From 2e5c0c00f445158391759d7f41a20a16348c23f8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Mike Swanson Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:04:09 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] acg-website: real founder story on About (Opus + Gemini) Replace the generic "we used to be a break-fix shop and reformed" origin with Mike Swanson's true founding story, in the owner-chosen "both" voice (company narrative + an attributed first-person pull-quote). Generalized specifics (a county agency at 17, dad in the chip business, no names), kept the real newspaper-ad line, and grounded the ethos: honesty, respect, and not letting anyone weaponize what people don't know about tech (the honest-mechanic thread). - New origin heading "The honest one, from day one." reframes ACG as the honest alternative FROM THE START (villain = shady shops, not break/fix; break/fix still owned openly). - Founder pull-quote (owner-approved wording): "I couldn't stand watching people get taken advantage of just because they didn't know how a computer worked..." - Radio-show section grounded in its real why (bought air time to counter on-air misinformation). - Gemini collaboration: tone A-, ethos "high impact", integrity "clean & aligned"; folded in its tightenings. Founder-story + ethos captured to memory. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) --- .claude/memory/MEMORY.md | 1 + .claude/memory/project_acg_founder_story.md | 16 ++++++++++++++++ projects/acg-website/v2/about.html | 16 +++++++++------- 3 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-) create mode 100644 .claude/memory/project_acg_founder_story.md diff --git a/.claude/memory/MEMORY.md b/.claude/memory/MEMORY.md index 15f6d3fa..70435125 100644 --- a/.claude/memory/MEMORY.md +++ b/.claude/memory/MEMORY.md @@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ - [IX PHP-FPM/OPcache remediation](project_ix_php_fpm_opcache_remediation.md) — IX server default is suPHP/CGI per-request with OPcache cold: 71/72 sites recompile PHP every request (1-5.6s TTFB). Fix = per-vhost PHP-FPM. ezfast pilot done (3.1s->0.44s); fleet rollout proposed. - [Profile before hardware](feedback_profile_before_hardware.md) — For ANY performance complaint, measure/decompose the actual bottleneck BEFORE proposing hardware; config/cheapest cause first. (IX: $600 SSDs recommended before finding the real cause was OPcache-off — a config issue.) - [ACG website redesign (ww9)](project_acg_website_redesign.md) — azcomputerguru.com redesign lives at staging ww9.azcomputerguru.com (static impeccable-built "Bold" brutalist, /home/azcomputerguru/public_html/ww9 on IX). STANDING: keep Gemini(AGY)+Grok in the loop the whole project. AGY critique + AutoSSL fix (Let's Encrypt) recorded. +- [ACG founder story + ethos](project_acg_founder_story.md) — Mike's real "why" behind Computer Guru (17yo county NetAdmin, newspaper ad, anti-weaponizing-tech-ignorance, honest-mechanic ethos, radio-show origin). Brand narrative for the site/marketing; some details personal (confirm public use). - [Dataforth datasheet pipeline recovery](project_dataforth_datasheet_pipeline_recovery.md) — 2026-07-21 recovery of DOS datasheet pipeline: NAS (D2TESTNAS, TS 100.85.152.90) DNS pointed at dead .1 (UDM is .254) → rsync reverse-DNS 10s timeouts stalled pulls; fixed. Daily task broke on PS mojibake parse error. import.js/test_date/_bulk_push_all internals. jlehman added to reports. - [IX Server Access](reference_ix_server_access.md) — `ix.azcomputerguru.com` / 172.16.3.10. Reachable when Tailscale is on (no VPN). SSH currently uses sshpass with root password; key auth from GURU-5070 not configured yet (was CachyOS, now Win11 — verify). - [Cloudflare access](reference_cloudflare_access.md) — Cloudflare API creds in SOPS `services/cloudflare.sops.yaml` (full DNS + account tokens; azcomputerguru zone_id 1beb9917...). azcomputerguru.com DNS is on Cloudflare (not IX) — edit via Cloudflare API, not whmapi1. diff --git a/.claude/memory/project_acg_founder_story.md b/.claude/memory/project_acg_founder_story.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..385cf7f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/.claude/memory/project_acg_founder_story.md @@ -0,0 +1,16 @@ +--- +name: project_acg_founder_story +description: Mike Swanson's Computer Guru founding story + core ethos (anti-weaponizing tech-ignorance, honesty/respect) — brand narrative for the ACG site + marketing. +metadata: + type: project +--- + +The real "why" behind Arizona Computer Guru (Mike Swanson, shared 2026-07-23 for the [[project_acg_website_redesign]] messaging). This is the authentic foundation under the site's "no games, no padded bills, just better IT" / anti-BS positioning. + +- **Early start:** Mike's dad worked at a division of **Burr Brown** (later acquired by **Texas Instruments**), so Mike had a home computer in the **early 1980s** when most people had no access to that tech. Fell in love with it, a passionate hobby. +- **Prodigy:** at **17** he was **Network Admin for Pima County Community Services** (a government division), landing a NetAdmin/SysAdmin role that young through self-taught passion. Moonlighted weekends chasing harder problems, deliberately hunting what he didn't know, then learning it (curiosity + mastery drive). +- **The spark:** people kept going to repair shops, getting told crazy things, and charged outrageous prices to only partially fix things, because back then almost nobody understood computers and believed whatever the "experts" said. After seeing too many, Mike put a **newspaper ad**: *"I'll fix your computer, better than any of these other guys."* Soon quit his job, and **Computer Guru was born.** +- **Driving force (THE ethos):** he cannot stand people **weaponizing the basic ignorance** most people have about tech/IT. It drives WHY he does this and the WAY he does it, honesty and pride in treating people with respect. Too many IT providers are shady/underhanded; finding a good honest one is like finding **a good honest car mechanic**. ACG is the honest one for IT. +- **The Radio Show origin (same ethos):** Mike heard another tech radio program giving out **wrong answers** and "could not abide," so he went to the nearest talk-radio station and **bought air-time to compete with the misinformation** (The Computer Guru Show, KVOI 1030AM, Sat 9AM, call-in 520-790-2040). + +USE: the About page founder story, the radio-show section, and to ground the anti-BS positioning site-wide. **NOTE:** some details are personal (age 17, Pima County Community Services, dad at Burr Brown/TI), confirm which are OK to publish / how specific before featuring publicly. diff --git a/projects/acg-website/v2/about.html b/projects/acg-website/v2/about.html index 8ba5881e..8b49072a 100644 --- a/projects/acg-website/v2/about.html +++ b/projects/acg-website/v2/about.html @@ -85,12 +85,14 @@
-

We used to be the company we now warn you about.

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We started in 2001 the way most IT shops still run: bill by the hour, show up when something breaks, move on. What bothered us was never the work itself. It was the BS around it. The padded invoices, the surprise line items, the finger-pointing when something went wrong. That did not sit right.

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So we fixed how it is done, not what we offer. We still fix things when they break, and we still run entire networks for the clients who want that handled. What changed is the how: fair published rates, straight answers, and people who own their work instead of passing the buck. You pick how much help you want, and either way you get the same team and the same honest billing.

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Today we look after businesses across Tucson, from small offices to busy practices and job sites. We have stopped ransomware before a single file was encrypted, replaced failing drives before anyone noticed, and helped owners meet the cyber-insurance requirements that used to keep them up at night.

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And we are still locally owned, not an out-of-state acquisition wearing a familiar name. The people who built this company still run it, and we still answer our own phones.

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We built our service the way we'd want to be treated if we were the customer.

+

The honest one, from day one.

+

Arizona Computer Guru started with one person and one stubborn idea. Mike Swanson grew up around computers in the early 1980s, back when almost no one had one in the house. His dad was in the chip business, so the machines showed up early, and Mike fell for them hard. He taught himself everything he could get his hands on. By 17 he was running the network for a county agency, and on weekends he went looking for harder problems on purpose, the ones he did not know how to solve yet.

+

What he kept seeing off the clock is what bothered him. People would take a computer to a repair shop, get told something outlandish, and pay an outrageous price to get the problem only half fixed. Back then hardly anyone understood these machines, so they believed whatever the person behind the counter said. Mike could not stand watching it happen.

+

So he did something about it. He put an ad in the newspaper: "I'll fix your computer, better than any of these other guys." The phone started ringing, he quit his job, and Computer Guru was born.

+

"I couldn't stand watching people get taken advantage of just because they didn't know how a computer worked. Fixing that is the whole reason we opened our doors."

+

// Mike Swanson, founder

+

That is still the whole point. The thing we cannot stand is anyone using what they know to take advantage of what you do not. A good, honest IT company should not be rare, but it is, and finding one can feel a lot like finding an honest car mechanic. We built Arizona Computer Guru to be that honest team: straight answers, fair prices, and people who treat you with respect whether you are asking about a server migration or a printer that will not stop jamming.

+

More than two decades later we look after businesses across Tucson, from small offices to busy practices and job sites. We still fix things when they break, we still run entire networks for the clients who want that handled, and either way you get the same team and the same honest billing. We are still locally owned, not an out-of-state acquisition wearing a familiar name, and we still answer our own phones.

Warm afternoon desert light raking across a white stucco wall meeting a clean wooden windowsill. @@ -164,7 +166,7 @@

On the air / Tucson's tech talk

Tucson knows
the voice.

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Every Saturday morning we host The Computer Guru Show on KVOI 1030AM, taking live calls from anyone in Tucson with a tech question. Two decades of answering questions on the air, with no script and no screening for softballs. That is the same straight talk you get as a client.

+

The show began the same way the company did. Mike listened to another tech program on the radio giving out answers that were flat wrong, and he could not let it stand. So he went to the nearest talk-radio station and bought air time to set the record straight. More than twenty years later, The Computer Guru Show still runs live every Saturday morning on KVOI 1030AM, taking calls from anyone in Tucson with a tech question. No script, no screening for softballs, just the same honest answers you get as a client.

1030AM