My name is Rick Rottman. This is my personal website. It’s where I write about stuff I find interesting or events I want to comment on.
I’m from Southern California. I grew up in the Mojave Desert, on the outskirts of Los Angeles County.
I live in Hagerstown, Maryland, with my wife, Sheri Rottman. I moved here in 1994 from central New York after leaving the U.S. Air Force. Walmart offered me a job at a large, centralized photo lab being built in nearby Williamsport.
Photo Finishing Experience Not Necessary
I didn’t know anything about photo finishing. That didn’t matter. Walmart was seeking former military electronics technicians to repair and maintain the new facility’s equipment. I’m pretty sure they got a tax break for hiring veterans who recently left the military. The Cold War was over, and there was a massive military drawdown because of it.
I met Sheri while working in the photo finishing lab. I’ve lived in Maryland ever since.
Didn’t This Website Used to Be Called Bent Corner?
This website used to be called Bent Corner. That’s because when I first created my blog years ago, I thought it would focus on sports cards, comic books, and other similar collectibles.
I came up with the name after buying an Alfonso Soriano insert card on eBay. I got it in the mail, and it had a bent corner that wasn’t noticeable in the eBay photo. I contacted the seller and asked for a refund. He replied with, “No thanks.”
That made me… angry.
At the same time, I was trying to come up with a good name for my blog. I decided to take the thing that made me mad, the card with a bent corner, and try to turn it into something positive. So that’s what I did. I called my blog Bent Corner.
Back then, my site was hosted on Blogger/Blogspot. Then in early 2011, I began hearing about WordPress. I was interested because I enjoyed tinkering with HTML and CSS. I still do.
My Introduction to WordPress
In April 2011, I registered the domain “bentcorner.com” and got a hosting account. I built the website with WordPress and moved my posts over from Blogger/Blogspot.
Almost immediately, I realized I wanted to write about more than just sports cards and comic books. That said, I didn’t see the value in changing the name.
I finally changed my mind a few months ago. I already had a few domains associated with my name, so I decided to pull the trigger and switch to one of them.
If you would like to know anything else about me, you can contact me.