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Michael Richey
PO Box 838
Wills Point
Texas
75169
United States of America

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About Me

I hate writing about myself, so this might get weird.

As with any "About Me" page, I'm supposed to say things that inspire confidence. Unfortunately, I'm a realist. Either you believe I can affect your goals, or you don't. In lieu of inspirational messages, I'll describe what drives me. Perhaps there is a nexus between your needs and my ego.

Member of Mensa since August 2016

Mensa Member

My brother and I took (and passed) the Mensa exam in August of 2016 as a joke. He received an invitation to take the exam and we both made fun of the bad grammar and typos in the email. One thing led to another, and an off-hand comment about taking the test landed us both in the testing room on August 20th.

On August 27th, I received an email notification that I had passed the exam and was eligible for membership. Of course, I applied immediately - and I plan on keeping my membership current until it becomes prudent to apply for lifetime membership. All because I was joking with my brother about taking the exam.

Upon receiving my results, I learned that my scores put me in the top 1%.

Member of the International Society of Computer Forensic Examiners

International Society of Forensic Computer Examiners - Certified Computer Examiner

Once again, with my brother, I became certified in something because we could.

A neighbor doing business as a litigation discovery firm was telling me about his problem processing electronic files. Apparently, he had to turn down jobs because his firm couldn't process TGZ files provided by opposing counsel. My jaw nearly dented my chest - TGZ (TAR GZip, or Tape ARchive compressed with GZip) files are my preferred method of storage (actually, TAR BZip is my preferred, but..close enough). I told him that I could process those files without issue, and in order to do business with him I needed some credentials to make me an authority. As a result of his requirement, I found a certification which is very exclusive and highly regarded, received the exam media, and extracted/examined all of the data (breaking passwords, recovering file systems, and analyzing data) - ultimately being awarded certification.

CompTIA A+ Certified

CompTIA - A+ Certified

I have been A+ certified forever, since it was a hard certification to get in the mid 90's. My employer, CompuCom, required that all employees had achieved the A+ certification by the end of their probation period. I achieved this and many other hardware and software certifications as an employee of CompuCom.

PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) Certified Open Water Diver

PADI - Certified Open Water Diver

I have been a certified SCUBA diver since the early 90's. Although I haven't been diving in years, I have enjoyed the depths of California, Florida, Hawaii, Cozumel and the Cayman Islands. The aquatic realm is incredibly peaceful, and I look forward to diving with my family when the time comes and my children are of age.

NRA Certified Instructor

NRA Instructor

I hold several NRA Instructor credentials: Pistol, Personal Protection in the Home, Concealed Carry Weapon. Additionally, I am an NRA Chief Range Safety Officer. I am also a Texas licensed Level 3 Firearms Instructor. I'm using These licenses and certifications as a launching point for a website I'm running called Carry Texas - promoting License to Carry training for Texans.

Joomla 3 Certified Administrator

Joomla! 3 Certified Administrator

February 11th, 2017 - I am the 65th person to have passed the Administrator exam. This test is no joke. Apparently only 5% of test takers have passed it. As an acknowledged Joomla expert, I host and administer websites for several businesses, non-profits, and media personalities - such as Raven Harrison.

My Motivations

The thing that drives me nuts - when someone says that I can't do something - or that something cannot be done. I have written many programs to achieve what others deemed "impossible". I was once told that it was impossible to override the Joomla HTTP header output to remove the X-Content-Encoded-By header - and my response was a Joomla extension named "Clean Response". Another time I was informed that there was no way to prevent the the client from seeing PHP Mailer error messages - and my response was to write a PHP class to scrub those errors before sending headers to the client. If anything lights a fire under me - it's being told that I cannot do something.

If someone has told you that it cannot be done - I'd really like to hear about it.