To all of you out there, wherever you may be,



Greetings and Best Wishes

from the heart of Atlanta (which arose as Terminus beginning in 1837, was laid out in 1842, briefly renamed Marthasville to honor the daughter of Governor Wilson Lumpkin and incorporated under that name in 1843, given its current name in 1844, which was officially adopted in 1845, received an official charter in 1847, and designated the capital of the state on March 20, 1868), the county seat of Fulton County; center of the ten (10) county Atlanta Region; nationally recognized for its air pollution - cited by the American Lung Association as the eighth worst nationally in 2003, sixth (6th) worst for the previous two (2) years in a row (2001-2002), and ninth (9th) worst in 2000 - and notable for the breath-taking local response; the state capital of Georgia, which once had three (3) governors at the same time (sometimes one isn't enough although the opposite is frequently true and one can be too many), borders on five (5) other states (Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee), and is one (1) of only a few states which has a capitol building with a dome that is coated in gold (from Dahlonega and surrounding areas in the northern part of Georgia); site of the Battle and burning (1864) of Atlanta by General William Tecumseh Sherman during the American Civil War (this victory over General John Bell Hood, newly-appointed commander of Confederate forces in Atlanta, climaxed the successful invasion of Georgia by Sherman and led to his "March to the Sea", the capture of Savannah and Charleston, and the surrender of Confederate forces under General Joseph E. Johnston to Sherman following the Battle of Bentonville), the death (July 22, 1864) of Union Army General James B. McPherson (1828-64) during the Battle of Atlanta, the 1881 International Cotto n Exposition, the 1887 Piedmont Exposition, the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition, the Race Riot of 1906, the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills Strike of 1914-15, the 1917 Fire, the 11th (1920), 42nd (1951), 53rd (1962) and 89th (1998) Annual National Conventions of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (N.A.A.C.P.), the world motion picture premiere (December 15, 1939) of Gone With the Wind, the 1988 Democratic Party National Convention, the 1996 Centennial Summer Olympic Games, the Fortieth (40th) Anniversary Convention (July 26-31, 1997) of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (S.C.L.C.), the Second National Convention (September 25 - 27, 1998) of the Reform Party, the Sixtieth Annual Competition/Convention (1998) of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Singing in America, the 1999 ABA EXPO (annual meeting of the American Bar Association on August 5 -11, 1999), the 1999 Annual Meeting of the National Association of Bar Executives (August 3 - 6, 1999), the sixty-first (61st) Annual Conference (June 13-17, 2001) of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the annual "Freaknik" gathering (1982-2000), the 35th Quadrennial Conclave of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (held June 29 - August 7, 2002 in Atlanta for the first time in 92 years), the annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival (1936-2002), the Inman Park Festival and Tour of Homes (1972-2002), the annual (1995-2002) Peachtree International Film Festival (previously the 1994 Edge International Film Festival) hosted by the Peachtree International Film Society (originally founded in 1992 under the name, Metropolitan Film Society), the annual Sweet Auburn Festival (in the Spring) and Reunion (in the Autumn); birthplace of Major General Edward Postell King, Jr. (1884-1958), who assumed command (March 11, 1942) from General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) and surrendered (April 9, 1942) the Filipino-American forces on Bataan in The Philippines during the early days of the American involvement (1941-45) in World War II (1939-45); final resting place of Confederate Generals Clement Anselm Evans (1833-1911), John B. Gordon (1832-1904), Lucius Jeremiah Gartrell (1821-91), Alfred Iverson, Jr. (1829-1911), and William Stephen Walker (1822-99); telecommunications and air/rail/highway transportation hub of the Southeast, served by the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority and by Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport (currently the busiest airport in the world, having exceeded Chicago O'Hare International Airport in volume of flights in and out during 1998); junction of I-20, I-85 and I-75; headquarters of Chick-fil-A, of Coca-Cola (the soft drink originally concocted on May 8, 1886 by pharmacist John Styth Pemberton, sold for $2,300 in 1891 to Asa Candler, whose home is now the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center of Dekalb County, and sold again in turn to Ernest Woodruff for $25 million in 1921), of Delta Airlines, of the Golden Key National Honor Society, and of Mindspring (now Earthlink); location of Agnes Scott College, American InterContinental University, The Art Institute of Atlanta, the Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta Downtown Partnership, The Atlanta-Fulton [County] Public Library Systems, Atlanta History Center, the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Atlanta Preservation Center, the Atlanta Regional Consortium for Higher Education (ARCHE) (formerly known as the University Center in Georgia), the Atlanta Technical Institute, the Atlanta Cyclorama, Atlanta Metropolitan College, the Atlanta University Center (comprising Clark Atlanta University, the Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, Morris Brown College, and Spelman College), Buckhead, The Carter Center, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Central Atlanta Progress, historic Chastain Park Amphitheater, Columbia Theological Seminary, Emory University, the Fairlie-Poplar Task Force, The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Fernbank Science Center and Museum of Natural History, The Fox Theater, Georgia Baptist College of Nursing, The Georgia Conservancy, the Georgia Institute of Technology (Ga. Tech), Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, the Georgia Research Alliance, Georgia State University, The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, the Georgia World Congress Center/Georgia Dome/Centennial Olympic Park, Hands On Atlanta (an affiliate of CityCares), The High Museum of Art, The King Center, Mercer University (Cecil B. Day Campus) in Atlanta, Oglethorpe University, Research Atlanta,Inc., Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), The Southern Center for International Studies, The Southern Education Foundation, the Southern Legislative Conference, the Southern Regional Education Board, Underground Atlanta, The University System of Georgia, The Varsity, the Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center, and Zoo Atlanta; and home of Joel Chandler Harris (who wrote the Uncle Remus stories and whose home, The Wren's Nest, is now a museum, open to the public), Henry W. Grady, Alonzo F. Herndon (a former slave, farmhand, barber, founder of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company in 1905, and Atlanta's first black millionaire, who lived from 1858 to 1927 and whose home is now a museum, open to the public), Leo Frank (lynched in 1919 by an anti-semitic mob), Margaret Mitchell, Bryan Morel ("Bitsy") Grant (a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame for whom the tennis center at Atlanta Memorial Park in Buckhead was named), Bobby Jones, Theodore ("Tiger") Flowers (who, in 1926, was the first black to win the Middleweight Boxing Championship), Graham Jackson, Louie D. Newton (1892-1985; President of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1946 to 1948 and pastor of Druid Hills Baptist Church for many years), Ralph McGill, Lester Maddox, Hank Aaron, Martin Luther King, Jr., Andrew Young, and Folami Abiade, as well as the Alliance Theater Company, the Atlanta Ballet, The Atlanta Opera, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Georgia Shakespeare Festival (1983-2001), Onyx Opera, The Savoyards Musical Theatre Company, The Silent Film Society of Atlanta (founded in 1990), the Braves, the Chiefs, The Crackers, the Falcons, the Atlanta Flames, the Hawks, the Silverbacks, and the Thrashers.



This unofficial web page was developed for learning purposes only (later for fun as well) by an obscure institutional functionary and most assuredly is not an official Georgia State University homepage!

Full Policy


You are visitor number since August 15, 1997



Who is this guy?


Hello World! "Call me Ishmael." Some prefer to call me El Gato Gordo, or simply El Gordo. You can even call me "Fat Cat", if you prefer, since I am just another anonymous university administrator, one of a legion of faceless bureaucrats unsuccessfully seeking the wisdom to comprehend the complexity of the computer in order to harness its awesome power. A fellow could become modest real quick, especially since everybody else seems to understand what's going on well enough. Experiences like this certainly drive home the meaning of Thoreau's words, "quiet desperation."

Are you as confused as I am? I'm really up a tree!

The train is leaving the station right now


and I still can't find my way out of the woods!

Talk about being clueless! I am completely lost at sea . . .

and everyone is watching me!

This pressure is intense! Being under the gun is no fun!




Help!
I feel so stupid. Sometimes it makes me

dawg-gone cross!
How very embarrassing!
I wonder if I'm going nuts!


Afflicted frequently with acute disorientation when working with computers (I catch on so slowly that most people run rings around me), I suppose it's no occident that I sometimes feel lost in
(cyber-)space . . . but welcome to my world anyway!

No matter how you view the world (perceptions can be "worlds apart"),



well-rounded perspectives are best.

  • You can e-mail me at: El Gato Gordo
  • You can also contact me through my wife (check out her website) by e-mail
  • You can contact the instructor at: Phillip Mitchem
  • For Computer Center training course information, contact Karen Oates at Training
  • You can visit the Instructional Technical Center website
  • You can access the official Georgia State University homepage at GSU
  • You can access the Georgia State University Career and Job Search Services homepage at: CJSS
  • In case you need a little guidance to find your way around Georgia State University (I know that I do sometimes), assistance is available at MAPS

    •
    I hope that you will find these sources of information both useful and worthwhile. They were, however, provided for information purposes only and are not intended to serve as guidance for anyone in anything. With respect to the accuracy and validity of information, caution is always advisable, both here and in general. History is replete with instances in which the most "authoritative" opinions of even recognized "experts" do not stand the test of time and turn out to be less than reliable. An excellent case in point is provided by the following examples cited in Time magazine (July 15, 1996, page 54):

    In 1899, Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office Of Patents, said, "Everything that can be invented has been invented."

    In 1943, the Chairman of I.B.M., Thomas Watson, said, "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."

    In 1977, the President, Chairman, and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, Ken Olsen, said, "There is no reason for any individuals to have a computer in their home."

    Thank you for visiting me. Come again. I bid you a warm and respectful farewell.