Interests
What do I like, and what do I like doing?
Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
Some people have told me that I liked flying even before I could walk, but I think they exaggerate a bit. I love flying, from glass-smooth flights, gentle turns and doing everything smoothly to gut-wrenching, high-g maneuvers in all three dimensions. I began flying when I was 18 and have been in love with it ever since.
I love cold, winesap apples. Virginia has the best!
Clouds never cease to fascinate me, and I find them beautiful, even the angriest, largest cumulo-nimbus (thunderstorms) -- as long as I don't happen to be flying in or near one. (I hate being in violent turbulence...) I love the rain. To a degree, I love thunder and lightning though I don't like thunder scaring the hell out of me when I'm asleep.
I love animals. I've done very well around most of them and always treat them with respect. I especially love birds and dogs, as they are the expressive and show love, loyalty, affection and astounding creativity. I like cats, too, but I am not really a cat person though I identify strongly with their predatory instincts and their ability as hunters. Strangely enough, the animals I most admire are marine mammals and elephants. I have sat in a sailboat and watched a pod of orca surface and check me out -- they are amazingly intelligent and have the strongest family bonds of any animal, just short of elephants.
SCUBA diving has fascinated me and satified some of my frustrated desire to be an astronaut. I hold an Advanced Open Water certificate and have dived in some of the world's richest coral beds. I had the oddest encounter with a shark one night and found it not to be the fearsome, mindless predator some make them out to be. Still, I trust none of them.
One of my interests is the continual discovery of how things work. When I was five, I took alarm clocks apart much to the anger of my mum -- she'd just throw them away after spanking me -- and I finally got the chance to prove to her that I could put one together again and have it work (it did work, though it lost its time-keeping accuracy). I am fascinated by everything from the atom to the universe.
That brings me to my other love of astronomy. There are times that I will search the heavens for comets or asteroids, and have for years sketched the moon on paper just to see how well I can notice detail of lunar features. Someday. I will build my own small observatory.
I love reading -- I read about three books a week -- and write well. I am a published author and do the occasional review of this or that which I sell to periodicals, especially in-flight magazines. But writing is something I like to do, not something I would enjoy making a living at. I especially enjoy a well-crafted book.
I love classical music. I find that it has a beautiful mathematical quality to it. I've taken this love to a new level with attempting to learn to play some of Bach's chorales on guitar.
That beings me to my other love of music: I play primarily acoustic guitar, and am a good vocalist. I grew up on the music of the 60s through 80s and I play everything from The Doobie Brothers, Steeley Dan, James Taylor to the Beach Boys.
I love the mountains and have spent a large part of my life skiing (downhill). I love the double and triple diamond stuff, but have yet to fully master skiing in deep powder. If I can ever ski again (having suffered a catastrophic back injury 14 years ago), I will go to Utah and get some lessons. I have worked in the Ski Patrol for many years and spent a great deal of time serving the skiing and mountaineering public, to include high-angle rock and ice rescue. I also learned avalanche control, to include planting explosives to knock down potential avalanches and serving as a gun crew member using a 105 mm Recoiless Rifle. What a gig! Mountain climbing, skiing, and using explosives...
Many years ago, I was given an M-16 and taught to use it: I found it to be particularly challenging. Marksmanship has always fascinated me in varying degrees and several years ago, while working with students whom I taught to use handguns, a friend of mine got me interested in long-distance shooting and the fieldcraft of being a sniper. I am slowly working my way up to getting into 1000-yard competition. I think of it more like high-speed bowling with much finer breath and body control. I make no apologies.
In case you haven't figured it out by now, I love having fun...
Video Games
VIDEO GAMES I'VE SPENT THE MOST TIME IN:
A-7D Cockpit Procedures Trainer
AH-64 Apache Longbow Flight Simulator
AV-8B Flight Simulator**
Boeing 727 3-axis Flight Simulator
Boeing 737 3-axis Flight Simulator
Boeing 747 3-axis Flight Simulator
Boeing 757/767 3-axis Flight Simulator
F-8 Cockpit Procdures Trainer
F-14 Air Combat Maneuvering Simulator
F-14 Cockpit Procedures Trainer
F-14 Flight Simulator
F/A-18 Air Combat Maneuvering Simulator
F/A-18 Flight Simulator
V-22 Cockpit Procedures Trainer
V-22 3-axis Flight Simulator
** A special note of acknowledgement and appreciation goes out to both the Royal Navy and the Cranfield Institute for making it possible for me to spend countless hours in the AV-8B flight simulator during my conference visits to the U.K., and to the instructors who patiently taught me how to fly the Harrier.
fuMafia
So you like to play fuMafia, but don't want to spend any of your personal money doing it?
Here are some facts you should acquaint yourself with.
To provide armor-piercing bullets for 750 fortified M-16, it takes 130.21 days.
750 fortified M-16s x 50 Energy pts/fortified M-16 = 37500 Energy pts, which takes 37,500 E pts/12 E pts/hr = 3125 hours = 130.21 days.
To get 750 tanks, it takes 156.25 days.
750 tanks x 60 Energy pts/tank = 45,000 Energy pts, which takes 45,000 E pts/12 E pts/hr = 3750 hours = 156.25 days.
To get 750 reinforced shelters, it takes 169.27 days.
750 reinforced shelters x 65 E pts/reinforced shelter = 48750 E pts, which takes 48750 E pts/12 E pts/hr = 4062.5 hours = 169.27 days.
To equip 750 subs each with a nuclear-armed missile, it takes 3385.42 days.
750 nuke-armed missiles x 1300 E pts/nuke-missile = 975,000 E pts, which takes 975,000 E pts/12 E pts/hr = 81250 hours = 3385.42 days.
Just to equip yourself with 750 fortified M-16s, reinforced shelters, tanks and nuclear-armed subs, it will take you:
130.21 days (750 Fortified M-16s)
156.25 days (750 tanks)
167.27 days (750 Reinforced shelters)
3385.42 days (750 nuclear-armed subs)
= 3841.15 days, or 10.5165 years,
which is just another way of saying:
10 years, 97 days, and 11 hours.
Without these items of equipment, you'll have almost no chance of beating other mobsters... and you still have to make the hundreds of billions of fuBucks that it will take you to acquire the attack weaponry, armor and vehicles that don't cost energy points to acquire. But you're smarter than all other people and winning at this game makes you better thsn them -- so you're willing to do whatever it takes to beat others at this game and you can sit in front of your computer all day and night to accomplish your goals.
YOU'D BETTER GET STARTED IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SPEND YOUR OWN MONEY!!!
BTW, there's a bright rumor to the effect that the game is going to be expanded to 1000 mobsters per gang. If that's true, you'll have to increase the time it takes to approximately:
173.18 days (1000 Fortified M-16s)
207.81 days (1000 Tanks)
222.47 days (1000 Reinforced Shelters)
4502.61 days (1000 Nuclear-armed subs)
= 5106.07 days, or 13.97966 years, or
13 years, 357 days, and 20 hours.
Of course, the owners of fubar will figure out other weapons that you have to have in order to beat the 10% of the players who don't want donate thousands of their personal funds to fubar and its magnanimous owners, or, would prefer to raise families and spend their time enjoying the better things of life... but they're not as smart as you, and you love having the tools to stomp people into greasy little shitty piles of goo. Maybe fubar owners will have another icon for your accomplishments that shows you've ACTUALLY beaten other people soooo badly that they quit the game for good after tangling with you, because you are such a violent badassss... and fuMafia proves it.
Cute Graphics