I was born on May 2, 1958. I will let you do the math to figure the age, since this number varies more often than I change this page!! I was born in Fairbanks, Alaska; within my first week I'd already had a ride in a small airplane to Lake Minchumina, where I grew up.
Height: 5'9" (175 cm).
Weight: 205 pounds (84 kg) {ideal weight: 165 (75 kg)}.
Health: excelent.
I grew up in the bush, with all the self-sufficiency and character that engenders.
In 1997 I began college, and have gone off and on ever since. In 1983 I obtained a BS in biology, and in 1999 I obtained a BS in geology. More information on my schooling.
In 1978 I crashed an airplane, which resulted in some minor, but
permanent
injuries. Specifically
the talus bone
in my right foot has degenerative arthritis (as a result of being
broken, which
reduced the blood supply)--this causes an occasional limp when it is
acting up;
the femur in my right leg was crushed and when it healed my right leg
was an
inch or so shorter than my left leg (this occasions no real problem
other than
I use a block of wood in my right shoe to correct the length), it also
healed slightly crooked so now my footprints look strange because my
right foot toes out and my left foot toes in; I crushed my
left elbow (which lacks about 10° of full extension, but poses no other
problems); and
dislocated my left shoulder (this has never bothered me, though I do
have a
quarter-sized numb patch on my left arm as the result of a pinched
nerve).
In 1985 I formed a construction company, TANSTAAFL Inc, with Matt J.
and we built several houses and other buildings. The construction
industry in Alaska was doing poorly due to the slump in the economy, so
by 1989 I (Matt having exited in 1988) I began getting into apartments
and rentals. Which I have continued to expand.
In the summer of 2005 a boiler that was heating one of my buildings
failed,
and we decided to install a coal fired boiler. To my astonishment
I couldn't find anyone working with coal furnaces in Fairbanks, so I
started my own company, Coal and
Heat, Inc in the summer of 2006 to install coal fired equipment in
Fairbanks.
In 1995 I met Frances Nichols, whom I married in January 2001.
We took a cruise around the world for a honeymoon (as a pre-honeymoon
we bicycled from Fairbanks to Seattle in the summer of 2000) in the
spring of 2001. In the spring of 2002 our son Richard was born,
and Karen followed in December 2004.
I have had many sailing adventures, about which I've written quite a
bit.
My vision is somewhat better than 20/20, though I have noticed a
slight
degradation when I am tired or stressed. I exercise my eyes
regularly to retain my vision, but (as with all people) I expect by my
late 40's or early 50's to need glasses to either read or see distance.
My hearing is good, but there is a very slight loss at the frequencies fans and engines put out (too much flying and living in closed ecological life support systems, in spite of diligently using hearing protection!)
Physically I am in excellent shape. I
have had a certain amount of weight control problem.
At no
time was I ever out of shape; I have a very active lifestyle (SCUBA
diving,
biking, cutting wood, etc), but I tended to eat out far more than was
good for
me. This has caused considerable weight
gain (40+ pounds).
I have many and varied hobbies.
Though I currently have no airplane (having sold it in favor of
maintaining the sailboat), I do hope to get back into flying sometime
soon.
The
current copyright laws protect this page, even though not specifically
copyrighted.
However
if you want to use portions of it feel free to do so, though I would
appreciate
it if you would acknowledge my authorship.