A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

I was born in the middle of the 20th century in a little town called Atlanta. Getting here has been a long journey, full of twists and turns.

I've spent over 30 years learning as much as I can about computers, starting with mainframes and working down through the years to minicomputers and then microcomputers. I've programmed in a dozen or more computer languages on all sorts of platforms. These days, I limit myself to Unix and Macintosh systems and programming in perl and PHP. If you're interested in learning more about me and my background, you're invited to visit DilbeckConsulting.com.

A few years ago, I burned out completely on software development, database programming, consulting, systems administration and teaching.

During this time, I basically retired. While looking for something to do, I remembered how much I had enjoyed blacksmithing when Dad taught me many years ago, so I opened Dilbeck Metalsmithing and specialized in making handcrafted steel roses. You can see more at TheRoseThatNeverWilts.com.

This lasted for several years, and during this period, I met a group of artisans in Murphy, NC who were starting a nonprofit cooperative, Appalachian Heritage Crafters, and I joined the effort. I served as the first president and later as board chair.

Nonprofits

I have had the privilege to serve on the board of directors for Appalachian Heritage Crafters and the Center for Participatory Change, although I am not on either board now.

CPC played a major role in helping Appalachian Heritage Crafters get organized, become a non-profit, and continues to offer help and advice as needed. Without them, AHC would probably never have gotten to where we are today.

I serve on the review board that oversees grants through the Self-Development Fund. Through generous grassroots donations, we've been able to help groups get organized and grow by granting seed money to them. We also provide some matching funds to pre-approved fundraising efforts for some of these nonproft groups. We would appreciate any donations you'd care to make so that we can help future groups get started and grow.

I am a member of Heritage Partners of Cherokee County.

We hope you'll enjoy, and join us in building on the heritage of Cherokee County -- North Carolina's first, last and finest place to be.

Working through public and private partnerships throughout Cherokee County and beyond, we get excited about the notion that a heritage conserved is a bright future attained. It starts with a community rediscovering, taking great pride in, and taking good care of its unique assets already in place.

Family

My mother has spent nearly three decades researching our family history, and I've managed to put part of it online in the genealogy section of JohnDilbeck.com. When she started, she didn't know any of her great-grandparents' names or anything about Dad's great-grandparents. Even before access to the Internet, she and others she met, did a huge amount of work and now we know a lot about our families for more than the last 1,000 years. It's completely changed my view of history.

I was married to a wonderful woman, Kathy, for several years, but we were divorced back in the 20th century. We remain great friends and I really like her new husband, Ken.

Our daughter, Dena, is married to a fine man, Stacey, and they have three children, Courtnie, Dakota and Kaitlyn.

I have one brother, David, and I manage his website, GeorgiaDragRacing.com. He and a partner are writing a book about the Golden Years of Georgia Drag Racing and hope to have it released in 2004. David is married to Vicki.

I maintain a personal website at JohnDilbeck.com. This is the site where I experiment with different things and do whatever I want. That's the beauty of a personal site.

I have a bedroom, that is more or less converted into a cave, and that's where I toil away building my marketing business.

You're invited to visit my primary business blog at 21st Century Affiliate Marketing.