Richard Burgess:  

After high school, in 1967, I joined the Air Force. I took Basic training at Lackland AFB in Texas, and then I went through air-born electronics warfare school at Kessler AFB in Mississippi. Then I received my B52 training at Castle AFB in California, in 1969 I got assigned to the 4258th, which became the 307th B-52 Heavy Bomber group, and went to UTAPAO AFB in South East Asia. We flew Arc Light. I left behind a new wife, Martha. We married in July of 1968. Even though we stayed together 10 years it was never the same after I returned. I returned in 1972. After being discharged I went to work for Xerox in the Chicago loop. My daughter was born in 1974 one of lifes true blessings. That same year I managed to convince Xerox to send me to San Francisco, to work on a new engineering team they had formed. That led me directly to the Silicon Valley. I did not know what was there till I walked into Intel Corporation to do some work they contracted with Xerox. For a nerd like me, I had finally found a real home. I quite Xerox and started working projects in startup companies in the Valley. I designed, built, and worked on more widgets, and gadgets in the next 30 years than I dreamed existed. I got a California teaching credential from San Jose state, and taught electronics in the San Jose school District High-school, and adult education at night. The high-school classes only lasted two years. Then the system went broke and eliminated the electives. But the night school lasted 10 years. I love being a teacher. That does not square with my high-school experience. When I was a Kid I had no idea what was really going on in school. Martha and I were divorced in 1978, which was one of the worst years of my life. When the valley lost its luster I landed a Job at Stanford Universities, particl...Expand for more