amy.stinson

Amy Stinson

Amy Stinson has lived in Central Indiana most of her life, and since 1991, on the Southside of Indianapolis. She has a variety of interests outside of computers that include music, theater, knitting, sewing, baking, and gardening. She has had a wide variation of work experience ranging from service jobs to education, finally settling on the technology industry when she determined computers provided the constant learning experience she craves.

For several years, Amy funded her interests and stayed true to her desire to raise her children and be active in their activities by operating an orthodontic lab out of her home. During that time, Amy developed the Exhaustive Guide to 1 Hour Orthodontic Study Models (or The Guide to Unholy Study Models), which is a step-by-step guide on how to take the perfect impression, pour flawless models, trim models in less than 4 minutes, and complete the entire process in about 1 hour, which reduced the process by more than half the “normal” time of 3 hours per model. She also developed a system for manually tracing and measuring lateral cephalometric radiographs that saved about 5 minutes off the standard time and increased accuracy. Until digital and computer-aided tracing became widespread, and virtual study models became popular, Amy spent several weeks a year training office staff around the country in her time saving methods. Due to the extraordinary quality of her work, Amy’s models have been used to present orthodontic case studies all around the world.

In 1992, Amy’s husband bought a computer for the family and that is when she discovered her true passion. When they brought it home and unboxed it, she took it apart. After four days she had it back together, software all reinstalled, with an added modem. That is how she learned about COMM Ports and IRQ settings. One month later the family added a second phone line for Prodigy/AOL/Compuserve/NVN online services where Amy got her first taste of online communities and online research. Within 2 months she had added more RAM, a sound card, and a CD-ROM. In early 1993 she started fixing and upgrading her friend’s computers, and building computers. She coined the name “Amy’s Answers” after her friend commented about Amy being able to answer all her computer questions. In 1995 Amy networked her home computers with thin coax cable, and volunteered her services to a couple of small Not-for-Profit organizations to gain more experience.

Amy has had some sort of dedicated internet connection since 1996 starting with a dedicated 33K connection, and was one of IQuest’s first non-commercial Internet customers in 1994. 1994 is also when Amy coded her first HTML web page. In 1995, Amy started the first international discussion list for knitting machine enthusiasts, which she continues to host and administrate on a LISTSERV Listhost.com in her home.

For tax purposes, she created Amy’s Answers, LLC in 1997 and continued to serve a variety of businesses, including manufacturing, dental, accounting, and not-for-profit entities. Sensing a need for more business background to complement her computer and networking skills, Amy decided to return to school full time in 2005 and earn a degree in Business Information Systems. Since graduating with honors in May 2009, Amy wants to pursue full-time employment that will challenge her, use her wide range of skills, and allow her to continue growing personally and professionally.

While raising her children, Amy called herself a “professional volunteer.” She volunteered in the school, taught sewing and knitting to students, was active in PTA and PTO, and served on various educational committees. Amy was also active in the Libertarian Party, running for several offices and hosted the Indianapolis chapter’s website. Amy has also campaigned for several local candidates. Amy also served on the Board of Directors of her homeowner association for over 8 years when it was self-managed. During that time she served as Secretary and President and was involved in leading and empowering a number of volunteer committees. Most recently, Amy can be found behind the scenes at Southport Presbyterian Church where she creates and runs the various media presentations for the various contemporary services.

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