Inner Circle - JW Olson 1991/1998

The Inner Circle

Stuff about me
Written by: JW Olson

I was born in the middle of July and grew up in North Dakota about as far from anything as you could get. The closest large town was 60 miles away. I had four sisters and two brothers which we packed into the six passenger auto with Mom and Dad whenever we went anywhere, which was not all that often! We did get to town once a year just before school to buy shoes and clothes for the year. Dad always said,"Make sure you get everything large enough for the whole year as you're NOT getting to town again til next year! " I, being the oldest, usually got new clothes and shoes. The younger kids had to make do with the hand-me-downs. The youngest could get pretty ragged looking after a few older brothers and sisters had used the clothing, I can tell you! The other reasons for going to town were if some farm equipment broke, or for church.

I attended a little one teacher country grade school and am supposed to mention that I had to walk to school everyday in rain (not much!) or blowing snow! Even in weather down to forty below zero! And we STILL think winters there last a little longer than nine months!! I started reading everything I could get my hands on as soon as I learned to read. I remember Mom trying to read all my books first so that I wouldn't be reading anything unacceptable but I don't think that lasted even all the way out of second grade. Soon I was bringing her books I thought she might enjoy reading after I had read them! I had read all the books we had in the library of the country school I attended before I got into fifth grade. I always got first picks of the new books the school ordered as I was always looking for something new to read. Our school teacher, to help me out suggested that I read the Bible that the school had and was surprised to find that I had already read that version and eight others besides. She said she had never seen any children who had read the Bible through before and I replied that it was no big deal and introduced her to my younger sister who had also read it! She suggested that I read the large dictionary till they could get in new materials so I read that book cover to cover also. It was much too large a book to move so I read it while standing up at the pedestal. However,the greatest book and the one that has had the most influence over my life has been the Bible. I still spend my best time of the day with it. In fact it might be the only real joy this short earthly life has to offer. I wish it had been an important part of my own children's lives too but this was a place I failed. Life seems to hand you its worst most of the time so I suppose I should be used to it.

I enjoyed working with electricity at a young age and by five years old had rewired an old car radio to be a DX AM receiver. I added a homemade tube type booster tunable pre-amp and made the radio pick up foreign stations out of the normal band. I got to travel the world every evening from my command station in the basement of our rural North Dakota home! I made a bit of a business later out of building the Heath kits and built at least one of everything they had in the catalog except the organs. I would sell the completed kit so I had enough money to buy the next one! I still like to play with radios and my call is N7PSV.

I discovered the joys of computers soon after high school and after moving to Albuquerque I built an Altair personal computer. This was really the first personal computer out and was EXPENSIVE to build. 4K and about 4000 dollars! But it was fun and I met some neat guys and of course one not so neat fellow who thought he owned everything ever created on a computer. His first name was Bill... three guess on his last name. Yep, the very same creep! A little later Commodore started up and was the biggest bang for the buck computer around. Several companies started building personal computers at this time but none even came close to the Commodore. Then they launched that massive Commodore 64! The 64 kinda killed off a lot of the personal computers as no-one could offer near these features at that price point. Stereo sound and color graphics built in! That just sunk everybody else's ship! The IBM machines still today do not have either sound or graphics built-in! Then came the Amazing Amiga! WOW!!!

I worked as a Carpenter after college as no one would pay for knowledge and I needed MONEY to support my computer hobbies. I also got into photography and own a full suite of Cannon cameras. I have a Phillips colorhead enlarger and develop all my own color prints. Carpentry enabled me to own the best so I do! Besides, the best have to be replaced much less often. Think about that the next time YOU replace your computer! I worked up to become a superintendent for Oklahoma Fixture Company and for 11 years traveled A-LOT to build the Dillard's Department Stores across the southern half the United States. I was putting a hundred thousand miles a year on my Subaru! Zero auto maintenance costs and a very dependable car really helped!

I started providing information for people who were not afraid of truth and so founded The Inner Circle in 1982. It has since just become mostly a repository for files as few people are interested in knowing anything anymore... As a BBS, The Inner Circle has run on a Commodore 64, a Commodore Amiga 1000 and a Commodore Amiga 4000. It has been running in several cities in several different states from Tennessee to Washington, and is now one of the finest Amiga resources in the country! A user group called Knights of the Inner Circle Amiga Social Society (K.I.C.A.S.S.) is associated with the BBS and has a local coffee meeting every Tuesday starting about 5:30pm at Clarrette's Restaurant. We have met without fail now for the past nine years and through three new owners of the restaurant! So stop by and meet some of us when you are in Walla Walla!

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