About Kevin
I am actually going to take the time to write this finally, after putting it off for more than a month. I love to talk about myself, but there was so much more work to get done that I thought this could wait until I atleast had some content on the pages. I think the site is starting to look pretty populated for a personal site, I have accomplished quite a bit. That allows me the time to finally say something nice about myself. So read on and be enlightened.
I am Kevin C. Kurtz (my middle name will not be disclosed to the general public, if you know me personally and I like you feel free to ask). I was born on August 18th, 1988. That makes me 19 as of the time of this writing. I started really taking computer apart when I was 14, but my interest began at 12 when I met an a man (my best friend at the time's dad) who built computers and designed software.I learned basic html and I started to take computers apart, and then put them together, and then fix them when they broke. I learned great logical trouble shooting skills just like you should, by actually testing things and picking up what parts do as you go along. It took a long time for me to get to the hardware skills I am at now. People who build computers (anyone can, things only fit in one spot) don't usually realize how much more can go into it. How much you really need to know to make it work well. With years of experimentation you can see what really works.
When I was 14 I started programming in Visual Basic 6. It was an interesting experience, I made a couple of fun puzzle games and things of that sort (definately don't have any of the source anymore or I would through some stuff up here), but I wasn't satisfied, there was only so much I could do. I also got my first business license and Kurtz Computers was legally born (yes, I was a 14 year old with a business license. I was very goal oriented) and I started repairing and building computer for people. When I was 15 I started learning C++. A much more complex language but due to it's more built in object oriented nature it made for a great learning experience. I proceded to create a couple of games and things in C++ as the next year went on (one great text based one was the Legend of Dokoru, which I still have). Somewhere in there we made our move from Bonita Springs, Florida (where I was born) to Hebron, Kentucky. I kept running the computer business and learning. I started to experiment with some PHP programming (I wanted to make a neo pets clone... still working on that. see hackwars) I also started programming for the GameBoy Advance ARM processor at about 16. Just small projects to a get a feel for things. It is a lot of fun to learn new architectures, it's like being thrown in a new culture where you know nothing but body language.
I continued to learn. I built an automated AIM Bot around that time as well, that would harass my friends on the internet (it was a dumbed down version of smarter child I guess). It was very simple, it would connect to the AIM servers and carry on chat conversations with people. That was a nice accomplishment that taught me a lot about network programming and such. I had been working at McDonald's 30 hours a week while going to school, so I didn't have a lot of free time to work on my projects. I expermented a little with GNU/Linux and liked what I saw, but was too much of a Windows poweruser, with my programming skills being windows only and things of that sort to really make the switch, but I liked what I saw. Shortly after turning 16 I had to have a double spinal fusion done (this is where they cut you open from bottom to top and install two metal rods to keep you strait) this was because I had really bad scoliosis and it was going to kill me in a few short years if I didn't do something (Being sliced open was unfortunately the only option). This took me out of commission for some months, I couldn't even sit up by myself. It was probably about 6 months before I got back on a computer. It effectively weened me from my learning addiction (If I had to pick one thing I regret it would be the path that put me on).
By now I was a senior in High school, 17 years old. I started building small software gadgets to accomplish certain things. I had a physics simulator that would bounce balls around the screen and try to use real time physics to decide things. I also had a couple of useful utilites that messed with the Windows API and would allow you to hide windows and bring them back with shortcut keys. Just small projects, but nothing really impressive, I had gotten away from my computer habits and focused more on watching movies and listening to music. Finally, when I was 17.5 I met the first girl I ever really clicked with, this was a problem. We saw each other nonstop and I spent the next year not touching a computer at all. After that another girl followed, then another, and my social skills grew, but my brain didn't. By this time I was a Sophmore in College and hadn't really played with a computer in two years. That puts me at about a grand total of two and a half years from age 16 to 19 that I lost (this is the path I was speaking of). That is time to learn I will never get back. I can't imagine what I would know now if I had continued to learn the way that I had when I was 15. If I had kept hitting the technology universe hard like that there is no telling what level I would be at now.
I currently attend the University of Louisville's Speed School of Engineering (every thing here comes natural to me due to my innate problem solving abilities. I havn't ever done homework and I don't study). I am an Electrical Engineering major, but I couldn't want to be an engineer any less. In my opinion they are the least creative bunch of mindless drones in the universe (no offense to my fellow students who want this life). I am getting that degree solely for a learning experience to get my hardware abilities up there with my software ones. I really want to be an independant inventor or own my own design company. I am a very creative person, in my opinion (check out this site if you don't believe me, everything on this site came out of my head in the matter of a month to date, that includes all the software). I also want to do some other things, I am a born carpenter. I would like to buy old houses and fix them up, but the inventing, if I can make a living from it, is where my heart really is, I love having new innovative ideas and they come so easily for me. In December of 2007, I finally really got back into using computers. I started this website back up (which I orginally bought back when I was 15, it was a fitting domain name then and isn't too bad now) and started adding content. I have learned more and been more productive in the last month than in the last three years together. I hope to keep away from distractions this time. I can't let another stretch of time go by where I am not learning. I spend about eight hours a day now learning new information (none of it school related, they havent really taught me anything yet...) and coming up with my ideas. I am very happy that I have finally gotten my life back on track. There is one person for me to really that for that, but she didn't do it on purpose, it was an accidental effect from another action completely unrelated. But now that I am back I am not letting anything take this away from me. I have been happier in the last month than I have been in years, I am finally where I belong. When you are not doing what you are meant to do you will feel a deep sadness that can't be quenched by anything, but you always feel it. I know where I belong, and no matter what happens to me in my real life, this virtual life I have devised for myself is more than sufficient to sustain me. No matter what hardships, if I can keep learning I will be fine. God, I missed technology. I hate myself for wasting so much time.