Prior to beginning his writing and web development career, Kip was a swimming champion; swimming against such stars as seven-time Olympic gold metal winner, Mark Spitz. He was considered a contender for the 1972 Olympics, but a little bout of malaria while traveling in Central America ended his swimming career. Like most authors, Kip never dreamed he would write a book due to his poor grammar and spelling skills, which he found out years later was due to him being Dyslexic, a challenge he continues to overcome daily. Instead, his dream was to be an architect. Kip earned an AA degree from Mesa College in 1972, majoring in architecture, and minored in accounting, he was looking forward to enrolling at UC at Cal Poly. When his funds were depleted, he worked as a carpenter to replenish them. He first joined the carpenter's union and worked his way through the four-year apprenticeship program. He earned his journeyman's card a year early. It wasn't long before he became a ramroder (troubleshooter) in the trade where unorthodox construction practices were used to accelerate project schedules. He forgot about being an architect. The year 1977 was incredible for Kip; he got married, bought a house, had a son, and got his contractor's license. At the same time, he was given an honorary teaching credential. Between his contracting and family, he taught construction practices and blueprint reading San Diego Mesa and City College, and at the San Diego District Council of Carpenters Apprenticeship Training Program. For over 25 years, Kip worked in the construction business. Consequently, became one of Southern California's largest commercial framers (rough carpentry) and specialized in government contracts. |
During the 1990's, he became an expert witness for litigating procedures in construction defects and practices. He was also known for his ability to fight some of the unfairness in government construction contracts. He tested the legality of the Davis-Bacon Laws in governing wages set by the Government on construction projects. When they withheld $100,000 from his contract, saying he was not paying the correct wages, Kip challenged the procedures of how wages were determined. Government finally released the money when the threat of litigation dangled over their heads. A month later they revamped their way of thinking, and changed the way they determined wages, based on Kip's calculations. A few years later, a major plywood company tried to defraud their customers by making a counterfeit type of wood, which Kip bought. Involving hundreds of thousands of dollars, Kip' exposed how the process was done during litigation, thus winning the largest settlement in the country of this type of nature. Consequently, this was used as one of the sub-plots in his first novel, Clear Rape.
In the last few years he got into web building when friends started to ask if he would build webs and promote them. With that, he went back to school and had teacher's like Tomas Powell. who not only taught the value of web design but how that value can be transpose into a marketing power to the owner. Having already learned how to promote a website, putting the three together has become an awesome asset and makes him valuable to any web owner. Recently, he was asked to promote the non-profit organization for Survivors of Violents Loss. |
To help overcome his challenger, Kip began writing in 1996 as an outlet for the stress of being a single parent to two boys and running a company. He enjoys hunting and fishing and has traveled extensively throughout Mexico and Central America, with a couple of jumps here and there into South America. His biggest accomplishment and joys in life are his two Soprano sons Tyler (r), and Dane. He sold the publishing rights for Clear Rape, a murder-mystery to be released in late 2004, but dispute with the publisher forced him in a long battle to get his contract terminated. Meanwhile, he is working on two other books, has an essay out (