About Bill Woodland
I currently work for the State of Texas as a web developer. I also do a little web work for other companies on the side. The images you see in places here are random images from my flickr page.
The early years
I was born May 31, 1955 right here in Austin, Texas. I have lived here all my life except during 1968-1973 when I was forced to move to San Antonio (more on that later).
Fifteen minutes of fame
I was afflicted with polio at the age of 18 months, and I feel sure that my experiences then have a lot to do with who I am. Yes, the vaccine was available at the time, and i was actually scheduled to get the vaccine, but I had a fever at the time, so it was postponed for two weeks. Some time in those two weeks is when I got polio. I figure it was meant to be.
I went thru some grueling physical therapy, in which I was told not to cry, not to worry, it will be over with soon, etc. I learned to count to ten at a very early age, because each exercise I did was done ten times. I had a big crush on the lady that helped me with this therapy, Nurse Joyce Davenport, and think this is why I like women so much. I've always gotten along with females beter than males, tho I do have quite a few good male friends. I was a poster boy for the march of dimes in 1959, had my picture in the paper several times, and even stood on the governor's desk for a picture.
Elementary school had its ups and downs, as for most kids. I was picked on a little bit, but most kids that bothered me were ridiculed for messing with "a cripple", so for the most part, I got through it unscathed. I rode my bike all over south Austin, even in the field that was later to become Southwood Mall. Jones Road seemed to me to be the boundary of Austin, and I can remember wondering if there really was anything south of that road. I never rode my bike far enough past it to find out. During the summers, I would go up to the school and play four-square, bombardment, and play with hula-hoops and frisbees....the normal kid stuff.
Junior High
I went to Porter Junior High from September of 1967 to January of 1968, when my father got a job offer in San Antonio. I really didn't want to move, but being only 12 at the time, my opinion didn't count. Now that I'm grown up (does anyone ever really grow up?) I understand why we moved, but it still hurt to leave all of my good friends.
More junior high in San Antonio...yada, yada, yada...
Nothing spectacular happened there in junior high school.
High School
John Marshall high school was a fun period in my life, even though there were a lot of things I disliked about San Antonio. I graduated high school on my birthday in 1973, and had a hell of a birthday/graduation party. I made some good friends there, and as fate would have it, fifteen days after graduation, we moved back to Austin. I've been here ever since.
I went to college?
I went to Southwest Texas State University for a whole 3 semesters, where I got into computers. I had done a bit of studying on the subject while in high schol, and being the lazy slob that I am, immediately saw the potential for an easy desk job. I took a total of 3 computer science classes; two in my second semester (one was "Intro to computing", and the second was Fortran programming). I made straight As in both classes, and was helping the other students with their weekly Fortran programming projects, so the instructor didn't make me take the final. He said even if I failed it miserably, I would still have an A average for the semester, so why bother.
The third, and final semester, I took Macro-11 assembly language programing for the PDP-11/20 (DEC) computer they had on campus. This computer's language architecture was the basis for the Motorola 68000 series of CPU chips, used in Macintosh computers. Again, I had an A average, helping others, and didn't have to take the final. After this "success" I decided that I had no need for further formal education, and went into the world seeking a job as a programmer.
Reality Check
I held various jobs (below) over the next 12 years: Armadillo World Headquarters, bartender, repaired fussball and pinball tables.City Bank in the DP department, at first delivering computer printouts to our customer banks for which we also did processing, then moving up to actually running some jobs on the computer, maintaining all of the various forms required for printing bank statements for 19 banks, and ran a small printing press where I made forms for internal use.I ran my own business called "Wild Bill's Kiddie Rides" in which I owned 40-odd hobbie horses like the ones you see in front of grocery stores.I performed sheet metal work making the chassis for instruments made for testing hearing.I worked for minimum wage in a production factory making ceiling fan blades.Texas Department of Water Resources, computer operator trainee on night shift for one year.Tracor, computer operator for a year, then moved into PC software support, which I did for four years.Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation for one year, helping to design, write, demonstrate, and install LINC, a program to facilitate the transferring of loan application information from the school to the lender, and back to TGSLC within about 3 days instead of 3-4 weeks via snail mail.University Savings, programming to maintain their student loan portfolio. They were one of the pilot lenders for Link. When I installed Link there and supported it over the phone, they were so impressed by me that they offered me a 50% increase in salary to work for them. That was impossible to pass up. Unfortunately with the S&L problems here in Texas at the time, they got bought out by NCNB, and I had the option of moving to Dallas, or being laid off. I chose the latter.Texas Department of Commerce (later Texas Department of Economic Development), I ran a Novell LAN for the accounting department for eight years, and helped to automate their processes. After that, I moved into the IT department, when I continued supporting Accounting, but also worked on other administrative applications. This is when I learned HTML and ASP.
Currently I'm at Texas Building and Procurement Commission, mainly writing web applications in cold fusion (YUCK!) and ASP (YES!).
OK, now tell us who you REALLY are
This is not who "Squeek" IS, tho, it's just background information. In essence, I am a "people pleaser". I enjoy helping others. It boosts my ego to know that *I* am able to help so many, especially in the computer field. It makes me feel good to be needed by others.
In my younger days, there seemed to be a lot of fuss made over me, the poor little crippled boy, and I was basically embarrassed a lot. I hate being embarrassed. I find it very hard to show my feelings, except those of happiness, and don't even open up to my wife very much. I hate confrontations. I like to get along with everyone, and it's important to me that others like me. I give more of myself to my friends and coworkers than I do to my wife and children. I love my wife and kids, but it makes me feel great when I can help someone else. I guess deep down I feel that my wife and kids already love me, so I don't have to impress them any more.
Remember the line in "Rocky"..."my momma said I didn't have much of a body, so I'd better develop my brain"? Well, that's me. I wear a brace on my left leg, from the effects of the polio, hence the nickname of "Squeek". I'm physically lazy, which is why I got into computers. I have a very logical mind, and enjoy logic problems and mental challenges. I scored in the 98th percentile in spatial relations in a test in high school...not much of a talent that I could make any money with, though.
I have a great relationship with my parents, and always have. They are some of the finest people I know, and I'm proud of the way they raised me. They never told me "get out of that tree before you fall and break your neck". They knew that if I felt I could handle the obstacle, then I would be just fine.
Music
I love music. I have music playing almost constantly, everywhere I go. I carried a radio to school with me on the bus every day. The frist thing I do when I get a new used car is to install a good stereo system. If I'm going somewhere that I think might not have any music, I take my am/fm headphones.
My father plays boogie piano, and was probably the very first music I ever heard. I started listening ACTIVELY to music around the age of 4 years old. My parents allowed me to play any of their records I wanted, as long as I took good care of them. Some of the artists they had on record were Perry Como, Andy Williams, Al Hirt, Bert Kaemfert, Johnny Mathis, The Weavers, The Limelighters, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Mitch Miller and his orchestra, Tchaiskovsky, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Wagner, Johnny Cash, Charlie Pride, Dinah Shore, and anything else I could get my hands on. I even listened to (and liked!) the Marine Corps Marching Band.
My family used to go to Corpus Christi for Christmas, where my grandparents and aunt and uncle lived. When I was six, we were out singing Christmas carols, and my aunt announced to eveyrone "Bill's singing harmony! Who taught him how to do that?". Nobody...I just did what felt right. I have a musical ear, and can tell if a guitar is tuned or not without using any electronic devices. I play a little piano (boogie, mostly, like my father) and some guitar, but I don't have the determination to practice and decome adept at playing. I can pick out just about any tune on a piano or guitar easily...I simply don't have the dedication it takes to learn how to PLAY it.
Currently, the kinds of musicians I listen to are mostly blues. Being an Austinite, I, too was entranced by Stevie Ray Vaughan. I saw him many times at the Armadillo in the late 70s and up until his death in 1990. I particularly like the new blues guitarists Chris Duarte, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and an up and coming local group Vallejo. I like almost all of the newer alternative stuff, hard rock, or heavy metal. Some other favorites (fliping thru my cd collection in no particular order) are the Allman Brothers, Blue Oyster Cult, Eric Clapton, Eric Johnson, Santana, Ian Moore, Gary Moore, Bonnie Raitt, Yes, Kelly Willis, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Archangels, Storyville, Doyle Bramhall Jr, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains.