By day, I manage a gaggle of computer geeks. There are eight
computer geeks to a gaggle.
From my earliest memory, I’ve been fascinated by
geology and
history. The first adult level book I read was when I was seven; it
was the history of the battle of Iwo Jima in world war II.
I own 200 domain names and maintain over 100 personal web sites.
I began working in the computer fiend in 1979 for a company
called Software Techniques. I was hired out of college by my
professor who was starting a consulting company. It really freaked
my parents out – one week I was the daily manager for a market, in
college and living at home with my parents; the next week I had
moved to Orange county, was a computer geek and had my own place.
I have written thousands of articles, most for my own personal
web sites, and published over a hundred in various computer
journals.
I own the entire Babylon 5 series on DVD, as well as the
original and animated Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine, Xena,
Hercules, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, Monty Pythons Flying
Circus, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone and Battlestar Galactica.
I own four video game consoles but haven’t played a video game
in over ten years.
I am a very creative person, and spend long hours writing
articles, creating graphics art and photographing nature,
faires
and belly dancers. I’ve got over 300,000 pictures on my web sites
that I’ve taken in the last 5 years.
I just scanned over 2,000 photo negatives (all that I had) using
a series into digital format.
I always checked twice to make sure my doors are locked.
I am very religious, but tend to keep my religious beliefs
private. I’ll be happy to have a discussion about my religion with
anyone in person (but not online please). The absolute best way to
lose me as a friend forever is to mock my religious beliefs.
I spend from one week to one month each year at a religious
retreat.
I was married to a Guatemalan lady named Claudia when I was 33
years old. She was five years older. We were married after dating
for 3 weeks, and we were married four times within the space of 2
weeks. There’s quit an interesting story behind that… Claudia
passed away on February 1st, 2005 at 10:27 am due to sepsis.
I love dressing up in costume. The
Labyrinth of Jereth is my
favorite event of the year.
I never talk (or write) trash about anyone. I prefer to
encourage people by mentioning their strong points and
complementing them when they do well. My comments are always honest
and I do not just complement people unless they deserve to be
complemented. But I would prefer to say nothing if there is nothing
good to say.
I have never tasted alcohol, never smoked, never used any
illegal drug of any kind and never gambled.
My grandfather was in the Yangtze river patrol in world war II.
He was captured by the Japanese on Corregidor and spent four years
in a POW camp in Japan.
I have my genealogy going back about 300 years on both sides,
and I have my genetic profile both maternal and paternal.
I am currently working on three novels: a fantasy novel, a
science fiction novel and a historical romance.
I am enjoying being single and unattached, but I have this
feeling that sometime soon some nice lady is going to realize I am
single, make a nice living and have no vile habits…
I can perform math in binary, octal, decimal and hex.
One day I got my late wife a chinchilla which she named Dexter.
She loved the animal and he was very cute. He didn’t love long, but
he cheered her up while he was alive.
I have painted over 1,500 small lead fantasy miniatures.
I own the original Dungeons and Dragons books, plus most of the
other role playing games out in the late 1970s.
I have all four Omaha the Cat Dancer books signed by the author
and the artist.
I have met Kelly Preston and she’s a very nice lady.
My favorite books are Lord of the rings and Stranger in a
strange land (which is also the first science fiction book I ever
read).
I remember the face of my doctor when I was born.
I am an air force brat.
I started photographing at the renaissance faire because it
helped me overcome the grief when my wife passed away. I found the
faire people were very good people.
I photograph belly dancers because I enjoy the aesthetics of
the dance. It helps me wash away the stress of life and makes me
feel good about the universe.
I am CERT trained – Certified Emergency Response Team, as well
as an expert in disaster recovery and business continuity.
I am a trained computer security expert.
The fact that I never raised children is a source of great
sadness to me (Claudia was unable to have children).
My favorite places are Joshua tree national park and the Grand
Canyon.
I have a dream to visit the top of Mount San Gorgonio, the
great pyramids of Egypt, the battlefield where Alexander defeated
Darius the Great, Athens, Tonga and Rome.
One of my goals is to visit and photograph every national park
in North America.
One of my favorite artists is Luis Royo.
I enjoy movies and have a DVD collection numbering in the high
hundreds.
I hated the beach for most of my life and avoided it like the
plague, until one day I confronted that fear, and now I love the
beach.
I watched the original Star Trek series when it was first aired.
My father is a very good wildlife artist. He used to own an art gallery in Lake Arrowhead village, but has sold it.
The most surprising thing in my life was for me to realize I was a widower at age 45.
When I was a small child, my parents and I visited the beach. I got a sunburn so bad that I was deathly
afraid of the beach and ocean and didn’t visit it again until many years later. Now I love the beach and ocean (and wear suntan lotion).
The first faire I visited was in Devore in, I believe, 1989.
I am a history buff and thoroughly enjoy reading anything related to Rome, Greece, and Egypt.
I drive at the speed limit or below. I use cruise control to keep my speed where I want it.
My sister runs a private school in San Jose.
I have an IQ of 164.
A few days after my wife passed away I drove to Joshua Tree national park and spent half the
day sitting on top of a place called Skull Rock.
I still have my wisdom teeth and appendix.
I think the original 3 star wars movies are among the best movies of all time, and the second trilogy is among the worst.
I usually know someone is calling, and who that person is, before my phone rings.
One of my major life goals is to visit all of the major caves in the free world.
In the last twenty years, I have taken over 100 classes, everything from geology to computer science to writing.
Between the ages of 19 and 33 I was so painfully introverted that I worked the night shift,
rarely talked to anyone and never said anything I didn’t have to. There were times I would go weeks without saying a word to anyone.
I played the original Dungeon game on the VAX (later known as ZORK) to within a few points of the endgame.
Christmas is the most depressing time of year for me.
I own virtually all of the stamps from the island of Tonga.
I have lived through a 7.1 earthquake.
When I was young I sold Burpee seeds so I could get a telescope. I didn’t sell any, so my parents bought
them all from me so I could get the telescope. We had the best flower gardens in the neighborhood.
I love cartoons, especially bugs bunny.
When I first picked up Lord of the Rings in high school, it took me a year to get past the first 50
pages. Then I read the reminder in a weekend, and then read it again the following weekend (yes, the whole trilogy).
I do not trust modern medicine.
I grew up in the Inland Empire, moving from San Bernardino to Lake Arrowhead between 8th and 9th grade (Junior high and High school). I hated everything about the mountains while I was living there and moved away as soon as I found a decent job after turning 18.
My first "real" job was the night liquor manager at the liquor store in the old Lake Arrowhead village. My boss was a German submarine commander from world war II. I used the money from this job to buy a brand new car, a Toyota, and I paid every payment myself.
I became interested in belly dancing three years ago (when I was 44) about a year after my wife (Claudia) passed away. I was very caved in, almost totally introvered, by mylate wife's death, and something about belly dance helped to pull me out of my dispair. Watching dancers perform never fails to lift me up and make me feel good about life.
I first went to a Renaissance faire in 1989 at Devore, and I went once, and only once, per year after that until late 2004,
when I went twice. On the way home from the second faire I had one of those turning points in life that changed me forever. I
decided to come back to life (this was before Claudia passed away). The change in my presence and life was immediate and profound.
The first time I went to Catalina Island was to scatter the ashes of my wife's mother in the year 2000. I visited again just
two days before Claudia passed away with one of my best friends. I had no clue how sick Claudia was that day, but she passed away
two days later from Sepsis. A week after that, I traveled to Catalina island for a third time to scatter Claudia's ashes. I had no
last wishes from her and felt she would like to be with her mother on the same island. There was a major storm that day, and I
chartered a small boat and and friend and I went out about a mile off shore. There were waterspouts and it was raining heavily. As
I scattered the ashes the rain stopped and the sun came out for a few minutes. As we moved away, back to shore, I looked back and
saw over three hundred birds slowly circling up from the ocean where I had laid her ashes moments before.
In elementary school I was beat up virtually every day in the way to school and home by several bullies. I learned to hide and
not be seen as a survival tool. As I moved into Junior high school I became painfully introverted, and throughout high school I
was so shy that few people even knew I existed.
I have written over 1,000 articles.
I am currently working on three novels, which I plan to publish through a service called print-on-demand via amazon.
I love to create. I am an author, a web designer, artist, graphics artist, photographer and I'm learning to be a videographer.
My attitude about life is life is to be lived. I flourish and prosper.
I am not sure I will ever get married again. The last marriage, with Claudia being critically ill for over nine years, was a very hard experience.
I consider my worst enemy in life to be "no motion". Staying still and doing nothing is the road to dispair and death. Doing
things, creating, traveling and such are "motion" and movement and lead towards life. I'll have plenty of time to be still and do
nothing after I'm dead.
I firmly believe that life is what you make it. People make their own hells and their own heavens and everything in between.
I love going to museums with a lady friend.
I believe a rainbow is a sign of good luck, life and prosperity, and most especially change for the better (although that is
not always obvious at the time). Since December I have seen over a dozen rainbows, which is three times as many as in my entire
life before.
I am an expert at disaster recovery, a CERT member (certified emergency response team) and an expert at business continuity.
My first disaster recovery project was an assignment to recovering the computers at the Public Broadcasting System in Washington
DC after a major fire.
I have one surviving sister and three other sisters who died at various times in their childhood, including one that was older
than me.
My father is a rather famous artist.
I have a goal to get a significant tattoo which consists of a dragon on one shouldar, a phoenix on the other, and a spider web
across the top of my back complete with spiders. The dragon is me. Dragons are kind, compassionate, smart, etc ... but you don't
mess with dragons. The phoenix is the way I view my life. The web is the web of the spiritual world. I have not gotten it yet
because the time is not yet right. I will know when it is and then I will get it done.
I have a list of a dozen places on Earth that I will visit before I die. I will not name them all here, but they include the
place where Alexander defeated Dariius the Great in Turkey, the Island kingdom of Tonga, Rome and a certain place on the Rhine in
Switzerland. Each place as a certain meaning to me.
When Claudia, my late wife, became critically ill and remained ill for over nine years, all of my friends found other places
to be. I learned to completely trust myself and I learned how strong I am spirtually at that time. This was the most difficult
time of my life and I somehow lived through it and came out the other side a million times stronger than I went in. I literally
pulled claudia back from death twice, until sepsis finally took her away.
I've seen half a dozen tarot card readers and other's who claim to use one means or another to forecast the future. Every one
of them has said exactly the same thing about my future.
I have one cat named Baby. He always greets me cheerfully at my door when I get home.
I want to produce a major belly dance festival, an entire weekend of workshops, vending and shows. Perhaps I'll do so when the
economy gets better.
Unlike most people, I know what I am searching for.
