe it was my deep desire to go back to where I considered "home".  Being a federal employee, it is easy to transfer to various locations, if there are job openings.  I researched jobs at Fairchild AFB near Spokane and Mountain Home AFB near Boise.  But nothing developed.  There were places in California where I could transfer, but that was not where I wanted to go.  I found an opening at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington.  During my childhood and later years, I had NEVER been on the other side of the Cascade Mountains in Washington.  Strange that I had lived all around Eastern Washington, Idaho, Alberta, and BC and had not been to the coast of Washington or Oregon, or for that matter the Puget Sound area.

After thinking about it, I made the commitment.  My application was accepted and off to Bremerton I went.  My pickup (yes, still the SAME ONE) and I were on a trip BACK to Washington.  Before leaving, I said my goodbyes.  It was hard, but I had lots to look forward to.  When my pickup was loaded up with my belongings, I went one last time to a special beach on the coast of Maine, got some sand, rocks, and shells, then headed south to Boston and I-90. I had two weeks of vacation and was to report to my new job the Tuesday after Labor Day, 1985.

I did not run into any animals this time.  In Chicago I decided to stay on I-90, instead of I-80 which I took on my first cross-country trip.   I kept thinking of my friends and relationships back east.  Once I arrived in Lewiston and visited with relatives and old friends that feeling subsided. Back home.  Kind of.  There was no way I was going to end up living in Lewiston, which would have been my first choice.  Not too many federal jobs there.  Judy and Darrell still lived in Oroville, Washington.  So after staying a few days in Lewiston I continued to drive there.  

After arriving there I had the feeling that no matter what happened in Bremerton, I always had family.  It was the first time in quite a while that "family" had some meaning.  Since I was never around "family" since joining the Navy.  On Sunday, September 1st I drove from Oroville to Bremerton, I-90 to Highway 18 to I-5 to Highway 16, across the Narrows Bridge, and arrived in Bremerton.  I called Al Sodono.  Al was someone who I worked with back in Portsmouth.  He had transferred to Bremerton a year ago.  He said that everyone who he worked with was going to a picnic/party at a place called Scenic Beach State Park.  So I drove my pickup to the park..still loaded with my belongings.  I located my new co-workers and introduced myself.  They were surprised to see me there.

At one point, I went to the water of Hood Canal and took some sand, rocks, and shells.  I put them next to my collection from the Atlantic Ocean.  True, Hood Canal is not really the Pacific Ocean, but it eventually is connected.

One guy, Steve Butler, offered me to check out the apartments where he lived.  I had to go somewhere, although many people offered to put me up for a few days.  My first residence was at Kona Village.apartments.

I blended in quite well with everyone.  Started making new friends.  Got my Tandy 1000 computer set up as a part-time "bulletin board (BBS)".  Since I was working evenings (my choice) I left the computer connected to the phone line all evening so others could "call in" and leave messages for others, as well as play some simple games and distribute information.  I would get home at midnight and find the .BBS had become more and more popular, and sometimes leaving it on all night too.  I called my BBS "The Zone". Of course this affected the ability for others (without computers) to get a hold of me.  The association with the computer allowed me to meet an entirely new group of friends.  Yes, some of them were indeed "nerds".

One friend, Tim Lewis, was someone who had started fixing computers.  He was an electronics wiz.  He would fix all sorts of electrical items from VCR's, TV's, etc.  His wife Soonja was Korean.  I was able to meet quite a few of their friends.  One of Soonja's friends was Chong Ah.   She was in the process of a separation and divorce from a guy who just got out of the Army.  She and I went out several times and enjoyed each other's company.  She lived in the same apartment complex as Tim and Soonja.  Chong and I decided that we would move in together.  We lived together for about 6 months when the topic of marriage came up.  So we made plans to go to the Kitsap County Courthouse and got married by the Justice Of The Peace.  This was January 21, 1988.

I did not want to get married with anything to do with any church.   Not that I was against any church or religion, it just was not something that I "believed" in.  

My job at the shipyard continued on.  It was not really at the Shipyard.  I worked in the basement of the Naval Supply Center building.   It was officially known as the Naval Telecommunications Center (NTCC) Bremerton.  I was a Data Equipment Communications Operator.  The main job was to prepare and transmit official naval messages in support of the operations of the Shipyard, Naval Supply Center, and the Navy Ships that were home ported there.  Back when I was in the navy, these messages were typed up on Typewriters and then given to us.  We would then re-type them onto paper tape.  Sometimes we "punched" IBM Data cards instead of papertape.  Once on paper tape or data cards, we would then send them out on transmitters.  These "transmitters" were hooked into 75 Baud lines to a message relay center, which then "routed" the messages depending on a "routing indicator", similar to zip zodes, but with mainly alphabet.  Everything the Navy and Department of Defense(DOD) did was via these messages.  Of course, once the paper tape was read by the transmitter, the information was encrypted before going to the automated service center (ASC).  Every message was encrypted, whether it was UNCLASSIFIED or CLASSIFIED.  When a Navy ship is in port, it was restricted from using it's own transmitters which went via microwave to satellites.  Our connectivity was all "land-line", using circuits from the telephone company or Western Union.

This is why I really enjoyed playing around with computers.  Although we had no real "computer" (in today's terminology), we did have systems that needed to be programmed to send/receive these messages.  My own involvement with computers  focused on telecommunications.  If the DOD could send "messages" from place to place, why can't anyone?  Computers were not really taking hold in households at the time.  But those few who had computers usually had a modem to connect up to BBS's.

When Chong and I moved in together, I got a second telephone line and kept my Tandy 1000 on, answering calls all day long. I changed the name of the BBS from The Zone to Bremerton Hackers Incorporated (BHI) #2.  Tim ran BHI #1.  At the time, the term "HACKER" was a good term.  There were about FIVE other BBS's in the Kitsap area.  In 1988, with the assistance of Joel Mapes of Kitsap Sports, I was able to get a second phone line for the computer.  This allowed two people to be on the BBS at the same time.  Because the theme of the BBS was "Sports-Related", I renamed it to "The Sports Complex"..

You can follow this link for the whole history of my BBS and how it matured into one of Western Washington's best BBS's, and  nationally known.  How it went from a hobby to a business and evolved into Kitsap's largest Internet Service Provider (ISP), TSCNet.

Chong and I moved from the apartments and bought a house in 1990.  Shortly after that, NTCC Bremerton was cited to close down.  I was one of the first to transfer from there to the Naval Submarine Base at Bangor, near Silverdale.  I worked at the Naval Communications Station, Puget Sound (NCS Puget).  There was a mainframe computer that handled all the message traffic in the Puget Sound region.  After a year, personal computers started making their way into our workplace.  Since I was already an expert with computers, more so then ANYONE else where I worked, I was able to get out of the message handling enviroment and into the computer management/service enviroment.  

Even before that, the official messages constructed with typewriters were no longer being put onto paper tape.  Instead they were fed into Optical Character Readers (OCR) and then edited/corrected on terminals.before being "sent".  But with computers being put on people's desks, there was a need to allow people to use them to construct these messages.  Not only that, the messages could then be saved onto floppy disks and taken to the "message center" where they could then be transmitted.  I was given a new job.  I was put in charge of teaching and implementing the new Defense Message System (DMS).  I was sent to San Antonio Texas for five weeks of Unix System Administrator training by AT&T.  This was a rush. After that, I went to Fort Huachuca, Arizona for two weeks of Defense Data Network (DDN) training.  This was the backbone of the DOD's "internet", or more commonly known as DOT MIL.  The early Internet evovled from ARPANet and the DDN.  Here I was at the beginning of a brand new age in communications. 

After the training, I received an AT&T 3B2 Minicomputer.  It's main purpose was to get the military in the Puget Sound region on the DDN.  Washington DC, headquarters to the Naval Communications Stations (NCS) had the first one operational.  I had the second one on the network.  Shortly afterwords, San Diego was online.  Others followed in the next few months.   This was Phase ONE of the process.

Phase Two was to get all the "customers" to use computers and save messages onto floppy disks.  I was in charge of going to everyone we serviced in the Puget Sound region and hold classes and give on-hands training.  I went everywhere from Bangor, Keyport, Naval Hospital, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Indian Island, Whidbey Island, Navy Base Everett, and even Naval Radar Station, Jim Creek.  This was the most fulfilling job I had had up to this point.  Although I was skeptical about holding classes, it went quite well.  Because I was so involved in the whole process, doing the classes was a breeze.  Besides, I really enjoyed going to those places and meeting different people. It got to the point that I had two people working under me doing most of the remaining classes while I got involved in the next step.

I was offered a job working with the Information Technology department at Subase.  I quickly took it, as it offered a better career path.  I worked in the Networking Department and become the Webmaster and Domain Name Service (DNS) administrator.  Subase Bangor was the FIRST military activity in the Pacific Northwest to have a website.  I had it up and running in early 1995.

Back at home, Chong and I were not getting along very well because of my job, and my involvement with the BBS.  It seemed like I was never home, especially after moving the BBS from the house into an office in Silverdale.  I would get up extra early, go into the office in Silverdale and spend up to an hour there, then get to work by 6am.  I would get off work and go back into the office.  I would get home around 7-8pm.  Sometimes on Fridays and Saturdays I would not even go home. She was really getting upset with me.

My new co-workers in IT were also quite a bunch.  Developed many friendships that continue to this day.  Not only that, I got more involved with other departments within Subase.  In one particular department I developed even more friendships.  This was Subase Public Works.   The one person who I got to know best was Stern.  Even though we respected each others knowledge and decisions, we argued quite often over Technology in general.  That continues to this day.  Another person which a solid friendship developed was with Steve.  He and I have done more together then most of the others.

In 1996 the situation with my involvement with TSCNet and Chong grew worse.  TSCNet was in the process of starting Internet Service.  TSCNet was the second company to offer Internet Services in Kitsap.  The first was Telebyte.  I was TSCNet's first and only President and CEO at the time.  Everyone else was very comfortable with it.  TSCNet was in the process of turning a profit.  Attempts to get investments fell flat, but we were able to keep things going ourselves.  Alden, Mike and Brad were the key players at the time.  Although there were many that helped.  Al Hedstrom and Kate are two that come to mind.  Chong decided it was time to take a stand and told me that I had to make a choice between her and TSCNet.  She was not going to put up with all the time away any more.

It took me almost two weeks to make my decision.  It was not easy.  But I choose to keep the marriage. I decided to give ALL my founder's shares of TSCNet back to the company.  This would allow them to re-distribute stock to those who have helped the most.  Unfortunately (and unknown to me at the time) Kate got all my stock.  That was not how I intended it to happen.  She DID deserve some of it, but not all.

TSCNet has been giving me free, unlimited and dedicated Internet connectivity.  They have also voted to give me a monthly payment which I quickly traded for services such as keeping a computer (server) or two at the office on the network backbone.  I also received a few more Internet accounts which I gave to others.  My involvement with TSCNet since has been very limited.  After I stepped down, Alden because the President.  A year later Mike was elected.  Mike held onto the position until TSCNet and another local ISP, Sinclair, merged.  They decided to keep TSCNet as the name of the merged company and Danley (of Sinclair) because the President.

Chong and I decided to move, and purchased a new house about 2 miles north from the previous one.  It was time for a change.  It took a lot of work to get the house re-painted and re-carpeted, as well as the yard work.  The original owner had moved to Nebraska and did not keep the house in good condition.  Even though it was four years old when we moved in, it did need these adjustments.

Back at work, the term "regionalization" took meaning.   This caused the Subase IT department and the lower base, or TRF IT Department to merge.  No, it was more a takeover.  It was very unpopular with most of the Subase IT people, including myself.  But we were forced into it.  One the side, Stern, (who know worked for IT rather then Public Works) Donavon, and John had formed a company called Phynity.  Phynity started out with one product.  It was a computer mouse cover with a distinct shape.   When that didn't go very well, they changed the focus to Web Services and Programming.  They offered me to join them.  They needed someone with network and Internet experience, which I had plenty of.  Over the course of two years Phynity has grown a little, and the focus has yet changed again to include ASP (Application Service Provider) Development.  Phynity has also taken on additional members Brian, Jason, and Scott.  Stern recently decided to leave the company.  The company is about to market it's first ASP developed product.  Everything is in place.  Wait and see.

Speaking of Stern, just before the merge of the two IT departments he took a job in Seattle at the Social Security Administration.  He wanted nothing to do with this merger.  John and Donavon did not last too long either, quitting the government and taking a job in Kingston.  They did not work there too long  having been hired by ELabor.  I arraigned an office space for them which TSCNet had vacated.   Jason and Scott were also hired by ELabor.  

Stern, working in Seattle now, told me of a job opening where he worked.   I applied for it and got the job.  January 31st, 2000 was my first day.  For my 40th birthday I got an Olympus C2020 Digital Camera.  Good timing, as I have been taking daily photos of the old Kingdome and new Stadium construction, as well as other photos.  These are on the website.  Of course the new job for the Social Security Administration allowed me to develop new friendships with people who lived all over the Puget Sound area.  Roger, Havens, Brenden, Chris, Dave, Craig and Shelly to mention a few.

On January 20, 2001 I decided to get into shape.  In 2 1/2 months I had been able to loose 45 pounds of weight that I really needed to get rid of.  This is an ongoing process and is being documented here.

This page is currently in  rough form.  It needs different color and photos.   These will be added ASAP.

Updated 08Apr01