Who is Marv?

Hobby / passion

I fell in love with the Science of Electronics as a preteen and have kept that passion my whole life.

Early on, I became amazed that you can take a handful of electronic components and connect them in such a way that the circuit would DO SOMETHING (blink a light, make a beep, detect light, etc.).  Then, you can take that circuit apart and connect those same components differently and get them to do something totally different. 

MARV-E-Q Test/Dev Platform

Early Start with Electronics

I was that ‘slightly odd’ kid who loved to take things apart to see how they work.  Sometimes I would even put them back together.  I loved to try to fix old radios or appliances, but I have to admit that my success rate was pretty low.  I quickly discovered that fixing something broken was not nearly as much fun as creating something new from scratch.

In third grade, I asked for a Battery Charger for Christmas and spent the next several months charging and discharging every battery I could get my hands on.

It was around age 12 that I fell in love with the Science of Electronics.  For Christmas my mom bought me small “20 in 1 Electronics Set”.  I built every circuit in the book, then rebuilt it.  I often tried to see if I could modify the circuit and learn from the result.  Later, after seeing my enjoyment of the small kit, mom bought me a much larger 150 in 1 Electronics Lab from Radio Shack.  I built ALL of the 150 projects and took notes in the manual about what I learned and how the circuit worked, etc.  I loved it and I thoroughly used it for several years.

At the age of 14, I asked for a CB Radio because they were all the rage that year and because I thought it was cool that I could talk to people miles away over the airwaves.  I’m pretty sure I never had a conversation more meaningful that a ‘radio check’ over the CB.

By age 15, my interest in electronics was blooming into a full blown life-long passion.  It was exciting to be so interested in this science.  I was a one trick pony.  On most topics, I didn’t have much to say, pretty quiet and introverted.  But, let the subject turn to electronics, computers, or technology and I came alive with endless chatter. This was the 1970s, not the information age, and my access to technical learning was limited to our family World Book Encyclopedia.  But I studied every article in this encyclopedia I could find about electricity and electronics.  Occasionally, mom would take me to the local public library to check out books on electronics and I would read them to supplement the World Book.  (Just take a moment and contrast this with today’s access to information). It was about this time that I begged my mom to buy me a Adult Continuing Education course on DC Electronics from HeathKit.  I took and passed the course and learned a great deal about electronics in the process.  In fact, I dedicated a whole summer to it.  This year for Christmas I talked my mom into buying me a ‘professional level‘ Volt-Ohm-Meter V.O.M. from where else but, Radio Shack.  I still have that meter today.

By age 16, I had saved enough money to buy a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1 Personal Computer (with 4K RAM).  I can say with reasonable confidence that in 1980, I was one of the few 16 year olds with my own computer in the state of Georgia possibly even the Southeast.  I am proud that it was my own money that i used to purchase it.  My dad would not have bought it or even loaned me the money simply because he didn’t understand the technology and couldn’t see any practical applications for it.  I first learned to code in B.A.S.I.C. on that Radio Shack computer.  This computer had a lot of technical limitations by today’s standards, but in 1980 I had reached a technological high point.

Education

I was never a great student, but still managed to complete two university degrees as well as a technical school diploma and  Hey, ‘even Cs get degrees.‘

In high school, I had already solidly decided NOT to go to university.  My plan was simple, go to a local technical college (formerly known as vocational – technical schools) and study electronics technology and ONLY electronics. I meant it!  My senior year of high school, I was able to start early enrollment in the Electronics Technology program at the local technical college.  The problem with this program was that scratched the surface of electronics when I really wanted to dig deep.  With my hunger for learning insufficiently quenched, I decided to continue my education and pursue a university degree in Electrical Engineering Technology – BSEET.  It was during the pursuit of this engineering degree that things ‘clicked’ and I was more convinced that Electrical Engineering was the career path for me.  I loved these years at university and I learned a great deal about Electrical Engineering.  I am very thankful for this opportunity.

Decades later and well into my 40s, I went back to graduate school and completed a Masters of Business Administration degree.  Oh, did I mention I was working full time during graduate school?  Yep, a bit stressful, but I survived completed it.

What is a Minder?

Well, I had to give my projects a name.  Since most of my projects help me mind items around my home, I chose the term minder, ex. Pump Minder, Garage Minder, Milk Minder, Mail Minder, etc.  So you can say I own the Minder franchise.

These gadgets of mine typically adhere to these design principles:

  • The best designs are the simplest designs.  Efficiencies in creation, test, debug, and maintenance are gained from simple designs.
  • Low Cost or at least cost efficient. After all its a hobby!
  • Must be functional and solve a real life problem.
  • Packaged to look complete.  The minder should look more like a product than an experiment.
  • Just for fun!  I try to strike a balance between making the gadgets a little silly and a little practical.