Clay Ruth's Home Page

"Spare me the glitz and fluff; show me the substance."
- Clay Ruth (commenting on many other web pages)

This page is refreshingly simple but filled with substance. It has no references to sports, television or other ordinary things; just the extraordinary.

If you're a PC network administrator or a DOS command line aficionado, you'll want to pick up the latest release of Clay's Utilities for DOS Batch Processes. More than a batch programmer's delight, they're also quite useful at the command line. Even if you spend all your time in Windows, you'll find a tool there called FILEDATA that can help you resolve DLL conflicts on your system, plus an additional set of utilities designed especially for use in the Win32 command console.

I'm a participant in the Schererville Community Watch Program. This link gives you access to program information and an on-line edition of our newsletter, which I started, including some back issues plus early editions of the Schererville Community News paper that evolved from it -- and I still serve as its copy editor.

Family obligations and steady employment occupy most of my time. When I'm not spending my leisure time writing programs or newsletters, I pursue other interests such as entomology; in particular, the Monarch butterfly. We've raised as many as 230 of them in our home in a single season (2001 record). Visit my Monarch Butterfly page for detailed info and photos. In August 2003 I added some full-motion digital videos showing the most amazing events in the Monarch's development. You can download the videos (MPEG format) for non-profit personal or educational use.

Another favorite pastime of mine is astronomy. Here you'll find some of my own humble attempts at astrophotography, as well as some links to places where you'll find the work of the pros.

I'm a member of an informal tape club. No, this isn't another Columbia House or BMG; it's a group of technically-oriented friends who circulate taped discussions amongst themselves. This link takes you to a page set up by one of its other members.

Speaking of tape recording, I have been a tape recorder nut since I was only 5 years old -- over half a century! Over the years I have recorded some unusual events and on-location sounds of places that no longer exist. Hear some of them on my nostalgic audio and sound effects page.

Looking for DSL configuration tips? Check out my DSL Stuff page.

I don't care much for most popular music, but I love smooth jazz, and one artist whom I find particularly outstanding is Keiko Matsui, a Japanese pianist with an awesome musical talent. Check out her web site for music samples, links to online CD vendors, and much more!

I'm also an Amateur Radio (ham) operator, callsign N9CR. For more information about this fascinating hobby, contact the American Radio Relay League, a national organization helping to defend the radio frequency spectrum privileges of Amateur Radio operators throughout the United States.

In September, 1998 I made my first computer videos. See Vacation Photos and RealMedia Videos made at the Wisconsin Dells and the House on the Rock. These are rather rough by today's standards, but they were a first for me.

If you have any questions about my utility pack or anything else you find here, you can send me mail. I can't guarantee a speedy response, but you will receive a personal reply, not an automated one. Your comments and suggestions on my DOS Utilities are especially welcome. Any idea that has merit, and isn't prohibitively difficult or impractical, will be incorporated into a future release! Of course, I'm the judge as to what's practical and not too difficult!