Helping you promote your businesses and websites on the Internet.
I succeed by helping you succeed.
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Thanks to each of you!I'd like to thank the following people and organizations for their help and encouragement. Without them and their support, I would not be able to do the things I do, learn the things I learn, and pass them on to you in this site. But, before I thank the following people, I want to thank you for visiting and helping to make this site what it can become. I extend a heart-felt "Thank You!" to each of you. Individuals who made this possibleMom & DadMy mother, Mattie Lee Godfrey Dilbeck, was instrumental in instilling a love of learning and research that makes it possible for me to learn and do what I do. Mom taught me how to read years before I went to school, and I'm a much richer person because I found the love of reading early in my life. Oh, yeah, she fed me, clothed me, made me go to school, and stuff like that, as well! My dad, Willie Franklin Dilbeck (but just about everyone called him Bill), taught me the value of being honest and working hard. He taught me how to do lots of things, including smiting hot steel and taking care of tools. It's a shame he died before he could have visited and worked in my primitive little smithy. And, yes, he was the one who taught me the consequences of not following some of the important rules. He's also the one who taught me the foolishness of trying chewing tobacco for the first time while paving a parking lot on a hot, sunny, summer afternoon. I didn't think people could actually turn green before then! Geneva Godfrey and Lillie PratherGeneva and Lillie are like family to me. No! Wait a sec! They are family! They have offered me encouragement and support through various adventures and misadventures in my life, as well as bailing me out financially one time. I got my very first car from Lillie's Mom. It's no wonder they are each my very favorite aunt. Yep, both of 'em; each of 'em. (I know it's a paradox. Deal with it.) David DilbeckDavid Dilbeck taught me not to be too sure of myself when I walked past any room in which he might be hiding and waiting to scare the bejeebers out of me! He taught me that I couldn't order just anyone around. He taught me to duck when he threw that four-speed transmission at me in the heat of an argument. And, he taught me that I want a Sony Mavica digital camera with the floppy disk! There are many other things we taught each other that I won't bore you with now, but all of which are important to me. Dena, Stacey, Courtney, Dakota, and Kaitlyn - the HowardsMy daughter, Dena, her husband, Stacey, and their three kids have taught me what it means to have a family coming along after me. Have I mentioned that I have the three cutest and most adorable grand-kids on this quaint little planet? Kathleen and Kenneth AndersonKathleen taught me what it was like to be married and to have a family. For that I am eternally grateful. She was, before we were married, one of my very best friends, and she remains that, since we are divorced. There were some rocky times in between and I realize now I'm just not cut out for marriage. It works for some, but not for me. She did really, really well when she brought Dena into this world. I'm glad she met Kenneth and married him. Kenneth is now my favorite mechanic-in-law. Arch and Sarah AvaryArch Avary is continuing my education in working with pewter and precious metals. He taught me how to put a mirror finish on an item. He's teaching me to cast designs of my own, one day, whenever I can finally carve something that I want to put my name on! He keeps reminding me that I don't have to work as hard as I sometimes do, that it's okay to take some time off to play, and he keeps asking me how come a smart fella like me isn't rich. He and Sarah have shown me what it takes to grow a good garden, but I'm not sure I've learned that lesson, yet. Robert and Audrey AndersonRobert and Audrey offered encouragement when I was first starting to relearn my metalsmithing skills, and have provided me with a never-ending flow of automotive body panels that have various and sundry wrinkles, holes, tears, and other minor blemishes! No! They don't keep wrecking their car! They own the body shop where the cars are repaired.
Tools and equipment that I depend uponThe hammers, anvil, and other tools are too numerous to mention. However, the software and computers that allowed me to make a living for decades and help me bring these thoughts to you deserve special mention: Userland Frontier Dave Winer and the gang at Userland Software have created a fine database that does just about anything I could want. It has an extremely powerful language, and all the pages on this site were generated from that database. It makes it easy for me to store everything where I can find it, and I can change the look of a single page or an entire website with only a few clicks of the mouse and strokes on the keyboard. Frontier version 5 is currently still free, but they've made great strides forward in the newer versions. Now, they're working on Manila, a content management system that gives multiple non-technical editors the power to operate a news-oriented web site. They provide three servers where you can get your very own manila-powered website at no charge. I have my John Dilbeck's Ramblings housed on their EditThisPage.com server. You can get one, if you'd like. If that's not enough, they're well into the beta version of Radio UserLand which has much of the power of Frontier, but is designed as the first Internet outliner. This is the software I now use to maintain all my web sites and my directories. Dave Winer has been a major force in outliners since his development of ThinkTank and More, and Radio Userland continues with the best outliner I've ever used, and it's tightly coupled to the Internet and is fully programmable, if you want to get up under the hood. This is outstanding software, and it's still in beta. The release product ought to be outstanding. BBedit BBEdit, arguably the best text editor on the planet, is from Barebones software -- makers of "software that still doesn't suck." What else needs to be said? Apple Macintosh Apple Macintosh computers are simply best of breed and have consistently defined the microcomputer market for a decade and a half. Don't bother trying to argue the point with me. I've used the others as well, from the huge mainframe and scientific systems down to the tiny ones, and Macintosh is my choice for the best I've ever worked with. As a certain comedy star almost said, "Apple has been bery, bery good to me." A word of advice, however. Don't try to build a consulting business around helping Macintosh users. One visit and they never call again. These computers just keep running and running and ... oops ... wrong slogan! The Apple logo and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. The Powered By Macintosh Badge is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., used with permission. Organizations that provide or
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