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Ken PadgettHistorian - Freelance Writer - Webmaster
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Kenneth William Padgett BiographyKen Padgett was born in California. His father was career Navy and his mother was a housewife. Ken's parents were separated when he was only four years old and his mom moved the family from Florida to a Washington DC area suburb in Maryland. They were divorced soon after. His mom went to work at the Census Bureau Publications Group and stayed there till she retired. Ken's first job was working as a shoe shine boy at "Frank's
Barber Shop" at the tender age of 13. At 14, an opportunity came up to take on a
friend's paper route so he quit Frank's. A couple of months later he was offered
an adjoining paper route and a chance to work on a truck early Sunday mornings
as a "jumper" -- the kid who counts and tosses the bundles of papers out of the
truck on street corners to supply scores of individual paper routes. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Kenneth William Padgett dropped out of high
school at 15, almost died in the
Great Flood After Hurricane Camille and drifted through
various minimum-wage jobs in the restaurant business. He joined the Army as soon
as he turned 17 years old. He got his GED (high school diploma) while
serving as a radio mechanic and crypto clerk in Germany.
After a 3-year enlistment he returned to Maryland and went to work for the
Naval Oceanographic Office as an electronics technician. Ken traveled aboard
Oceanographic survey ships for three years, but after a port of call in San
Diego, he decided to move there. |
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Ken worked as an electronics technician for several defense contractors in the San Diego area. Later he transitioned into administrative work; first as an expeditor, then a scheduler, and then a master scheduler. Meanwhile he began going to college at night to earn an AA in Business Administration. It took him 3 years to get his AA degree while working a full-time job. During this period he was reunited with a girl from Virginia he knew from his time living in Maryland. JoAnn moved to San Diego and after a couple of years they were married. Later they were blessed with the birth of a daughter. After graduating from junior college, Ken Padgett became a full-time student at the University of California at San Diego majoring in Communications, with an emphasis on video documentary. He graduated with a BA in less than 18 months, going from 12 units per quarter to 32 units by his final quarter. He also spent considerable time on his own learning how to use a computer. He was attracted to the new software for desktop publishing and graphics and learned all he could about it. Ken then became a freelance desktop publisher.
His business thrived for about five years, but as page formatting and other aspects of desktop publishing became more accessible to less-skilled workers, the market for freelancers began to dry up. Ken then began studying to earn certification as a Network Engineer. Ken Padgett studied on his own to pass the tests required to earn certification as a Novell Netware Engineer and a Microsoft Certified Professional, as well as the A+ Technician and Network CompTIA certifications. Ken began soliciting small business clients, mostly printing companies, for computer and network repair, and network engineering, while also promoting his previous experience with publishing and graphics. Ken was very successful as a freelance Network Engineer for over ten years and during that time he also began working as a freelance writer. His biography and history articles have been published in several history and trivia books. Ken Padgett's interest in computers led him to begin studying
web site design. Ken created his first personal web site in 1997 and his first
business web site in 2000. Since then, he has been an internet entrepreneur;
creating original content and generating income through advertising. After
careful research, Ken designed an attractive
No Soliciting Sign (2008) that really works. Ads for the sign appear on all of his
web sites and the sales are fulfilled by Cafepress. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Here are some other blogs and web sites owned by Ken Padgett:
Ken Padgett
Blog
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