A Brief Autobiography of Fred Koschara

If you are looking for my resume, please click here. It shows my experience in the computer and electronics industries: I started out working on an assembly line in a factory doing electronic assembly. Four and a half years later, by going from one contract position to the next, and assuming greater responsibilities at each step, I had risen to the level of engineer. My first employment as a programmer was incidental to the job I was doing at the time; however, it wasn't long before software was just about all was doing.

There are some other things on my resume, but (so far) it's primarily one of a computer programmer.

I really never intended to be a programmer, but I keep doing it because that's what people pay me for - and the income is rather seducive. When I was five years old, I decided I wanted to be an astronaut. I'm still working on it, but now I don't expect to do it within NASA or any other "public sector" space program, either in the U.S.A., or abroad: For one thing, I no longer have any desire to work take a government job, for philosophical reasons. In addition, there are several factors that I believe make it impossible for me, as a private citizen, to have any hope of going to space as part of any of the established programs:

Any politically controlled space program cannot have the managerial stability necessary to effectively accomplish the major technological achievements required for general civilian access to space, except perhaps by dictatorial decree - in which case general access would probably be denied by similar decree.
Space programs that are run as not-for-profit operations have no economic incentive to succeed, and are likely to continue to be nothing but an expensive play toy as long as taxpayers can be convinced to support the effort - then either discontinued or curtailed as much as is needed to quell the public outcry.
Civilian access to space will probably be denied as long as the military establishment has a significant voice in astronaut selection - except in rare publicity stunts where a "harmless" individual - such as a school teacher - is selected to make it appear as though efforts are being made to provide more widely available direct participation of the general public. When such occurrences happen, it will be done as an effort to enhance funding for the efforts through a greater appropriation of tax monies.

The net result of all of this is I believe the only way I will get to space is by establishing a privately funded, for profit, space program, running it as a business operation, and putting myself into the role of a test pilot within the effort. After 50 years of government-run space travel, only a dozen men have walked on the surface of another planet, and only a couple hundred humans have been outside our atmosphere. This is a totally unacceptable rate of progress: Now is the time for private enterprise to come along and say "Look, guys, this is how you do it!"

Please visit the L5 Development Group Web site to see how my efforts in the commercial space industry are progressing.

The L5 Development Group Web site used to be at "www.L5-Development.com" until the domain name was hijacked by "Social Rejection". Rather than paying an arbitrator $750-$2000 and wait at least a month for the dispute process to be completed which might have gotten the name back, I decided to use the new, easier to remember, domain name.

I heard (some time in ?1999?) that New Hampshire has more personalized license plates, per capita, than any other state in the country. That didn't really surprise me: It is a state of strong personalities, and for most of them the "Live Free or Die" of the state's motto is an essential part of their existence. Although some states allow for up to eight characters on a license plate, New Hampshire, like most other states, only provides room for six. I look at it as a challenge: "You've got 6 spaces for letters, numbers and punctuation to tell the world anything you want to about yourself. What's it going to be?" For me, the message was "I THINK" on the car I drove most often. (I originally put this message on my car with a "vanity" plate in Massachusetts, so the New Hampshire one was actually a 'clone' when I did it.) What does it mean???

I THINK, therefore I am
Sometimes I THINK too much
I THINK all the time
I THINK. Do you?
or, it seems,
I THINK, therefore I'm dangerous

Sometimes a person will ask "What do you think?" If I happen to be busily thinking about something of particular importance, I'll tell them the subject on my mind. I've also been known to respond with a question of my own: "About what?"

Having a message for the world to see on my license plate doesn't seem to be enough, which was part of the motivation for me to continue getting T-shirts made with my own sayings on them. (Actually, getting T-shirts made predates my having a personalized license plate, but you get the message - or at least, that's the intent!) Now I've got a collection of around 180 T-shirts, and I wear one nearly all the time: They are a good way to get a conversation going. Besides, I've got things to say to the world, and what better way of letting the people around me know it than to put my thoughts on display for all to read?

I think I've struck a chord with my T-Shirt Philosophy, because people come up to me everywhere I go and say they like [the message on] my shirt. After hearing that enough times, it occurred to me that perhaps I should put together a catalog and start marketing my designs. It's online at the FredLines™ T-Shirts Web site. Each shirt has its own Web page, some of which have the story that goes with the shirt included. Eventually all of them will, but that's a project which is taking a bit of time to complete, wedged in between everything else I'm doing. I've also got a printed version of the catalog that lists all of the shirts by title. When I've got enough of the stories written, I'll be getting T-Shirt Philosophy published as a coffee table book, so that people don't have to sit at their computer or wait for Web pages to load to be able to appreciate the anecdotes and insights behind the shirts I wear.

I could go on for pages about the philosophic ideals by which I try to live my life. As a matter of fact, I will go on for pages. If you're interested in seeing some of the issues I'm concerned with, be sure to check my Philosophy pages for my thoughts about driving, taxes, and what's wrong with America, among other things.

Like everyone else, I've got hobbies and habits to distract me in my "copious" spare time. They help to keep my sanity, but there are times when I have to wonder if I put my attention into them to avoid having to deal with something that should be a more pressing issue: I'm not perfect, and I suppose procrastination is one of the faults I should work on more of the time. I'll get to that, one of these days.

the road to success is always under construction

Biography
Fred Koschara's Home Page