Everyone seems to have their own pastimes, whether it be sports, reading, travel or whatever. In this section of the web site, I'd like to share with you some of the interests I have. Perhaps we have something in common. The following items are not in any particular order.
If I were to list things in some priority order, I probably would put travel first or close to the top of my list. I think my love of travel goes back to my mother and her independent nature. I was the youngest of three boys, and because of being seven and nine years younger than my older brothers, I may as well have been an only child. Quite often my mother wanted to go visit some friends but there was me to consider. She solved that problem simply by taking me along.
From my childhood home in Cleveland, Ohio, my mother and I would venture off by car or train, and travel to Pittsburgh, or maybe Fort Wayne, Indiana to visit someone. I learned about packing, eating out, and long hours in the car or train. But then, as today, I treat getting there as simply a means to an end, and it's the end point on which I focus. Being somewhere to see something or someone - that's why I like to travel.
During my working career with IBM, the nature of my job enabled me to travel extensively. I saw many foreign countries that I doubt I would have seen otherwise. When American Airlines began their AAdvantage frequent flyer program, I was quick to sign up. To date, I have logged about four million miles with American Airlines, and 'spent' most of the mileage on my kids and grandkids. Today, I have something like 500,000 unspent miles, and I'm sure I'll find good use for them.
Especially now, as I am cutting back on my work activities and trying to be fully retired, I can manage my calendar perhaps better than when I was a full time employee with IBM. I frequently tell people that now I don't have to be anywhere on Monday that I don't want to be. What I mean by this is, I can travel somewhere on business now, and either go early or stay late, simply to do some sightseeing and/or visit friends. It's a great combination - getting paid to do something I like to do, and having virtually a free ticket to where I want to be for personal reasons.
In 1997, I logged 19,000 miles, touring all 48 contiguous United States from May to August. My diaries and photos are available elsewhere on this web site. I have general plans for more trips of this nature in the future. I'll keep you posted.
I don't claim to be a very good photographer, but I certainly like to take pictures, both 35mm, video and digital. I began using 35mm film back in 1954 and shot slide film exclusively until the late 1970s. I have thousands of slides on file, all cataloged and ready for viewing. When my children were growing up, it was a special treat for one of the children to be designated to choose which slides to view on a given family night at home.
Between 1980-2000, I shot mostly 35mm color print film, in varying ASA film speeds. I shoot ASA 100 or ASA 200 most often. Like my slide collection, all my photos are captioned using my PC and one line labels to record the who/what/when kind of data. I have thousands of 35mm pictures on file. Most are family related, and many have to do with various trips I've taken, or events that I was somehow involved in. Visitors to my home enjoy being able to browse a given photo album on their own, pausing to ask questions about only those photos that interest them.
Since the mid-1990s, I have been recording events using my video camera. In addition to family-related events, my most active use of the video camera was to record about 20 hours of my 1997 'See the USA' trip.
I have a hardware/software 'gadget' called Snappy that I use to extract still pictures from video tapes and create digital JPG files for transmitting via the Internet.
In December 1999, I purchased my first digital camera and assorted accessories. I like the camera because it has a telephoto lens, and both a viewer as well as an LCD display for composing a picture. The LCD display can be used to review pictures, and optionally deleting those that I decide not to keep. I can transfer pictures to my PC using a smart card or use a cable to connect the camera to the PC for file transfer. The camera also can connect to a TV or electronic projector and sequence through pictures in slide show mode. Much fun!
In recent years, document all my major trips using my digital camera. If I travel with someone or a group, I usually create a CD with all my pictures for that trip and give one to each of my fellow travelers. I further select a subset of my pictures, write text to describe each picture and put both the picture and text on this web site.
I like the outdoors and I certainly like to hike and explore new areas, whether on some city streets or off in the wilderness. I'm a natural tourist, and I'm always curious to see what's around the next corner or bend in the road, or the next hill.
I chose to retire in the Reno/Sparks/Lake Tahoe area of northern Nevada for a number of reasons. One major reason is the access to public lands - and that means hiking, hunting, camping, fishing, and so on. I have climbed a number of mountain peaks in my time, in many areas of the country and world. But close to home, I have mountain peaks of 8,000 to 11,000 just a half hour away.
An annual favorite mountain hike for me is nearby Mount Rose, elevation 10,766 feet above sea level. I usually drive up to about the 7000-8000 foot level and then hike up from there. At my age, I'm pleased to say that my heart, lungs and legs are in good shape. If your's are not, then find another thing to do.
On several occasions, I have driven over to Utah and specifically hiked the trails at the Zion National Park. My favorite there is a trail to Angel's Landing. It's 2.5 miles of steady climbing but the view from 1500 feet above the canyon floor is fantastic. When you look down the very sheer redstone mountainside, you have a feeling of accomplishment.
I'm fully aware that some people may be anti-gun, but I do enjoy both hunting and target shooting. I belong to the Washoe County Regional Shooting Facility, just north of the Reno/Sparks area, where shooting is done in a Rangemaster-controlled environment. I own a number of pistols and rifles and practice at least once per month when the weather permits. My son, Mike, often drives up from San Jose spend a weekend with me. We do many things, and target shooting is one of those recreational pleasures.
Living just a half hour away from the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this is certainly the place to enjoy winter sports. No one in my family knew how to ski, so consequently, I never learned how. But, I learned to cross-country ski and that's good exercise. Sleds and tobaggons represented snow-fun when I was growing up, and naturally my children learned to enjoy that experience.
In the past, I have rented snowmobiles, and my family seemed to enjoy the sport. When I retired, I bought one snowmobile, not being sure whether the family was still interested in joining me for that kind of snow fun. But, now I have two and my kids and their kids all love to plow through the snow on my snowmobiles. Storage of my double-wide snowmobile trailer is a challenge, but it fits in one stall of my three car garage.
Mount Rose is most accessible snowmobiling area, but I also have an annual permit to use the forest trails just across the Nevada- California stateline. My son, Mike, and I have spent many an hour on those trails.
Better known as a 'quad', ATVs can be fun, but they also deserve some common sense. Three wheel ATVs are considered unsafe because they can tip over easily, but four wheel ATVs are powerful and more stable vehicles for riding through the desert around my home.
I wear a helmet and insist that others do too. I even wear a cinch belt to keep my back upright and my torso tight while bouncing over the terrain. My son, Mike, joins me riding his motorcycle dirt bike. With 85 percent of Nevada being federally-owned, there's a lot of public access to the wide open spaces.
Kayaking is new to me, but I'm learning fast. The Truckee River flows from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake, and there are miles of river for any class of kayaker, from beginner to expert. Me? I'm just above a beginner. But I've learned from my spills in the water, how to navigate the rapids, however big or small, and how to enjoy the sport.
Like riding the ATV, I wear a helmet while kayaking. I take nothing with me that might be ruined by getting dunked in the water, and I wear sneakers to give me footing should I take a spill. In calmer waters, like Pyramid Lake, the kayak is an easy way to get out on the water to do some fishing.
Since my grandkids are getting older, I'm ready for more fun. We go white water river rafting each summer. After a good snowfall, the spring runoff can make the rivers challenging with 6-8 foot deep rapids.
When I'm home, I usually go to the YMCA each morning between 5-6AM. I have my own routine, first using the basketball court to limber up and then the treadmill to walk off some calories. After that, it's a choice of several exercise machines to pull, push or somehow stress the body. After an hour, I read the morning paper and have a cup of coffee before leaving the Y. Both are free and it's a good way to cool down before going back outside.
It seems like I'm always doing something around the house. Recently, I designed and constructed a built-in wine rack and a built-in book shelves in my family room.
I have installed pulldown stairs, under the counter lighting, ceiling fans and other conveniences in and around my home. I like to build children's log cabins, based on the Lincoln Log concept, using landscaping timbers, usually eight foot long and 4x4 inches.
In my three car garage, I designed and built a twelve foot custom workbench, with power strips and peg board running the entire length. I have constructed gates on all three sides of the six foot high wooden fence that surrounds my backyard, and with my son, Mike, I have designed an erected a 14x24 wooden arbor over my concrete patio just outside my back door.
Several years ago, I began to design and built Christmas lawn decorations made of plywood and painted to withstand the weather. My collection now includes a life size Santa (complete with a laptop computer, making a list and checking it twice!), Mrs. Claus, a deer, and lots of elves, toy soldiers, candy canes, and such. My next project will be a wooden train which is really silhouettes mounted vertically on the edge of wooden turntable to make it look like a train going round and round.
I enjoy bowling, shooting pool, minature golf, hitting an occasional tennis ball, swimming and probably other less stressful sports. I enjoyed playing baseball and softball as a youth, and would like to once again, but my travel seems to interfere with any regular league play. The City of Sparks, by the way, has the second highest per capita participation in organized ball (hard or softball) in the U.S.. The sky is really lit up around here on summer nights.