Trying to distill the essence of a person into short blurb is difficult, if not impossible, so I will just throw out some factoids about myself. If I am writing from the heart at this blog, then you should be able to get a better sense of who I am from my writings anyways...
Vital Statistics: 36, male, heterosexual, republican, religiously un-affiliated but raised Presbyterian, single, no kids, somewhat bored, gainfully employed.
Likes : Objective truth, intellectual honesty, patriotism, moral courage, God, Mom, the flag, apple-pie, The republican party, rural America, fact-based reasoning, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Star Trek, The Hubble Space Telescope, Auto-biographical history, classical literature, vanilla ice-cream, tools ( I have a major tool fetish, and am utterly incapable of entering a Home Depot without purchasing at least one tool ), Dog-the-Bounty-Hunter's wife, the smell and feel of a fine Autumn day when the first chill is in the air and the leaves are starting to turn colors, Ronald Reagan, Winston Churchill, William Dembski and Micheal Behe.
Dislikes: moral relativism, liberal crap, mindless emotion-based sound-byte arguments, Ad Homenim, political correct-ness, intellectual cowardice, multi-culturalism, revisionist history, dope-smoking hippies, pop-culture, Islam, people who drive crappy honda civics with buzzy aftermarket mufflers and play loud bass in residential neighborhoods for no apparent reason, pets of any variety who are prone to peeing or pooping on the rug, Ted Kennedy, Ward Churchill, Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins.
A few random things about me:
I seem to have a great deal of patience and tolerance for people who mean well, even when they make big mistakes, but in contrast, I seem to have absolutely zero-tolerance and a wicked temper for people who go through life not caring about others and constantly showing disrespect- even when that disrespect is manifested in small ways.
Something I inherited from my Dad is a tendency to speak the truth with absolutely no regard for the consequences, and no conscern whatsoever for how I am liked or disliked for speaking that truth. I don't think that truth is relative or that every story has two sides, and I dont care if everybody in the world disagrees with me about something- If I think God is on my side, I'll walk alone.
I am 36 years old, and have never been drunk or stoned. It was just a personal choice I made when I was about 14 and everybody else started drinking at parties. I didnt like how people acted when they were drunk, and I never wanted to be like that. In my life, I have seen alcohol and drugs cause a lot of harm, but I have yet to see them do anybody any good. The closest I ever got to being high was being truly in love once, and also when I was running on the high-school cross-country team I definitly entered some kind of transcendental state sometimes when I was out there with the wind in my hair- pushing the limits of my mental and spiritual capabilities. Those were some truly intoxicating times, and like the old cliche- I was high on life.
I like to read, and it's opened up whole other worlds to me- of thoughts, ideas, and imagination that a lot of the Television and Playstation Generation is sadly missing-out on. Seriously, if you love your kids- limit the TV and video games and get them a library card. Reading is such an incredibly enriching experience- and you never know... they might even take some some of that knowledge and form an intelligent worldview- which is getting harder and harder to find these days.
Some of my favorite Books/Authors are: Ralph Waldo Emerson ( his transcendentalist essays on Heroism and Spiritual Laws changed my life ), John Milton ( Paradise Lost ), Anything epic- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Iliad, The Oddesy, Dante's Inferno etc..., William Shakespeare, Auto-biographical history; I especially liked reading first-person accountsof history by Winston Churchill, Richard Nixon, and Douglas MacArthur. Favorite all-time book- a toss-up between The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, and The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Other favorites; CS Lewis ( Perelandra ), Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series ( Without Remorse ), Stephen Coonts ( Flight of the Intruder, Saucer), Eric L. Harry ( Arc Light ), Micheal Chrichton ( all ), Richard Rhodes ( The Making of the Atomic Bomb )
I am a commited Trekkie, and it's not about William Shatner's hammy acting. Star Trek represents an optimistic alternative future for our species, as opposed to human-kind blowing itself to kingdom come. If we ever were able to agree on some basic rules and principles for everybody more-or-less getting along with each other here on this planet, and we could devote our resources to seeing what is ultimately POSSIBLE for humanity, then I think Rodenberry's vision is maybe not so far-fetched. We still know very little about even some of the most fundamental forces in nature- gravity for instance. We do know that space can be bent and that time is relative as we approach light speed. Who knows- maybe warp drive IS possible. It's an open question still. I am deeply,and profoundly, dissapointed that in my life-time we have abandoned the bold pioneering spirit of Apollo, and instead have been farting around aimlessly in low-earth orbit for the last 40 years. It's a tragedy for people like me. If it werent for the Hubble-Space Telescope, the sad state of affairs would be unbearable. And while I am on the subject of stalled technology- where the hell is my flying car? I grew up watching "the Jetsons" and I just assumed we would be further along by now. The internal combustion engine is obsolete technology. It's time to take personal transportation to the next level if you ask me...
I am an advocate for Intelligent Design Theory, Conservative Republican Politics, and a Constitutional Amendment making it legal to hunt down and execute telemarketers.
My favorite TV Shows:
Star-Trek the Next Generation, Myth-Busters, The Sopranos, Entourage, the First 48, Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Favorite Movies: Forest Gump, Contact ( based on Carl Sagan's Book ), Saving Private Ryan, Lord of the Rings Trilogy ( I was deeply suspicious and skeptical when I heard they were going to try and adapt Tolkien's masterpiece to film. But I actually thought they were faithful to his work- I wish I could say the same about The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy ). Star- Wars Episode 2, Hoosiers
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I have moved all over hell-and-gone in my life. I have probably had 30 different adresses. My family moved a lot when I was a kid, and I have continued the tradition as an adult. But If I had to pick one place out of all of them, to call "home", it would be the small rural, mid-western town that my Dad grew up in- Byhalia, Ohio. At the time I lived there,the population was "50"- at least according to the sign on the side of the road as you approached our one traffic intersection. ( I checked recently, and they seem to have taken Byhalia off the map now...) When I was 12 or so, my family moved back there to my Grandma's house for a while, and I would climb up on the roof of the house to a secret alcove that wasnt visible from the ground. I would lay up there for hours looking out across the corn fields that stretched as far as the eye could see. I dont think I have ever been happier. I live in the city now, and sometimes, on long driving trips, when the roads get desolate enough, and I find myself surrounded by nothing but empty fields of corn or wheat, I will find myself heaving a great sigh of relief as though a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders that I wasnt even aware that I was carrying. I am not sure exactly what that means....I am a notorious tinkerer, and if left alone in a garage with tools, materials, time, and an ample supply of ritz crackers and diet sunkist -there is no telling what may emerge. My aspirations include; self-employment, to grow the world's largest pumpkin, to compete in a robotics competition, to learn about and become proficient in astro-photography, to live long enough to see Humans walk on Mars, and to construct a robot butler that will make me dinner and not irritate me with needless conversation. ( Ideally, said robot butler would also be a Pamela Anderson clone. ) I am an equal-opportunity misanthrop ( I hate assholes of all races and creeds equally ). I am currently building my very own Ranque-Hilsch vortex-tube for no particular reason.
