Tom Purvis' Biographical Information

• Born January 9, 1964, at Gerber Memorial Hospital in Fremont, Michigan
• Lived for part of a year, probably 1968-69, in E. Lansing, MI on campus at Michigan State University
• School from K-12 in Fremont Public Schools (Pine Street Elementary, Daisy Brook Elementary, Jr High, Sr High class of '82)
• Varsity letters for Swim Team, Football; moderately fast high school swimmer, hopelessly crappy football player
• Moved to Laramie, Wyoming in August of 1982 to go to the University of Wyoming
• Attended school in Laramie more or less full time from Fall of '82 through Fall of '86, majoring first in psychology then economics
• Moved to Grand Junction, Colorado in December of 1986 without completing a degree at UW
• Worked at the Grand Junction Hilton on Horizon Drive as bartender from early 1987 through August 1988, rediscovered cycling, then discovered mountain biking during these years in Colorado's desert city
• Moved to Greeley, Colorado in August, 1988 to attend the University of Northern Colorado as a transfer student in economics
• Got a job in the Computer Center at UNC in January of 1989, the beginning of my career in Information Technology
• Graduated from UNC in May of 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics
• Moved to Colorado Springs after graduation. Un-employed all summer of '90
• Got a job with CH2M Hill, Inc in the Tech Center on the south side of Denver, Colorado as a computer technician supporting email and graphic design macintosh users in August of 1990
• Worked in the Denver Tech Center commuting from Colorado Springs for several weeks (driving my diesel rabbit), then moved to a rented house in Aurora
• Bought a house in Littleton near the old Arapahoe County fairgrounds in summer of 1991
• Sold the house, quit the job, and moved to Fort Collins to pursue a masters degree at Colorado State University in late Summer, 1993
• Bought a house west of campus in Fort Collins in October, 1993
• Worked as an intern at USDA, as an instructor at CSU, and as webmaster in a molecular biology lab while attending grad school in Ft Collins from '93-'96
• Graduated from CSU in May of 1996 with a Master of Science in Computer Information Systems
• Got a job with Hewlett-Packard in Colorado Springs, June 1996
• Bought a house and moved to Black Forest, Colorado, northeast of Colorado Springs in September of 1996 after selling the Fort Collins house
• Took a job with Agilent Technologies, the newly formed spin-off from Hewlett-Packard in June of 1999. My office simply moved to a different building within the same site and my paycheck had a different logo
• Bought a house in Salida, Colorado in May of 2000 after clearing with my employer my plans to become a full-time telecommuter
• Sold the Black Forest house and moved to Salida in December of 2000
• Formed business ArkansasValley.Net in December of 2002
• Laid-off from Agilent Technologies in May of 2003
• Got a job with Absolute Bikes in Salida in July of 2004
• Currently living in Salida, doing a combination of web consulting, bike industry retail work, and bike riding/endurance racing