I haven't always been the "printables guy." I started out as a tech journalist in the early 1990s, a career that was probably inevitable after having spent much of my childhood in front of computers ranging from the Atari 800 to the first Apple models. Terrible Nerd
is a biography of me and all the computer-y stuff I experienced growing up in the '80s. In the book, I also embarrass myself in multiple ways, revealing my childhood awkwardness, girl troubles, the sometimes-dubious ways I managed to get computer time, and other behind-the-scenes events and experiences that shaped who I am and the Web publishing career I ultimately chose and love.In Terrible Nerd, I relive the era that ushered in the first generation of regular, middle-class kids to have easy access to computers. Hang out with me in the high school darkroom, look over my shoulder as I type pages of code from computer magazines, swap software with buddies, and program in BASIC. You'll learn crazy "fun facts" about me, like the time I accidentally crashed the Internet for all of Europe.
I'm very excited about this book, which took more than a year of effort for me to research and write. (Blood, sweat, and tears may or may not have been involved.) Terrible Nerd is available now in print from from Amazon.com, and the Kindle version will be ready to download later in the week. 
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Kevin's Tech Memoir
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I've written books before. In fact, part of this book is about writing those other books - whoa; meta! But my other books were technical, or instructive, in the early days of the Internet. Kids, I was on the Internet back when you had to dial in on a super-slow modem (WarGames style) to a city far, far away and get charged by the minute. It was like walking uphill to school both ways!In Terrible Nerd, I include lots of computer specs, tales of meeting old-school BBS gurus, and other details for nerds like me, but there are also plenty of everyday observations for the non-techy reader.
I was also really into computer gaming as a kid, so you can read about everything from Intellivision and Atari 8-bit home video gaming systems to the text adventure games that I enjoyed, and even wrote, while a middle school student in Southern California.There are even some cute photos of kid me hugging my first Apple computer in 1984 and of that one time my mom had a Space Armada cake specially made for me.I suspect a few of you might remember AOL's AnswerMan who helped out 'net newbies on online forums in the mid-'90s. That was me, though I didn't wear a fez nor smoke a pipe like AOL's icon depicted.
You'll hear about how I first started FreePrintable.net (now up to 85 sites!), and how I got the idea for my free online fax service, FaxZero.com. Learn more about my other, non-printables Web sites, like my giant online archive of classic computer and gaming magazines and a strangely still-popular Web page where you can arrange virtual refrigerator magnets to spell stuff on your screen. And you'll finally find out how I make all those printables for you (spoiler alert: I have help.)As FreePrintable.net newsletter readers know, my geekdom didn't doom me to a live of pasty loneliness in my mom's basement. I have a wonderful wife and two lovely daughters. Some might call me a success story. I hope you read and enjoy my book. Thanks so much for being a supporter of FreePrintable.net and making it possible for me to do what I love, and to tell you all about it in my book.
You can buy it on Amazon right now: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1939169003/?tag=terriblenerd-20Or, keep reading for an exclusive excerpt from Terrible Nerd.
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Terrible Nerd Excerpt
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In 1985, Back To the Future and The Breakfast Club were on the silver screen. A.E. Wright Middle School handed me a diploma and a journalism award for my work on the school newspaper. I was on to high school. At Calabasas High School, my interests in computers and writing continued, plus photography was added to the mix.
If you aren't from Southern California, you may have heard about the city of Calabasas or its high school for one of two reasons. One: the Kardashians live there. Two: the rich, parent-murdering Menendez brothers. I went to Calabasas High with Erik Menendez.
Although middle school had been all TRS-80s, all the time, Calabasas High School had a mish-mash of computers, mostly IBM PC compatibles and Apple //s. The lab in the math building had a bunch of Apple //s and some basic PCs. The PC in the library was far more interesting: it had a CD-ROM-based encyclopedia (a whole encyclopedia in the palm of your hand!), InfoTrac databases, and dial-up access to other library catalogs.
Everything on that computer was locked down with passwords and menus to prevent students from doing anything other than prescribed research. But the computer was in a small room, relatively private compared to the main library area, which afforded me the opportunity to figure out ways to hack into the machine. The first goal was simply to get to the DOS prompt and explore the data on the hard drive. Once I accomplished that, the next goal was to use the modem to dial numbers other than the library database. I used that machine to call into Weird City, my favorite BBS, all the way in the 213 area code, on the school's dime.
The school's resident geek was the science teacher, Mr. Pollock. The librarian wasn't terribly tech-savvy, so it fell to Mr. Pollock (who was such a geek he had a ham radio in his classroom) to lock down the library computer against kids like me. He would discover that someone had hacked the library machine and install a counter-measure. I'd find a new work-around. We played cat and mouse like that over the course of weeks.
Eventually, Mr. Pollock called me to his classroom. I wasn't in any of his classes. I must have been caught - I couldn't think of any other reason that he would want to talk to me. I was scared - terrified about the penalty that was about to befall me. But Mr. Pollock did something that I didn't expect: he told me that he couldn't beat me at the security game, and asked for my help. In exchange for helping him keep other students from fussing with the library computer, we had the tacit understanding that I could do whatever I wanted with it.
Although I never did have a class with him, Mr. Pollock and I became friends and have kept in contact via e-mail over the years. When I showed him a draft of this chapter, he shared a story of his own: "Prior to the Apple //e, teachers had to retype classroom handouts every time the masters wore out. I bought an interface, Qpid, to connect the //e to my Silver Reed typewriter. I'd wow the other staff members when the computer/typewriter combination typed several copies of a handout. Magical!"
I was terrible at math. What kind of nerd is bad at math? A terrible nerd. I was so interested in computers but so bad at math - my teachers and parents didn't understand that at all. I didn't understand why they didn't understand: I saw no connection between the logical - but flexible - rules of programming a computer and the exacting, inflexible rules of algebra. In my mind, computers had nothing to do with math. My brain was more suited to writing, photography, and programming: things that allowed for creativity, and didn't have absolute right or wrong answers.
To read more, click here to buy the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1939169003/?tag=terriblenerd-20
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