A former student, Keith Melvin, said in an email that his stay at the Mission helped him recover from alcoholism, and now he s an assistant network administrator for a major technical firm in the Inglewood area. But techies tend to avoid shelters, where computer time is supervised and limited. Alexander opts to stay on top of the technology by himself. Alexander says he s trying now to find a way to get rid of some advertisers imposed by his free Web-hosting service. I m not happy with linking to the site selling Viagra, he says.
Clients complain of poor customer service.
Fowler is eager to open a merchant account and make his shop grow. His fantasy is to be able to sit in front of his very own computer in his underwear. The Internet gave me a purpose, says Alexander. Before, it was hard to get free from the circle of b.s., of people dragging you down. I created better habits for myself and the Internet keeps me out of trouble.