2004-07-13
About Me...
There's more to me than video games - that's just what I usually blog about. But maybe you'd like to know some other stuff about me? If so, read on...
I've been married for 7 years to my wife, Carla. We have 4 children, named Rianna (age 6), Heidi (5), Peter (3), and Benjamin (1). We live in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, on the north-west coast of Lake Superior. In 2001 we moved from our first house to a bigger place a little south of town, and at that time Carla's mom Jansje moved in with us. We had 3 cats between us, but are now down to 2, not sure what happened to Cinnamon.
We homeschool the kids - Carla really enjoys doing this, and we do it for a variety of other reasons. We're part of a group of homeschoolers which meet regularly to share and encourage and help each other. The girls also play soccer and take swimming lessons. Rianna is also learning piano.
We have a good sized yard, which Peter in particular enjoys exploring. We've got a nice playfort (a gift from the grandparents which took me one very long day to assemble) called "Harbron Park" by the kids. I cut the grass with a lawn-tractor, which we bought after several day-long grass cutting sessions with the regular mower.
I drive a F-150 truck which still fits all 6 of us, quite snugly. Quite a few times I've helped friends move with it, or haul stuff around - I mention this as justification :)
I work for TBayTel, formerly known as Thunder Bay Telephone, in the Information Systems department. I do various computery things there, usually involving Windows and PCs and networking.
My family attends Lakehead Baptist Church, and I'm currently a deacon there. I'm also involved with the music, playing guitar and occasionally bass when a sufficiently skilled guitarist is available.
I also play music at "Saturday Night Life", a (sometimes) weekly event that involves some music, a brief gospel message, and a good meal for whoever drops in off the street. I usually get to play bass there, and enjoy helping out like that.
I've been in a few bands over the last 10 years or so, including Mike and the Morons, The Transparancies, and North and the Sea. It was with NatS that we opened for The Dustkickers, who were almost something in the 90's (like, I owned an album or two of theirs before we opened for them). Generally I play bass, though the occasional bit of guitar happens. Lately, Richard Pepper and I have been doing some small church-basement type gigs together.
I like listening to music too. Many of my favourite bands share my favourite bassist, Tim Chandler. He appears on albums by Daniel Amos, The Choir, The Lost Dogs and solo efforts by members of these bands, such as Steve Hindalong and Terry Scott Taylor. Other favourite bands/people include Midnight Oil and Neil Young.
I enjoy a few sports, particularly (ice) hockey and cricket. I'd like to play hockey someday, but know I need to improve my fitness and skating first. My favourite hockey team is the Toronto Maple Leafs. My favourite cricket team is the Australian national team. I grew fond of cricket while living in Australia in 1987. I had also lived there in 1977. Both times my family went there through a teacher exchange my dad was in. From time to time I've enjoyed cycling, running, weight-lifting, roller-blading and squash. And I need to do more of this again!
I like reading. Besides old and new computer books and magazines, I like science-fiction (Arthur C. Clarke in particular, and Douglas Adams though that's more like comedy), fantasy (Tolkien, especially the Hobbit), books on Creationism, and reference books, like how-to fix-it books and Star Trek/Star Wars fiction and reference. I've also got a fair sized collection of comics from when I was especially interested in them. My favourites included The Incredible Hulk, various Spider-man and X-men titles and Atari Force.
I watch and collect movies. I'm especially fond of sci-fi and fantasy movies, but also like adventure and some comedy. I'm particularly nostalgic about 80s films. Some of my favourites include Tron, the Mad Max films, Star Wars, Star Trek, The Goonies - probably a bunch I can't think of right now too.
I also like a lot of oldish TV, especially cartoons, and have been purchasing this on DVD when possible. Battle of the Planets, Inspector Gadget, Rocky and Bullwinkle and Astro Boy are some of the shows I like.
I loved Lego as a kid, and have gotten back into it over the past few years. I have to admit that some recent decisions by Lego have dampened my enthusiasm somewhat, but I still really dig the space sets from the late 70s and early 80s I grew up with, and have a fair collection of that stuff, and the more recent Star Wars sets. My kids are really into Lego (specifically, Duplo) too.
Alrighty - I had intended to link this up like crazy, but haven't got around to it after some weeks, so up it goes as is.
I've been married for 7 years to my wife, Carla. We have 4 children, named Rianna (age 6), Heidi (5), Peter (3), and Benjamin (1). We live in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, on the north-west coast of Lake Superior. In 2001 we moved from our first house to a bigger place a little south of town, and at that time Carla's mom Jansje moved in with us. We had 3 cats between us, but are now down to 2, not sure what happened to Cinnamon.
We homeschool the kids - Carla really enjoys doing this, and we do it for a variety of other reasons. We're part of a group of homeschoolers which meet regularly to share and encourage and help each other. The girls also play soccer and take swimming lessons. Rianna is also learning piano.
We have a good sized yard, which Peter in particular enjoys exploring. We've got a nice playfort (a gift from the grandparents which took me one very long day to assemble) called "Harbron Park" by the kids. I cut the grass with a lawn-tractor, which we bought after several day-long grass cutting sessions with the regular mower.
I drive a F-150 truck which still fits all 6 of us, quite snugly. Quite a few times I've helped friends move with it, or haul stuff around - I mention this as justification :)
I work for TBayTel, formerly known as Thunder Bay Telephone, in the Information Systems department. I do various computery things there, usually involving Windows and PCs and networking.
My family attends Lakehead Baptist Church, and I'm currently a deacon there. I'm also involved with the music, playing guitar and occasionally bass when a sufficiently skilled guitarist is available.
I also play music at "Saturday Night Life", a (sometimes) weekly event that involves some music, a brief gospel message, and a good meal for whoever drops in off the street. I usually get to play bass there, and enjoy helping out like that.
I've been in a few bands over the last 10 years or so, including Mike and the Morons, The Transparancies, and North and the Sea. It was with NatS that we opened for The Dustkickers, who were almost something in the 90's (like, I owned an album or two of theirs before we opened for them). Generally I play bass, though the occasional bit of guitar happens. Lately, Richard Pepper and I have been doing some small church-basement type gigs together.
I like listening to music too. Many of my favourite bands share my favourite bassist, Tim Chandler. He appears on albums by Daniel Amos, The Choir, The Lost Dogs and solo efforts by members of these bands, such as Steve Hindalong and Terry Scott Taylor. Other favourite bands/people include Midnight Oil and Neil Young.
I enjoy a few sports, particularly (ice) hockey and cricket. I'd like to play hockey someday, but know I need to improve my fitness and skating first. My favourite hockey team is the Toronto Maple Leafs. My favourite cricket team is the Australian national team. I grew fond of cricket while living in Australia in 1987. I had also lived there in 1977. Both times my family went there through a teacher exchange my dad was in. From time to time I've enjoyed cycling, running, weight-lifting, roller-blading and squash. And I need to do more of this again!
I like reading. Besides old and new computer books and magazines, I like science-fiction (Arthur C. Clarke in particular, and Douglas Adams though that's more like comedy), fantasy (Tolkien, especially the Hobbit), books on Creationism, and reference books, like how-to fix-it books and Star Trek/Star Wars fiction and reference. I've also got a fair sized collection of comics from when I was especially interested in them. My favourites included The Incredible Hulk, various Spider-man and X-men titles and Atari Force.
I watch and collect movies. I'm especially fond of sci-fi and fantasy movies, but also like adventure and some comedy. I'm particularly nostalgic about 80s films. Some of my favourites include Tron, the Mad Max films, Star Wars, Star Trek, The Goonies - probably a bunch I can't think of right now too.
I also like a lot of oldish TV, especially cartoons, and have been purchasing this on DVD when possible. Battle of the Planets, Inspector Gadget, Rocky and Bullwinkle and Astro Boy are some of the shows I like.
I loved Lego as a kid, and have gotten back into it over the past few years. I have to admit that some recent decisions by Lego have dampened my enthusiasm somewhat, but I still really dig the space sets from the late 70s and early 80s I grew up with, and have a fair collection of that stuff, and the more recent Star Wars sets. My kids are really into Lego (specifically, Duplo) too.
Alrighty - I had intended to link this up like crazy, but haven't got around to it after some weeks, so up it goes as is.
