About Ed Vawter

QD Information Services (QD Info) is my company and I primarily teach individuals and small to medium businesses how to use technology such as iOS (iPads and iPhones) and Mac OS X as well as social media. I also consult in these same areas with a focus on small to medium-sized businesses. You can find out more about QD Info on the About QD Info page.

I grew up in Indiana where I went to school and college. After obtaining my PhD in chemistry from Purdue University I worked for a major pharmaceutical company on the east coast. After a few years, I moved out to the west coast and have lived here ever since. I love it here and can’t imagine living anywhere else.  If you’d like to learn more about my full professional career you can visit my LinkedIn page.

 

My Early Interest in Technology

Technology has always been something that interests me and can fondly remember learning to program in high school using BASIC on a TRS-80 with 8 K of memory. I was introduced to Macs in college in the mid 1980’s and have owned one ever since. The first Mac I owned personally was an SE/30 which I still have in a closet somewhere. I currently use a MacBook Pro as my primary machine although my iPad 2 seems to do more and more these days.

My First Brush With Social Media

I discovered social media gradually having started on LinkedIn back in 2005 and then adding accounts on other social networks (Facebook 2007; Twitter 2008; Google+ 2011). I still remember being at a conference and being introduced to the power of Twitter to find out about informal gatherings in the evenings. I got more out of the conference during those off times than I did the actual conference presentations.

What Else?

Other things you may find interesting about me.

• I’m a dog person primarily because I am allergic to cats (although we did have both cats and dogs when I was growing up).
• My Myers-Briggs personality type is INTJ; less than 4% of the population is of this type so I guess that makes me unique.
• I’ve taken many pictures over the years and consider myself a good photographer and have a knack for taking flower photos. Some of my better ones end up on Instagram. You can purchase copies of my photos on Deviant Art.
• I enjoy great coffee, good beer, and fine wine especially Oregon pinot noirs.
• I like classic rock music and my favorite groups are Rush and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
• Traveling is something that I love to do and I’ve been lucky enough to travel many places both on business and personally.
• I own several telescopes including a Orion 8 ” Schmidt-Cassegrain.