I'm not sure the webmaster heard our cry to keep the "What about you" thread from disappearing into the archives, or if anything could even stop the retirement. If something can be done, dear webmaster, can you yank it back for us...

If not,...Can we continue here with short bios and our totally unscientific but satisfying and revealing Y2K impact rating....

Just a thought. Were I Gaia's right-hand woman I would make it an executive order. ROFL!

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), September 29, 1998

Answers

OK, I'll chip in. I write PC BIOS and embedded system software. I am prepared now to live about a year with no external source of power, food, water, and various supplies -- and prepared to defend it. I expect to continue solidifying my preparations for as long as I can. So far, I have spent relatively little on anything I wouldn't eventually buy and consume normally, though.

This doesn't necessarily mean I expect to need everything; I hope I won't. But I don't know what I'll need, and I think it's prudent to cover as many bases as possible. I consider the probability that I'll need at least some of it to be very high - almost certain.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), September 29, 1998.

If you really want to know all about me, go see my web page. I have no idea what the impact will be and cannot convince my husband that it will be anything more severe than a two week vacation. I buy what I can while I can but I don't get too worried about it.

-- Amy Leone (aleone@amp.com), September 30, 1998.

OK, I'll bite. Been reading yall for quite some time now. Very interesting/informative discussions take place on this site and I thank each and every one of you for that. Have to admit, some of yall crack me up and some of yall scare me. Name's Dean and I'm a Y2k project manager for a very large corporation in Jacksonville, FL (GO JAGUARS!!) Born and bred right here. 38 years young. Married for 13 years, divorced, re-married this passed July on a beach just south of here. 2 great kids. I honestly think it won't be that bad. Maybe some minor inconveniences, maybe a little worse. But I certainly don't see TEOTWAWKI. There are way too many talented IT people out there to let any major problems carry on for too long. Keep up the good work on this forum, it's the best one out there. Thanks again!

-- (deano@luvthebeach.com), September 30, 1998.

Bio?:

Art Welling, 36 YO, Married 15 years, three sons. Profesional auto tech, 20 years experience-60% management. Many hobbies including some writing experience. Had a newspaper column for about a year till I ran out of time to do it. Some magazine articles on various topics, mostly outdoors/shooting stuff and auto technical. Raised as a boy on a small farm, now living back in the country but only have a small lot and house. Wife is a profesional social worker with the county. Boys aged 4 thru 14.

Learned about Y2K near the end of last year. I was looking hard at economic problems at the time with deep concern. Now I believe it will be a neck and neck race to the 'finish' with Y2K and economic collapse feeding on each other.

How bad do we think it will get? Severe economic problems at BEST. Hard depression likely. Partial societal collapse possible, total societal collapse possible but not as big a chance of that. I keep waiting for the GOOD news that will prove me wrong...I look hard for it. No luck so far.

What are we doing about it? Little we can do to stop it, much we can do to prepare for it. We have rearranged out lives around preparations. So have some of our friends. Our goal is to be as self sufficient as possible and we hope to be in a position to help others in need. We are now also in a position to defend as needed. It's easier, and in fact only possible, to be charitable from a position of strength in hard times.

Since my name got posted on Amy Leon's site I have received several E-mails from couples/people looking to relocate due to Y2K. Some are interested enough to be planning trips here and looking over our area as a place to weather the storm. I must say the seriousness of people over this issue has increased fantasticly in the last year. Folks we talked to a year ago, and brushed us off, are now calling and asking where we got our food storage info and what plans we think are wise.

I know that if enough people get ready it won't be as bad as otherwise. BUT....after dealing with the general public for a few decades, I don't hold out great hopes. I really wish I could be optimistic, but there is nothing support that desire.

Regards and luck,

-- Art Welling (artw@lancnews.infi.net), September 30, 1998.

Thanks, Donna. I just wanted to say Happy 12th Anniversay to Buddy Y., Happy 44th Birthday to Mac (sneak@lurk), Happy 1st & 16th birthdays to Steve Hartsman's kids, and Congratulations to Joseph Babinsky on the birth of his baby girl. Anybody I missed?

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), September 30, 1998.

Donna,

In the absense (-2 sp) of other documentation, and based on my observation of the posted threads - (D**m, reminds me of my own company's software!) - I believe the following rules apply:

The opening screen of the forum loads a chronological listing of all threads (answered and unanswered) in reverse order of loading, new are at th bottom. Used to be, before more people were "talking" that the listing was for previous two weeks, now, it seems shorter - one week only)

The secondary screens segregate into answered and unanswered: the unanswered thread list is displayed in chronological order in the order they were recieved. They seem to hang (on in this list) for a while (a month?) before going bye-bye to ???? for archive? If they are answered, they go to the other list. [Can you see why fixing old software is hard - its tough enough just understanding and explaining things without explicit (explicative?) documentation.).

The "recent answers" threads (like this one) are listed in in chronological order with the most recent answer first, regardless of source date of the thread. Archived threads, once hit with a new answer, get added back to the "recent answers" list. This list has either 1 (now ?) or 2 week (before) timeframe.

When an answered thread is left alone for two weeks (with no new responses), then it goes to the archive list according to subject. People who read an srchived thread, can resurect it by adding a response.

Have I cleared up things, or only stirred the mud faster?

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), September 30, 1998.

I think what R. Cook is trying to say is...

All we have to do is someone add a new answer to the "What about you?" thread and it will show up in the "Recent Answers" list. As long as people keep posting to it, it will stay at the top of the "Recent Answers" list. So...if we want to keep it active we have to encourage people to keep posting to it.

-- Buddy Y. (buddy@bellatlantic.net), September 30, 1998.

I always go right to "recent answers" first thing, its where the action is. I agree with the above, all we need to do is post an answer once this thread reaches the bottom and voila, "Its alive, its alive, ha ha ha ha ha."

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), September 30, 1998.

Okay guys, I'm ready for the next suggestion. I found the old thread in Misc. Posted to it...it was accepted. But no return of the old thread. (sigh)

For anyone interested in reading it however, I at least found it...under the "Misc." in the expired threads.

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), September 30, 1998.

Gayla - Thankee kindly! I find I'm at an age when one tends to have to do a bit of calculation re the birthday. "Lemme see, I KNOW I'm over 40... Uhhh, 98 minus 54, carry the three, no, wait..."

In the words of James Garner in _Murphy's Romance_, "Just set the whole d**n thing on fire!"

Best,

Mac

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.com), September 30, 1998.

Ah, Mac. I love that line from Murphy's Romance! Might be time to pop it in the VCR! Hippo Birdie, two ewe!!!!

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), September 30, 1998.

You know how long it took me to figure out that "new answers" was the best way to read this forum? A stinking month.

vic

-- Vic (Light_servant@yahoo.com), October 01, 1998.

The thread is back! Don't know how, but I sure am grateful!! I printed it out. (23 pages) I know it will help me to convince a few of my doubting friends that this concerns a very broad cross section of people. It makes quite a remarkable document!

-- Suzanne Hansen (suzannel@webtv.net), October 01, 1998.

Donna, Suzzane (-2 sp),

The "old" thread appeared to be resurected as soon as you got back to the site, or [Refreshed] the browser. Until you did that though, you were still missing the thread.

Your act of posting did recover it immediately, but your browser had to be told to "reload" its memory from the magical mystery server in the sky. (Sounds like a Beatles song.)

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), October 01, 1998.

Yo Buddy,

How's come you can 'splain it clearly widout using all dem words like i has to?

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), October 01, 1998.

Robert,

I make my living by explaining how computers work to non-techies. My current job involves user support and analyzing systems from a user's perspective. I'm kind of a middle man between the "tech geeks" and the "normal people." I seem to have a knack for explaining technical stuff to the "normal people" and figuring out users' system requirements (most users can't explain exactly what they need) and presenting them to the system developers. I also put out alot of fires when users make mistakes or don't understand how to use the system.

-- Buddy Y. (buddy@bellatlantic.net), October 01, 1998.

Makes sense....I make mine testing and debugging software, then trying to explain what's busted and why and when and by who and under exactly what circumstances to techie type and very skeptical programmers who don't talk the language (several are in Slovakia, not very readily accessible by phone, none can "see" the screen or same circumstances as I).

So I find I have to "wlak" them through the keystrokes and setup very carefully. They're good programmers, and very good people, but it is hard to communicate with no feedback and no way to "point" to soemthing on the screen while you are watching what happens.

Same as trying to tell whether somebody is using the right program in the right directory clicking in the right button in the right dialog box -- when your listening to them over a telephone. Not easy.

Some cruel people might say it drives you nuts, but we won't bring up squirrels today. Or the subject might lead to chickens and alternative ways of drying wet cats.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), October 01, 1998.

I am a retired L.A. Sheriff's Deputy. My last assignment for 9 yrs was at the Homicide Bureau. I was a private investigator/Poligraph examiner in L.A. for about 8 more years. I now live in Charleston South Carolina with my wife. I have 2 sons in the Navy. I have revised my grading from an arbitrary 8 to a 7 as stated in this original post. We have prepared for a 6 months ordeal. I may add to my preparations to last a year. Since it is only my wife and myself, I have applied to serve in the SC state malitia. They back up the National Guard. Maybe my job will be to get coffee and donuts, but it would be better than waiting for a mob to loot and kill me. And after all, I do have a certain expertise with riots.

-- Bill Solorzano (notaclue@webtv.net), November 12, 1998.

I am an RN and own my own medical auditing business. My husband is in IT. I swing teotwawki and he says "no big deal". Needless to say it makes for interesting weekend conversations. We live in the country, way out in the boonies, and have to keep things on stock just to survive the winters. We have a small authentic log cabin that we reburbished on the back of our property. We stayed there while building our main house.....no electricity, no indoor toilet ( at the time) no running water ( at the time) and had to cook on a woodstove. "Little House on the Prarie" has nothing on us!!:> It was great practice for the big event...only problem, the dust was horrible and kept mucking up my computer for work!!!

DAC

-- deborah cunningham (dac@ccrtc.com), November 13, 1998.

# # # 19981113

On a scale of 1-10 for Y2K scenario ( of Best - Worst Case ) I am intellectually and psychologically at a 9.99!

Below is my ( lousy Word 6.0/95-to-TEXT-converted ) Resume.

Regards, Bob Mangus

October 1998

ROBERT S. MANGUS, JR.

HARDWARE

IBM PC BURROUGHS HP3000 IBM 370 NCR UNIVAC PRIME TMS 370/371/372 TMS-370/8065I IBM AS/400

LANGUAGES

COBOL BASIC FORTRAN COBOL II HTML C++ ASSEMBLER RPG ALGOL PASCAL X-BASE 'C' JCL JAVA CGI PARADOX CLARION FOXPRO

SOFTWARE

MS-WINDOWS 95/NT CARBON COPY TSO/ISPF MS-WORD LOTUS NOTES ISAM MS-ACCESS LOTUS 1-2-3 TELNET BANYAN VINES VSAM CANDE WFL CLIPPER dBASE III+ TEAMWORK PVCS/CMS X-WINDOWS NOVELL NETWARE 4.X DISPLAYWRITE MULTIMATE WORDPERFECT PFS:WRITE TCP/IP FREELANCE FOXPRO/FOXFIRE! PROFS IMS DB/DC DB2 OLE

OPERATING SYSTEMS

MS-DOS/PC-DOS MCP (BURROUGHS) VMS CPL (PRIME) UNIX (UX & HP) IBM AS/400 WINDOWS '95/NT

APPLICATION EXPOSURE AND INVOLVEMENT

Consultant June 1985 - Present for Ajilon (formerly Adia Information Technologies) on the following assignments:

Xxxx Xxxxxx August 1998 - Present Year 2000 Change of Century (AS/400) Project Coordinator activities including software application inventory, century compliance evaluation, test planning/monitoring/evaluation, business contingency planning, independent software vendor (ISV) applications and EDI.

COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT: IBM AS/400, COBOL (585,000 LOC), CL

Xxxx Xxxxx Xxxx Xxxxxx xx Xxxxxxxx November 1997 - August 1998 Year 2000 Change of Century PC/LAN Project team activities included software application inventory, century compliance evaluation, remediating X-base and PARADOX applications, MS-DOS and Windows v3.X (16-bit)-to-Windows NT platform-compatibility and migration of custom applications. Century and platform compliance testing of Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) and independent software vendor (ISV) applications. COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT: IBM PC, Windows NT/95, MS Office 97- Professional Edition; ~7,000 seats.

XxxxxxXxx Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx June 1997-November 1997 Year 2000 Project Co-Lead remediating, testing and implementing customer COBOL applications and mentoring a multinational team.

COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT: IBM 370, MVS, COBOL II, IMS, DB/DC, PANVALET, TSO/SPF.

Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxx April 1997 - June 1997 Working from verbal specifications, develop and test new code for dealership applications for the customer. Utilize COBOL II, DB2 and IMS DB/DC in an MVS environment. Y2K module remediation.

COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT: IBM 370, MVS, COBOL, COBOL II, DB2, IMS DB/DC.

Comerica Bank March 1997 - April 1997 Provided support for the roll-out and implementation of MS-WINDOWS 3.1. Migrated MS-DOS applications to the new environment. Evaluated core business applications and provided training to end users.

COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT: IBM PC, NOVELL NETWARE 4.x, LOTUS NOTES, FOXPRO.

Comerica Bank February 1997 - March 1997 Supported functions related to the roll-out and implementation of LOTUS NOTES on an enterprise-wide basis. Installed the application, provided user training and administered LOTUS NOTES.

COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT: IBM PC, NOVELL NETWARE 4.X, MS-WINDOWS, LOTUS NOTES.

Comerica Bank October 1996 - January 1997 Assist with the management level analysis of project information and reporting requirements for Phase III of the Direction 2000 project. Provide help desk assistance to managerial staff for FOXPRO, FOXFIRE! and third party software packages in a PC environment.

COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT: IBM PC, MS-WINDOWS, FOXPRO, FOXFIRE!, LOTUS NOTES.

Ford Motor Company June 1990 - September 1996 Served as a QS-9000 (ISO-9000-3) Process Engineer and Compliance Auditor/Facilitator of SEI software and hardware development for the Automotive Components Division (ACD), Cross Organizational Technology (COT) Section. Responsible for process, tools, training, and technical support. Conducted internal audits for ISO-9000 compliance. Served as the INTERSOLV PVCS Version Manager/Administrator for over 200 users. Evaluated code generation applications, case, configuration management and programmer editing tools. Provided cross-platform solutions to software compatibility issues and backup problems. Participated in ad hoc committees to develop and implement an Intranet Web page, and proposed the layout and design of the content. Utilized OLE, CGI, JAVA and HTML scripting tools.

Designed, developed, implemented, tested and maintained embedded Active Suspension Systems using PASCAL-J and 8061 TI PROCESSOR. Developed and maintained GEM electronic modules using 'C' and TMS 370 Microprocessors. Programmed microprocessors for manufacturing process evaluation. Analyzed, tracked and resolved problems in dBASE III and FOXPRO. Assisted with the implementation of PDP II software development environment process.

COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT: IBM PC, TMS 370/372, UNIX, 'C', INTEL ASSEMBLER, PASCAL, HTML, JAVA, CGI, TCP/IP, TELNET, PROFS, X-WINDOWS, MS-WINDOWS, PVCS, TEAMWORK, SPF/PC, OLE, DEC-VMS, DEC-CMS, FOXPRO, dBASE III+, FREELANCE, WORDPERFECT.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield November 1989 - June 1990 Investigated, evaluated and recommended PC-based software applications and hardware configurations for Optical Character Recognition requirements. Developed dBASE III+ reporting capabilities for National Communications Network, analyzed multiple database files, assisted the client in development of management information needs, produced tentative reports and evaluated for compliance with needs. Produced a menu interface for users not familiar with dBASE III+. Evaluated possible IBM PC hardware and software products including MICROSOFT WORD and CARBON COPY for use on IBM PCs. Provided tutorial services to client staff personnel regarding DOS, DISPLAYWRITE, BANYAN VINES NETWORK, dBASE III+, and LOTUS 1-2-3. Performed disk maintenance and optimizing functions including procedures to recover damaged or deleted disk files.

COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT: IBM PC, dBASE III+, CLIPPER, MS-WORD, CARBON COPY, LOTUS.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield December 1986 - November 1989 Supported conversion of Blue Cross Blue Shield claims processing to a national account standard within the health insurance industry. Performed analysis, system design, programming, and documentation of system related problems. Also provided support and instruction consultation for client users of IBM PC software packages.

COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT: IBM PC-AT/XT-286/XT-LAN, IBM PC-NETWORK, BASICA, dBASE III PLUS-LAN, DISPLAYWRITE-3, LOTUS, MULTIMATE, CHART/SIGNMASTER, USER INSTRUCTION.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield April 1986 - November 1986 Supported conversion of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan claims processing to General Motors Claims System - a national standard prototype within the health insurance industry. Performed consulting services to maintain national standards and establish the integrity of the General Motors Claims System (EDS) through acceptance testing, parallel testing, benchmark testing and post-implementation support.

COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT: IBM 30XX, TSO/ISPF, COBOL, JCL.

Ford Motor Company June 1985 - April 1986 Supported a National Parts Distribution Service System.

COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT: BURROUGHS, MCP, COBOL-74/68, CANDE.

Adult Education Instructor September 1985 - January 1986 for Clarkston School District and Waterford School District Taught courses in Word Processing and Introduction to Computers.

President June 1984 - 1985 for Computer Support Services. Provided technical consulting services for new and existing client systems, including analysis, feasibility, design, RFPs, hardware/software evaluation, programming, documentation, education/tutoring and other support.

COMPUTER ENVIRONMENT: IBM PC, TANDY TRS-80 MODEL III/4, BASIC, PASCAL, PFS:FILE. (Prior data processing experience to 1965.)

EDUCATION

Self-taught in X-base, DB2, Visual C++, Visual Basic 4.0 and Lotus Notes Script Certificate in Vocational Teaching 1985 Completed classes in Computer Science 1975 - 1979 from Oakland Community College

TOTAL YEARS DATA PROCESSING EXPERIENCE

Thirty-three(+) years. # # #

-- Robert Mangus (rmangus@mail.netquest.com), November 13, 1998.

Okay, Robert Magnus, that's your Curriculm Vitae (and impressive it is)...now how about YOU....?

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), November 13, 1998.

# # # 19981113

. Born & raised in Detroit, MI . U.S. Army ( 1968-1971 ); 527th PSC, Qui N'Hon, Vietnam ( July 1969- 1970 ) . 5 children ( 4, grown; 1, 12 yr-old ); 3 grandchildren . Used to have a sense of humor; nothing much funny preparing for Y2K. . Don't worry about news/elections ( I still VOTE! )/work/anything -- it ALL won't matter into 1999 and beyond. . Wife and son getting mentally prepared for Y2K upheaval. The rest of my very large family think I'm nuts! ( Some are coming around! ) . Assisted Cassandra Project in their infancy ( Nov-Jan 1998 ). In spired me to start the Year 2000 Citizen Action Group in January, 1998. Held ( FREE ) 4 public forums to answer questions, advise re preps and motivate others to get the Y2K story into their communities and start preparations. . Use ( excellent ) "Surviving the Year 2000" video at forums. . Y2K Preparedness Philosophy: It's the individual ( and loved ones ), STUPID! Government and corporations have fumbled the Y2K-ball. We're it!

How's _that?! LOL!

Regards, Bob Mangus # # #

-- Robert Mangus (rmangus@mail.netquest.com), November 13, 1998.

Good, good! We are peeling away the layers of the onion. Now Bob, tell us who you really are. Don't be shy.

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), November 13, 1998.