Current Name, or Coming Out Of My Shell

From 2002 to 2009, horneker.com was known as the Cybernightlife Project. While it seemed like a good idea back in 2002 to name the website Cybernightlife, I have made a decision to come out and start using my last name as a brand of information technology services, with emphasis on promotion of Linux and Free Software, as well as a brand of digital photography and artwork.

The name Cybernightlife was an experiment in branding.

Why Cybernightlife?

The name cybernightlife is a combination of the prefix cyber-, meaning technology related and nightlife meaning an event or something occurring after hours, typically late afternoon or evening.

The website itself was established in July 1996 as an OS/2 support site with a main page and a links page. Over the years, and as more material was developed, the names changed. Linux did not become a part of the website until the Fall 1998 Comdex. That was the event that put Linux into the mainstream, and literally changed the way software was distributed and licensed.

It did not take me long to discover the benefits Linux had over OS/2. In 2000, I renamed the website 32 Bits and Beyond Project to signify the transition in focus from a straight OS/2 site, to an open source and free software focus. In 2002, two things happened. First, IBM was dropping support for OS/2 versions 2.1 and 3, and finally retired OS/2 altogether at the end of 2005. The second thing was that I was in the process of restructuring the website.

I came up with the name Cybernightlife during a trip to Las Vegas I took in October 2002. At that point, I had made some decisions about the restructuring of the website.

First, OS/2 support was to be removed entirely, and the entire website project devoted to Linux and its main focus being its use in a home and small business environment.

About Me

My first exposure to computers was back in 1977 when the first Radio Shack TRS-80 was put on display (when the local Radio Shack was in downtown Valparaiso, IN.) My real experience with computers did not begin until Fall 1982 when I took a course in Applesoft BASIC (in high school) using an Apple II+ with 16KB of RAM and two floppy drives. By the time I graduated from high school (1985), I had learned not only Applesoft BASIC, but the 6502 assembly language and the specifics for the Apple II line of computers.

My years at Valparaiso University (1985-1989) brought me experience with DOS, Netware, SunOS (Solaris), BTOS (Unisys), and the granddaddy of them all Data General AOS/VS on a DG MV-8000. I had learned Pascal and Assembly language. It was there that I also developed my taste for the fine arts and my subsequent taste for all forms of jazz music.

The next three years, I started developing skills in customer service and business administration in the real world. This came in the form of a part time job at Arby's while I was looking for my start in my IT career. That start happened in March 8, 1993, the day after my birthday, when I took a job at Credit Bureau Services. It was here where my IT career as I know it began. I started with data entry of public record information for the seven counties that represented Northwest Indiana. At the same time, I was developing a product called Accu-Rate, a user friendly data entry program that companies use to report credit information to the Equifax database. Data was output to diskette in EBCDIC format (for data). This program was originally written in Pascal, and later converted to C.

How many of you have ever received offers for credit cards in the mail? My next project for a local bank is how banks determine who to send out credit card offers to. I was given a list of names, addresses and SSNs, then through Equifax access software, and output fed to Word Perfect, I was able to parse and sort the results by the FICA score.

Other tasks I was given during my tenure there are to create credit reporting disks from customer databases (this meant custom programming), as well as from our collection system (running on a HP-IX machine). In 1995, I got my own office and was the administrator for the internal Netware network. I maintained and rebuilt older 386 and 486 machines to use with the mortgage processing network. (That was a rather fun task.)

In 1996, our company first got online. Between work, the local library and the cybercafe, I was able to launch my presence as I know it online. I quickly learned the ways the Internet can benefit the business. Unfortunately, it was the Internet that resulted in Equifax consolidating credit files from all of its local affiliates, and the eventual elimination of the local credit bureau as a market.

I was able to keep my online presence after I was laid off my job. I then started freelancing my IT skills online (on a pro-bono basis), a practice that I continue to this day. I had worked in the healthcare industry for the next four years doing data entry at first with patient accounts, and later with patient records. I had developed some Windows 9x and Office skills here.

My Retail Days

In October 2003, I started working in retail (at the local Kohl's Department Store), and to this day, I absolutely love retail. It is here that I really developed my customer service and business skills. I also developed merchandising and marketing skills here, too.

When I first started in retail, I knew nothing about the retail business. Today, I maintain the luggage department including all merchandising, replenishment, markdowns, signing, and of course, taking care of customers. (When I took over the Luggage department back in July 2005, I transformed the department from the most neglected to the department with the largest selection of luggage of any store in Porter County, IN, and that practice continues to this day.) In addition to replenishment, I also work as a shoe department associate, and have worked housewares, domestics, seasonal, and the men's department.

Today, I have very much an expert in the retail business.

While all of this was going on, I am still able to freelance my IT skills and maintain the Cybernightlife project.

In Short

How many of you can say that you have both Information Technology and retail and customer service skills? If you wonder why the Cybernightlife project is slow in progression, now you know why.

One other note: though I was raised in Valparaiso, IN, I am not native to the state of Indiana. I am a native of Jonesboro, AR.

As for hobbies, I enjoy photography, railfanning, jazz and ambient music, and have three cats in the house.