Michael Integration Service

I started my IT career in 1988 building PCs for family and friends. That was back when 640K of RAM and a 20MB hard drive was more than anyone would need. Word Perfect was the common application. My have things changed. I received my degree from Texas State Technical Institute (now College) in 1990.

Oddly enough my first job after College didn’t have much to do with IT. I took a job at Heart of Texas Music in Austin as a service manager and sound system design engineer. Working with several local bands, touring the country, and my background in electronics gave the necessary experience to succeed in the position. I managed 5 bench technicians and 2 assemblers. If you were a musician in the early 90s and bought Deitz equipment, it was likely I had something to do with it. I liked the job and we put together some massive Concert Sound Systems. However, it was costing me more to live in Austin than I was making. More on this later.

I moved back to Waco in October of 1991 and took a position as a bench technician at a little mom and pop store on Waco Drive. I assembled computers and did a little bit of sales. This was about the time the 386 processors first hit the streets and Windows was catching on. Wolfenstein was all the rage. The company was in financial trouble and I started looking for something else.

In November of 1992 I took a position as a bench technician for Entre Computer Center. Within 6 months I was promoted to a field engineer where I gained experience with configuration and deployment of Netware and Windows operating systems on Compaq /HP and IBM PS2 server hardware in K -12 educational environments. At that time Token Ring Networking was popular. Of course, IBM was the leader in classroom course-ware and claimed their software would only run on IBM equipment. I proved them wrong. Not only would their software run on other systems, it would also run outside of their ICLAS environment. It wasn't long before I was running all over Texas installing IBM Course-Ware on other vendors’ systems and on Windows no less. I found it interesting that IBM took my ideas and started implementing Windows in the ICLAS environment.

Because I was tired of all the travel, in December of 1995, I took a position at PMSI as a Senior Micro-systems Engineer. Here I was responsible for the Installation, Configuration, Maintenance and Administration of Netware 3.12 and Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 File Servers. Daily responsibilities include: network user administration, end user software support, Monitoring of LAN/WAN circuits, file servers, Corporate and Internet Mail systems, and new systems integration. About this time I started taking Cisco classes working towards my CCNA.

In January of 2001, Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center received a grant to replace the entire network with new Cisco equipment. I was offered and accepted a position for a Network Engineer. It wasn't too long afterwards the Network Administrator position was available and I was promoted. I remained at HBMC for almost 14 years before corporation acquisitions made my career increasingly difficult. My responsibilities over the years included: The Installation, Configuration, Maintenance and Administration of 145 File Servers and absolutely all aspects of Networking. Including but not limited to Wired, Wireless, Firewalls, WANs and everything in between.

Now the Audio Field. I've been interested in Audio since I was in Middle School. Always wiring up something to make it louder. Sound quality did not matter much in those days it just had be loud. I bought my first professional sound system when I was a sophomore in High School. After a summer of working with my brother I had finally saved up enough to purchase a Peavey 50-watt powered mixer, 2 1-12 speakers and two 8-track players from a pawn shop. My first gig was a DJ at a Christmas Party in Clifton, TX for the Armory. Throughout my last two years of High School, I was a DJ for many school dances and a few clubs that would allow a minor in. One of my fondest memories was when I was hired to DJ at a backwoods club near Chilton, TX. I was told they wanted Country music when I was hired but when I arrived, most of the customers were African-American and did not like Country music. I set up and between the library they had, and the pop songs I had, we had a great night. This quote from one of the customers says it all. “Boy you turned this place upside down”. As a result, I played there once a month for about a year. I was very sad to hear the place burned down.

After High School, I landed a gig with a band called The Gentrys out of Temple. My Brother in law Steve had a whole lot to do with that. Then one day I ran in to a unique individual name Billy Kruger and he convinced me to leave The Gentrys and go to work with Cherokee Rose. This was a learning experience and I was able to work with some great artists such as Steve Warnier, The Bellemy Brothers, Willie Nelson and many others. I was also working at Heart of Texas music in Waco selling and installing sound systems and working on guitars. I ran into another individual who convinced me he was headed for the big time. So, I left Cherokee Rose to work with Mack Abernathy. While this was a difficult gig, I did get to work with some very fine musicians and at the end of my time with him, most likely the greatest band I had ever or will ever work with. After a nasty argument, I wound up quitting Mack and knocked around a bit with some local musicians and played here and there. I met a guy named Troy at the music store and we got to talking and soon Kyle Mathis comes in and joined the conversation and thus The Sons of the Desert was born. For several years, we were a very popular band in the area. We got to work with acts such as, Garth Brooks, Shenandoah, Asleep at the Wheel, Sawyer Brown, Eric Johnson, among many more. I left SOD when I graduated college and moved to Austin. Where I designed and installed Deitz sound systems for Heart of Texas Music. We designed many massive systems for artists such as Ronnie Millsap, McBride and the Ride, Martina McBride, and many others. Venues include a monitor system for the Grand ol Opry, many large churches in the greater Austin Area. Many portable concert systems including 3D systems in Houston and Leo Sound in Austin. Most recently I have worked with Doug Stone, Gene Watson, Gary P. Nunn, Johnny Lee, Aaron Watson, and many dance hall bands in the area.

While my first love will always be Concert Production, I have always enjoyed the DJ shows I have picked up over the years. I have worked in any venue imaginable from hay field bon fires to nudist resorts. I always strive to make any show I run to be as professional and memorable as possible.