|
On
this page I get to indulge myself and talk about some of the things in life
(other than computers) that I enjoy. As you'll see I have a lot of
interests and my tastes tend to be all over the map. I list them here in no
particular order. Clicking on some of the pictures will bring up a larger
version.
 |
 Fast
Trucks
I grew up in the era of muscle cars and my love for them has never wavered.
I've owned many fast vehicles but my favorite is the one pictured at the left.
This is a 1991 GMC Syclone truck, one of only 3000 built
during it's single year of production. It had about 300 turbo-charged
horsepower, all-wheel-drive, a Corvette transmission, and could accelerate from
0-60 in under 5 seconds, making it one of the fastest production vehicles ever
sold. Click
here to read the infamous 1991 Car and Driver road test that
pitted the Syclone against a Ferrari 348ts.
I was the proud owner of this truck until 1997 when it was stolen while I was
playing golf in Alameda with my friend Jeff Blair. My insurance paid off and I
posted the VIN on this web site. Not long ago I received an email from a chap
in Canada saying he had bought a Syclone with the same VIN. It seems my truck
was recovered by the police (severely battered) and re-sold by the insurance
company. If you have the bandwidth for it click here to view a video of how my old truck is doing now. (This
video is about 5Mb in size so don't try it on a modem).
|
|
 Horses
I was very active with horses when I was young and lived in the
mountains. But when I got older and started chasing career
goals in the cities of California I was forced to limit my love for
horses to cherished memories. The Silicon Valley has no pastures.
My return to Utah a couple of years ago allowed me to once again
explore my fascination with all things equestrian. I now own four horses, all boys: Ace is a retired thoroughbred race horse who's about 20 years old, Royal is 6, Max is 5 and Admiral is 2. Royal, Max and Admiral are all brothers and they share truly royal blood extending back through the mighty War Admiral and Man O' War. This picture shows me with Ace, my
trusted friend and patient tutor in my quest to become a skilled
rider.
|
|
 Photography
Even though I've had a number of creative outlets through the years including
music and writing, photography has been my most consistent and satisfying form
of expression. I never seem to tire of it.
In the last few years the advent of digital photography as allowed me to
combine my loves of the camera and the computer. I spend a lot of my spare time
traveling with a camera over my shoulder. I do not consider myself a great
photographer, but I find the process satisfying even if no one ever views the
results but me. You can see some examples of my work in my
photo gallery.
|
|
 Golf
It's a good thing I didn't discover golf until after I turned 40 or I might
never have done anything else. I play the game every chance I get, and I find
even practicing has a therapeutic effect on me. My friends and I play nearly
every week, and in the summer we sometimes go out in the evening after work. My
handicap varies between 8 and 15 depending on how much I play. My lifetime
quest is to shoot par. Best score so far: 75.
My favorite golf is in Hawaii where I've traveled to play a number of times in
the last few years. My favorite courses are
Koolau on Oahu (slope 163),
Mauna Lani on the big island, and the
Prince Course on Kauai. The picture above was taken a couple of years
ago at Pebble
Beach and shows me on the right with my friends (l-to-r) Hank Chau, Fel
Bautista and Eddie Lee.
|
|
 Physics
A few years ago I was struggling with some of the weightier issues of life like
the purpose of existence and the nature of reality. Unsatisfied with the lack
of answers elsewhere I decided to turn to science, specifically physics.
Surely, I reasoned, if anyone can define reality it has to be the physicist.
After all, it is physics that has given us the capability of flying to the moon
as well as seeing into the very heart of matter itself. Right?
What a strange and fascinating journey it has been. Reading the words of
Albert Einstein,
Richard Feynman (above),
Isaac Newton,
Werner Heisenberg,
Niels Bohr,
Stephen Hawking, John Wheeler and
Paul Davies has proven two things to me: First, if you want to know
what's real don't ask a physicist. And second, the universe in which we live is
a much more intriguing, and puzzling, place than I had ever imagined. I find
myself drawn particularly to Quantum Physics which seems to be trying to tell
us something profound about
reality and our place in the cosmos.
"Anyone who is not shocked by Quantum Theory has not
understood it".
Niels Bohr
|
|
 Sports
I've been involved in sports all my life. When I was younger I played
everything imaginable, and for a few years even attempted to play racquetball
on a professional level. These days my participant status is pretty much
limited to golf, running, tennis, swimming and squash.
I'm a big fan of professional sports, and even though I no longer live there I
still follow the Bay Area teams I idolized for so long. My real passion
over the last 20 years has been
San Francisco 49ers football. During the years of
Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and
Steve Young my schedule literally revolved around the weekly 49ers game.
These days the niners are struggling to rebuild, but I still find them
enormously entertaining. Of course I also watch every time
Tiger Woods plays golf on TV.
|
|
 Music
Since I was born, it seems, a part of me has been consumed with music. I
consider it one of life's great pleasures, as well as one of its most puzzling
mysteries.
My musical tastes range from rock-and-roll to classical, but I find myself
listening mostly to what is called Contemporary Jazz - though I don't
think anyone knows quite what that means. Some of my favorite artists are
Pat Metheny (left),
Dave Grusin,
Acoustic Alchemy,
Ennio Morricone, Paul Hardcastle and the
Rippingtons. The best concert I've seen was the Pat Metheny Group at the
Paramount Theater in Oakland last May.
I recently made a discovery when I installed
XM satellite radio in my truck. I did it for the reception because I
spend so much time traveling out of range of broadcast radio. What I've
discovered, though, is that XM is the best music service I've ever heard. Their
playlists are phenomenal. I'm regularly finding new music that I didn't know
existed.
|
|
 Travel
I was born with an urge to wander. I make my living sitting in a chair so it's
little wonder that I take every chance I get to hit the open road. My favorite
mode of travel is my truck, and my destination of choice is usually the
mountains.
The photograph at right was taken along the
Alaska Highway in the
Yukon Territory on a driving trip I took in 2002 from California to
Alaska and back - just over 9,000 miles in all. Riding in my truck through new
terrain is, for me, like sitting in a theatre and watching a beautiful movie in
360-degree surround-vision. I could ride like that forever.
|
|
|
 TV
and Movies
Star
Trek: The Next Generation is my favorite television program, and even
though it's now in re-runs it still has no peer. Recently I started watching
Smallville on the WB. I'm an easy sell for that show because I'm a
lifelong Superman junkie.
I love going to movies, and here are some of my favorites:
Young Frankenstein,
Monty Python and the Holy Grail,
The Silence of the Lambs,
The Lion in Winter,
The Mosquito Coast,
Titanic,
Ordinary People,
Raiders of the Lost Ark,
Total Recall,
Blade Runner,
Moulin Rouge,
Jurrassic Park,
Alien,
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,
2001: A Space Odyssey and
Once Upon a Time in the West. In general I go to any movie whose credits
contain one of these names:
Stephen Spielberg,
Ridley Scott,
Julia Roberts,
Tom Hanks,
Baz Luhrman or
Harrison Ford.
|
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
Reading