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What's there to know about me? Below, you'll find a year-by-year outline of my life, which is quite boring to anybody that doesn't know my already. If you're that kind of voyeur, have at it - enjoy whatever you may find in my uninteresting life so far. I promise something interesting will happen soon; we're working on it.
As for everything else, you should check out my blog, which has numerous links to my other projects; look at the column on the right side of that page.
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| 1974 | Was born. Did little else. | |
| 1975 | Celebrated 1st birthday during a hugemungous flood, so I'm told | |
| 1976 | Learn how to read, or so the legend goes. | |
| 1977 1978 | Spent my formitive years talking to the cows. | |
| 1979 | Grandpa retires, Dad takes over the family farm. Start kindergarten, Mrs. Manke. Younger brother born. | |
| 1980 | First grade, Mrs. Pederson. | |
| 1981 | Second grade, Mrs. Olson. | |
| 1982 | Rural school closes, move to a less-rural school, which involves a hour-long bus ride. 3rd grade, Mrs. Gytri. Younger sister born. IQ test places me in genius range. | |
| 1983 | Dad leaves farming to go to college, move to Fargo. 4th grade, Mr. Peterson. | |
| 1984 | 5th grade. | |
| 1985 | 6th grade. Acquire 2nd-hand TRS-80 III from uncle Kevin, start writing video games in BASIC. | |
| 1986 | 7th grade, start at Ben Franklin Junior High. Fail advanced placement classes, take regular classes instead. Start summer classes at Trollwood Performing Arts School. | |
| 1987 | 8th grade. Much of this year blocked from my memories due to bullies. | |
| 1988 | 9th grade. Choose not to take language or history classes, have two study halls back to back instead. Take Graphics Arts class a second time, just for fun. Draw comics which appear in the school newspaper, the Almanac. | |
| 1989 | 10th grade. Dad gets a job in Sidney, MT; we move over the summer. First serious girlfriend. Learn that Montana graduation requirements do not need the history or language credits I skipped in the 9th grade. | |
| 1990 | 11th grade. Sign up for a "computer class" which turns out to be a typing course that uses PCs. Go to the brand-new computer lab, equipped with DOS-based IBM PCs, which I have no idea how to use. | |
| 1991 | 12th grade. The school is equipped with Channel 1 video equipment over the summer; I take control over school-produced video production, using whatever equipment is on hand. Start DJing dances to raise money for the science club. | |
| 1992 | Freshman year. Major: electrical engineering. Work in the EE labs as work-study. Buy first computer:386sx-16, 2MB ram, 80mb hard drive with Windows 3.1. | |
| 1993 | Sophomore year. Realize my poor math skills hinder my EE career, change to theatre, specializing in the technical aspects. Get my first internet account and email address: ddahlsad@plains.ndsu.nodak.edu. | |
| 1994 | Junior year. Get a job at Okoboji Summer Theatre through my advisor, which is run by Stephens College in Columbia MO. Apply for a theatre scholarship, get it, move to Missouri right after the Theatre ends its run. | |
| 1995 | Fail miserably at Stephens College, decide I have no idea what I'm doing with my life. Drop out, move in with friends in Fargo. | |
| 1996 | Destiny is born, marry Jenny, start working for US Bank. | |
| 1997 | Start DestinyBBS, an online Bulletin Board service. Set up my first computer network and fileserver. Start designing up webpages for fun. | |
| 1998 | Shut down DestinyBBS due to lack of interest. Jenny moves out, Destiny remains with me. Start working for Lincoln Mutual Life Insurance Co as marketing coordinator. | |
| 1999 | Divorce is finalized; Destiny is placed with me. Design my first freelance website, dakref.com. Start blogging. | |
| 2000 | Set up Derek's Big Website of WalMart Receipts; become overnight internet sensation. | |
| 2001 | Return to college, part-time, ambitiously trying to complete both the Management and the Computer Technology degree paths. Start freelancing more, designing websites and setting up computers. Destiny starts kindergarten. | |
| 2002 | My parents move back to Fargo, sleep on our livingroom floor for a month and a half while house-hunting. Lincoln Mutual's marketing department is disbanded by Blue Cross of ND, our parent company. Transfer to clerical position in same company. | |
| 2003 | Meet Deanna, fall in love. Her divorce goes badly, but still moves to Fargo to live with Destiny and me, bringing along her 14-year-old daughter Allie. | |
| 2004 | Clerical job at Lincoln Mutual proves too boring for me and interferes with my extracurricular freelancing, so I'm fired for not devoting enough to the job. Begin freelancing for a living. College courses stop, just short of my degree, because Lincoln Mutual's tuition contributions end. Marry Deanna. | |
| 2005 | Begin typestting and publishing books for a living, while still freelancing for outside companies for extra money; pick up odd jobs and temp jobs to help cover bills. | |
| 2006 | Publishing business takes off with a few high-profile titles. Parenting hits an all-time high on the difficulty scale. Allie moves to a managed-care facility to help her transition to adulthood despite her autism. Begin working part-time at Information Systems Corporation. | |
| 2007 | Moved to full-time at ISC, published a few more books. | |
| 2008 | The Year Of Bankruptcy Paperwork. | |
| 2009 | Financial difficulties grow; we decide to end the corporation and go at things as sole-proprietors, on a smaller scale. | |
| 2010 | The Big Move puts us down by Oak Grove, in a much nicer neighborhood but a much smaller house. I begin writing for the High Plains Reader. | |
| 2011 | The Year of Financial Reconstruction: after bankruptcy and unincorporation, a 'breather' of a year helped get things back on track. Started writing for Prairie Public. Start the website Dakota Death Trip. | |
| 2012 | Basset hound Oliver T Puddington joins the family. We purchase Esmaralda, a house in Elbow Lake, as an investment for our future. | |
| 2013 | Move into support at ISC. Destiny starts at Job Corps, leaving us as empty nesters. | |
| 2014 | Take position as support supervisor at ISC. | |
| 2015 | Work, home, antiques, writing, stuff. | |
| 2016 | Another Big Move: The April Fool's Day joke is that the house we rented would be demolished on 4/1/16. Try to pull together a home purchase in time, but couldn't; moved to South Moorhead. Rent antique booths in Fargo and Detroit Lakes. | |
| 2017 | Work and responsibility in my job grows; ends Dakota Death Trip. | |
| 2018-2022 | Nothing much new, but I'm looking at this through the lens of 2023, I may come back and update it if anything comes to mind. | |
| 2023 | Welcome to today! | |