 |
| Rubicon Trail, CA |
I started the Isuzu 4x4Webpages at Off-Road.com in the mid-90's. I wanted to use this platform to meet other Isuzu four-wheelers, and unify their voices to obtain better aftermarket support. Looking back at the turn of the millenium, it seems to have worked. We have more vendors protoyping and developing parts for Isuzu trucks than ever before.
In late 1999, I started working with a handful of gifted techies, writers, and managers to bring forth a new family of websites, similar to Off-Road.com in several ways, but bigger and grander on every scale. We're aiming to build from the strengths and learn from the mistakes we witnessed at Off-Road.com, culminating in a venture that works harder for off-highway enthusiasts. Part of this grander scale comes about from including all outdoor recreationalists - whether they drive an Isuzu, ride a motorcycle, paddle a boat, straddle a horse, or hike a trail. We're all in this together -- and unless we learn to work together, we're doomed to lose the battle to the folks who want to close public lands.
For Isuzu owners, without a unified voice, we're doomed to only occasional vendor support. But with a bigger view, if we can't work together with other outdoor recreationalists, we're doomed to view the great outdoors only from the fringes of huge tracts of land, land that's locked away from our use.
4x4 Experience
|
| Rubicon Trail, CA |
My off-road experience started with BMX bikes, graduated to scooters, passed briefly through my parents car (late night hose-downs to clean the bottom), graduated to rental cars, dragged through a hideously abused series of subcompacts and beater motorcycles, paused briefly in a 2WD Amigo, and has culminated in doing moderate to hard core trails in my 1990 Isuzu Amigo. I liked the way the Amigo looked and was helplessly hooked on them before I found out how expensive (but long-lived) parts were -- and by then, it was too late. More than 300,000 cumulative miles later on both trucks, I continue to be amazed at the over-engineering and over-building inherent in these trucks. But I've never been one to leave well enough alone. ;)
I've taken things apart and put them back together since I was a kid (sorry about that toaster, Mom), and usually wind up with only a handful of spare parts. I've been spinning my own wrenches since the early 1980s and there are not many projects I'm not willing to try. Foolhardy? Quite possibly, but most of my projects succeed due to extensive research up front, then over-engineering and over-building the solution. That approach helped me pull off one of the first Isuzu live-axle swaps.
I've 'wheeled in California, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and Oregon, and Washington and I have plenty of trails ahead of me. I'm building my rig past what Isuzu intended and into what I want it to be. After all, "it's not what you buy, but rather what you build." My truck does dual duty as a road and trail rig, which can be a tough balance to strike.
Computer Experience
 |
| Moab, Utah |
I'm a technical writer for about 40 hours a week, and I've been around computers for a long time. I used an original Macintosh when they came out in 1984, but I've begrudgingly accepted Windows, a sad substitute for the Macintosh OS, and grit my teeth daily through the rigors of NT, Windows 95, and Window 3.x. I'd rather be using pure UNIX command line than most of these Microsoft-ian pretty-interface-hiding-DOS GUI's. I miss my Mac, but I don't miss the 9" monochrome screen.
I graduated in 1990 from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) and have drifted from one technical job to the next ever since. Technical writing, project management, illustration, publishing, web design, and other things grace my resume. Lately, this drift seems to be stuck in contract technical writing. I enjoy the mercenary aspects of contracting (get in, get it done, get outta there), and it pays the bills well enough for long vacations and hard-played weekends.
My email is randii@4x4wire.com if you want to drop me a line.
| Related Links: |