Welcome to my homepage. I didn't mean to just set this page up as a monument to myself, but several friends of mine said they would like to see it out on the web, because they think I am an "interesting character". Hmmm... I think they mean that I don't have enough money to be "eccentric", so they call me "interesting". Or "weird". Or "nuts". Whatever. All of this is continuously under construction, so if there are any missing images or dead links or whatnot, you have been warned. I have a blast putting together and maintaining this thing, and I hope you have as much fun plundering around in it. There is a lot of text here, and several hyperlinks, so kick back and have fun.
I am a babyboomer. I live in the burbs in a
fairly standard subdevelopment house. I have a wife and an adolescent
daughter
who did not want their pictures here, probably for fear of being
associated
with me on a worldwide medium. I like to have fun, but I don't suffer
fools
gladly. I am very politically incorrect; I am a political libertarian,
a gun owner,
a motorscooter rider, and a constitutionalist, and I am not a
"cat person", So I manage to offend just about everyone at one time or
another. I am not a conspiracy kook per se, but I have to admit some of
the crap going on today leaves little other explanation. My sense of
humor
runs to Brit sitcoms (Fawlty Towers, Keeping Up Appearances, etc.),
Patrick
McManus, Steven Wright, George Carlin (RIP), and the Stooges. My
recreational reading runs to non-fiction, mainly humorists, travel and
food writing. I have DirecTV, but I
don't
have the patience to sit through movies. I watch No Reservations,
Bizarre Foods, a bunch of Court TV, Science Channel, etc, and I am a
talk-radio listener. I tape, and
listen to later, Coast To Coast AM, Micheal Savage, and Neal Boortz.
No, I am not a Rush listener.
For music, I listen mostly to blues, Motown, Celtic, and for total
relaxation,
Gregorian chant. I own about 300 vinyl albums. I'm a jeans kind of guy,
and only own one suit, but I do not wear ties. I live just outside
Birmingham, Alabama; the
only U.S. city I know of that has a pagan deity for a trademark... The
image of Vulcan, the ancient god of the forge and weaponmaking, cast by
Guisseppi Moretti in 1900, and the largest cast iron statue in the
world, stands high atop a tower on Red Mountain, overlooking downtown
Birmingham,
and that symbol is in the city seal. Birmingham was founded as a steel
and railroad town, and ol' Vulcan fits. On the southside,
there is also a grand old Methodist church with a fountain out front
depicting
the horned Wiccan god reading to a group of animals, but that's another
story... I work for a local agency doing software support and general
geek stuff. In exchange, the employer gives me
money with which to pursue my hobbies, and grudgingly pay some bills. I
have a bunch of toys collected over the years, but I am not rolling in
bucks, so I have become adept at buying junk and rebuilding it. It's
fun.
My stamina is not nearly what it once was, due to health limitations,
and
me just getting old (I'm a 1953 model, and high mileage).
Health/Mobility issues: Handicapped is NOT disabled!
Over the
years, I've managed to pick up insulin-dependant diabetes, two serious heart
attacks, congestive heart failure, a pacemaker, neuropathy, and I am a
double
below-knee amputee. So far, I'm still
working from a wheelchair, though any movement
beyond a couple hundred yards involves a mobility scooter, but I keep
my hand in with a number
of
interests and hobbies, so I'm doing OK.
Check out my mobility machines, and some raving about handicap/mobility
issues here.
My interests run to:
ham radio ( ham callsign WD4MEI )
Here are links to some organizations that I belong to, and some pages that I just think are cool...
Note: The link below for Sheldon Brown takes some warning; he is, like me, something of a nut. He is also a true bicycle junkie, service manager and webgod for Harris Cyclery, and a repository of bicycle knowledge; if he don't know it, it probably ain't to be known. It's a massive site, and his personal pages are mixed with Harris's pages, so good luck, and enjoy...
Society
for Creative Anacronism: The Canton of Vulcan's Forge
Bytebrothers
Magic
City Blues Society
KOA
Kampgrounds
Fred Reed: Politically
Incorrect Columnist
Neal Boortz: Politically Incorrect
Radio Host
Scootering
Magazine
Sheldon
Brown
CHUNK 666 - Uber Chopper Bicycle
Gang
The
Horse - Backstreet Choppers Magazine
Email me at wd4mei@yahoo.com
Spammers: I reserve the
right
to post your silly spam to the Usenet and ridicule it publicly!
Last Tinkered With:
12/15/08