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Apple Macintosh Computer Repair, System Maintenance, Consulting, Networking, FileMaker Database Programming |
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Ralph Lewis was born in Concordia Kansas, and settled in Bath Maine after retiring in 1980, from a 28 year Navy career. While a sophomore at Concordia High School In 1949, and long before the present computer age, his Physics teacher gave him the opportunity of setting up the first Photography lab for the school, and becoming the school photographer. This began a life long interest in photography and technology. In 1951 on graduation from High School Ralph got an appointment working for the FBI in Washington D.C. He married Shirley Scovell, his high school sweetheart, (still happily married today), and then in 1953, at the height of the Korean War, joined the Navy. Ralph’s 28 year Navy career, was an interesting and enjoyable experience. He received training in all aspects of Photography, he attended most of the Basic and advanced schools for Naval Photography, plus a year at the University of Southern California studying advanced Cinematography. In his first 10 years service, he had advanced from Seaman Recruit to Chief Petty Officer, then received an LDO Commission as a Photographic Officer. Ralph had several tours at the Naval Photographic Center in Washington D.C. where his duties involved Film Editing, work with the White House Film team, assignment as producer of the first Nixon Inaugural Film and functioning as Department Head of several departments. He first became involved with Computer Technology during his assignment as Head of the Photographic Research and Development Department. Projects for automation of the Navy's photo labs, early "video disk" technology and Electronic Photography set the stage for his second career. Between the Photo Center assignments, Ralph had 3 years with his family on the Island of Malta, and at The Naval Air Facility in Sigonela Sicily, Then tours as Photo Officer on the Aircraft Carrier Midway during Vietnam, and three deployments to Antarctica with the Antarctic Support Force. His last Navy assignment was Commanding Officer of the Atlantic Fleet Audiovisual Command and Photo Officer for the Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk, Virginia. From there, on 30 June of 1980, he retired to civilian life in Maine. Upon retiring, being used to a word processor, made typing consulting reports on a standard typewriter and exercise in frustration. Ralph bought his first computer in 1980, an Apple II with a card for the CPM operating system and the Wordstar program for word processing. With this equipment he found a whole new world. He bought the system from Rex Harper at Harper Electronics in Portland Maine. After knowing Ralph for a period of time, Rex offered him a job, then sent him to Apple service school in Marlborough MA to become a Certified Apple Service Technician, After which, he worked both in the store and on the road as a service, support and outside sales rep for Apple computers for the next 18 years. When the Macintosh was introduced in 1984, Ralph found it his computer of choice. What, attracted him to the Mac initially, was the graphics. The Apple II had been the first color capable computer that could handle rudimentary graphics, (which the early PC's couldn't do without adding special cards,), the Mac however, could handle graphics right out of the box. Technology advances soon introduced the Laserwriter , Page layout programs, and "wysiwyg" (What you see is what you get) word processing. This opened the world of Desktop Publishing to the individual, and to the Graphics industry which adopted the Macintosh technology. Being a Photographer, Electronic Photography and the use of the computer as a darkroom fascinated him and became a consuming interest. Ralph says that what he likes about customer support is the variety, you are always meeting new people, and it's a constant exercise of the mind and logic. "This thing isn't working so what's wrong with it?" It's like working a crossword puzzle. "When I figure out the problem and the machine starts working I get a rush of accomplishment and satisfaction. I’m helping the customer and I'm having fun solving these problems." Working on many different computers with many problems has fine honed the skill of recognizing what’s causing the different problems. Because he has worked on Macs since their introduction in 1984 he has experience with the all the older models that Apple has produced over the years. There is also the satisfaction of helping out when someone is really in a pinch. On a Friday afternoon, A lady called us in tears because, a floppy disk containing her masters thesis which was due the following Monday, would not work in her Mac. She made a quick trip to Portland, and I was able to retrieve the data, and teach a very good lesson on the reason people back up data. That was just one example of the many occasions where a little skill was able to assist a customer in need. As for the future Ralph is a true Mac evangelist. He is excited about the future with the Macintosh operating system, their "supercomputers" and their continuing innovations. There is very little you can do on a Windows PC, that you can't do just as well or better on a Mac, and all the new Mac’s are able to load and run all Windows, Linux, or Unix operating systems on the Mac if the operator so desires, in fact PC Magazine has stated that the computer that runs fastest with "Vista", the newest Windows System, is the iMac. If comparing costs, if you compare features and capabilities between computers, not just Megahertz speeds, the Mac is comparble or cheaper. I am more than willing to work on yours. |
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RALPH LEWIS MAC-CARE 11 Harward St. Bath, ME 04530 Phone: (207)443-9626 Fax: (207)443-4836 Cellular: 751-9750 Email: ralphlewis@mac.com |