I was born in May, 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) or 5'8" (depending on which leg I am standing on--my right leg, crushed when I crashed a PA-18A, is about an inch shorter than my left).
Weight: 205 pounds (84 kg) {ideal weight: 165 (75 kg)}.
Health: excellent.
I grew up in the bush, with all the self-sufficiency and character that engenders.
In 1977 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 and 2018 I obtained my MBA. More information on my schooling (note: this is obsolete as of about 2005).
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
crushed 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
continued to expand into the early 2000s, getting to 85
units. I .
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. Demand for coal boilers tapered off
significantly starting in 2008, so a few years later I closed
that company.
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.
[very old] My vision was 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.
2019 update: I now have to wear glasses to read, but my vision
remains remarkably good for my age!
My hearing is good, but there is a slight loss at the high 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 a sailboat), I do hope to get back into flying
sometime.
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.