York Corner
As we reported here last week, Bob Rogers began UpSurf.net, his computer business, three years ago and ran it, at first, out of his York home.
For the better part of those three years now, however, UpSurf has been functioning out of retail space at Meadowbrook Plaza, and Bob told us recently when we stopped in there that he was "very proud of that," not only simply because he's survived, but because there, as he put it, "we have lots of things going on."
The space permits him to run an Internet "café," open to the public (for an hourly or half-hourly fee), 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide secure Internet access -- and the six computers in use there serve as examples of the computers Bob builds, custom-made, from scratch.
Additionally, he repairs computers, and as his business card states, "We make house calls!"
What the cheerful, relaxed, and outgoing Bob is probably most proud of, however, we noticed, is a friendly and informative but non-threatening atmosphere he's created there, and all the goods and services he's shaping to sustain it.
Case in point: an object he's built that he calls "The Whirling Dervish." It's a functioning computer tower encased in clear plastic so that all its innards show. Inside, fans whir, and clear and colored lights flash on and off, and kids, says Bob, "absolutely adore it."
Remarkably, though, kids don't constitute the bulk of his clientele. He tried providing games for them at one point, he said, but found that "really didn't fly," though UpSurf still attracts a few older high-school students drawn to fantasy sports games.
"I get mostly mature adults, aged 40 and older," he told us - all people, as we noted last week, on different missions: investors coming in to check stock values, travelers seeking computer directions, business people on the go coming in to exchange e-mails - and all in a computer environment that, Bob stresses, is eminently secure.
His peak hours, he reported, are 8 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 5 p.m. on weekdays, with folks often dropping in after church on Sundays to print up boarding passes for upcoming plane flights, and midsummer being the season for travelers seeking Internet info about destinations like L.L. Bean.
Winters, Bob's retail shop gives him a place to offer computer classes to area residents, a service he'd previously offered through York's Adult Education program. For $20 or $40, depending on the subject, participants can attend two-hour evening classes, now held from Monday through Friday, on such subjects as beginning computing, how to use a flash drive, and how to keep your computer free of viruses.
This past year, Bob said, he introduced a "free-form" class, held on Fridays, in which participants, four to a class, each brought in a computer problem to be solved. In the first hour of the class, each presenter would be allotted 15 minutes to state his or her problem; in the second hour, Bob solved each problem in front of the group, so that all could benefit.
One popular program in which Bob appears to take particular pride is that involving the personal appearance, for a talk, book-signing, and question-and-answer period, of York writer J.D. (the "J" is for Jayne) Hitchcock. Hitchcock is a nationally-known expert and lecturer in computer safety and security, and her book, Net Crimes and Misdemeanors - thick and heavy at 459 pages - is now in its second edition.
Hitchcock came to UpSurf.net twice last year, spending about four hours on each visit, and, each time she came, Bob reported with a special glint in his eye, she brought an unusual gift: a casserole containing Spam.
"Spam?" we asked.
"Spam!" said Bob. "The food: Spam."
"And," he added, "she really is a good cook, too."
But of course Hitchcock's point was to call attention to the glut of unwanted computer information that goes by the same name.
"If she starts bringing in fish," Bob grinned, "I'll start getting worried."
This year, Bob has booked Hitchcock for Tuesday, July 31, when she'll be at UpSurf.net from 2p.m. to 6 p.m., and last week Bob sent us an e-mail encouraging our attendance.
"We'll have gifts," he wrote, "which will include a UpSurf.net Coffee Mug and software to help keep your children safe on the Internet, and much more for those people who purchase one of Jayne's books. I have two of them, gave several away to friends and family, and I can tell you, it is a real eye opener to read about her experiences..."
Bob touts two other programs that have sprung from his own retail-shop experience: YorkMeSpeaks, a computer site that permits the public to post , signed or anonymously, suggestions about running the town, and Meadowbrook Plaza Businesses Associated, a local cooperative venture to share advertising costs while spreading the advertising word.
YorkMeSpeaks emerged last winter at the suggestion of resident Howard Koeppel when Howard was active in discussions about what would happen to York's old Town Farm. Why not, Howard thought, post messages on a computer bulletin board instead of relying on people like him to relay them? Howard provided the idea and Bob, the technical means. The cite is now accessible to all at www.yorkmespeaks.freeforums.org, and Bob says that membership has "grown tremendously."
Meadowbrook Plaza Businesses Associated (MBA), Bob told us, was "one of the best things we've ever done." Confronting high advertising costs, he and two other Plaza business owners - Tina Bach of Curves, and Bob Modee of White Crane Massage - teamed up to enlist other businesses at Meadowbrook in creating and distributing their own, combined, advertising flyers. As part of that continuing effort, they also offer coupons and savings, and sponsor raffles and other events to benefit charity - a Christmas party last year, for example, in which food collected went to the York Food Pantry while participants got two raffle chances for each food item donated. Raffle prizes, donated by MBA members, were worth $50.
Bob Rogers now manages his business with the help of just one other part-time employee, Grady Fox, with two others available for emergencies - though, says Bob, "I haven't yet needed to call them out."
Typically supportive and positive, Bob calls Grady "one of the best part-time people I've ever had."
And Bob doesn't leave us without offering some other critical - and clearly heartfelt - praise.
"More important than having a good business partner," he wrote to us in a follow-up e-mail (Bob's business partner is Bill Dunn), "or a lucrative business is a very supporting family. I couldn't have done any of this without my loving, supporting, and terrific wife Wendy, or my kids, Christopher and Rebecca, who put up with me working all the time...."
Thanks to all from us, too -and thanks to Bob.
If you'd like to send your own thanks or queries to Bob, you can reach him at 363-4181, or via e-mail at GetConnected @upsurf.net. Or, better yet, you can visit him at his website, which is (what else?) http://www.upsurf.net/.
