A Lifetime of Service, From the Kitchen to the Keyboard

Publish Date: 22/02/2026

There are seasons in every life. Recently, a friend asked me why I am no longer working as a chef, pit master, or kitchen manager. The honest answer is simple, but not easy. I was made redundant.

At 60 years old, that was a first for me.

I have never been someone who sits still for long. Since first arriving in Australia in 1988, I have lived primarily in the Southern Highlands and Wollondilly, and since 2020 I have proudly called the Central Coast home. Australia has shaped much of my adult life, both professionally and personally.

But my journey did not begin in a commercial kitchen. It began with a computer.

From the TI 99 to the Early Internet

My first computer was a Texas Instruments TI 99 back in 1979. It was basic, slow and clunky by today’s standards, but it opened a door. I started programming and making shapes on our TV screen. Simple, basic shapes. then a few other minor things and I was hooked.

During my time in the US Navy, I worked with a range of proprietary systems and was introduced to the Commodore 64. A friend of mine owned one and was incredibly proud of it. He showed me something revolutionary at the time, images on a screen. Looking back, it was primitive, VERY low-resolution, but then it was cutting edge at the time. I was fascinated.

In 1989, I bought my first PC, an Amstrad PPC 640 with an 8088 processor running MSDOS. It was portable in theory, though by modern standards it was anything but. That little machine is where I began serious programming work. It had no 'hard drive', but for a few hundred dollars, I got an external 10MB hard drive. The amount of storage space was amazing. Even with the slow connections of the time, I became involved in Wildcat BBS systems and Echo Mail, the early form of what we now simply call email. Back then, an 'echo mail' could take days to get to its destination. Now, you send an email from Australia and it will be any where around the world within mere moments.

In 1990, a friend from my college calculus class showed me what was then called a 'hyper text document'. Though a very simple form compared to today, these were the forerunner of today's webpages. It was nothing but text. But some of the words were underlined. When you clicked them, you were taken to another page that referenced that word. These were called hyperlinks. That simple idea changed everything.

By 1992, with the rise of the World Wide Web, true internet access began reshaping communication. I started designing websites and even built an internet directory that still exists today, although in a very different form.

Service Has Always Been the Thread

Whether in uniform, behind a smoker, managing a kitchen, or sitting at a keyboard, one thing has remained constant. I enjoy serving people. Service is the key element in my life that stands above everything else. In hospitality, service is immediate and tangible. You feed people. You bring families together around a table. You create moments.

In technology, service looks different, but it is just as meaningful. You solve problems. You protect livelihoods. You give small businesses the tools they need to compete. You make complex systems simple.

Over the years, I designed a Data Management System used by charities to assist with communication and decision making. I have designed online systems to help a business reduce its paperwork pipeline and helped save countless thousands of hours of labour. I have worked with businesses, charities and community groups to improve their websites, increase visibility through proper search engine optimisation, and ensure their digital presence actually serves their goals.

Our systems today are not just functional. They are powerful. We run on fibreoptic computing and internet infrastructure that delivers phenomenal speeds. That means reliability, responsiveness, and performance that businesses can depend on. Fast hosting, secure configurations, and ethical implementation matter more than flashy marketing claims.

SEO is not optional anymore. If your business cannot be found, it may as well not exist. And with today’s explosion in hacking, scams and the misuse of AI tools, security and integrity matter more than ever.

Choosing Contribution Over Retreat

Being made redundant could have been the moment to step back. At 60, some would say that is understandable. But I have never been wired that way. Rather than turning to government assistance, I have chosen to invest my skills into helping the Central Coast, Newcastle and Lower Hunter regions. Local businesses and home users are under increasing pressure. Cybercrime is rising. Scams are becoming more sophisticated. AI is being used in ways that are often unethical and harmful.

People’s hard earned money and reputations are at stake.

If I can help protect that, whether through secure hosting, sound web design, practical IT support or strategic SEO, then that is a meaningful use of the experience I have accumulated over four decades.

The tools have changed dramatically since the TI 99. The principles have not.

Serve people well.
Solve real problems.
Protect what matters.

If you are a business owner, community group, ministry, charity or home user in the Central Coast, Newcastle or Lower Hunter region and you want practical, experienced help navigating today’s digital landscape, I am here.

Let us build something secure, visible and built to last.If you are ready to protect your business, improve your online visibility, and work with someone who values service and ethics as much as technology, now is the time to act.

Click the button below to go to our Contact form and send me a message today. Tell me what you need. Tell me where you are stuck. Tell me what you want to build.

I will personally respond.

Your business deserves secure systems, phenomenal fibreoptic performance, and practical advice grounded in decades of real world experience.