I have a number of interests on which I spend most of my free time. I tend to shift on and off topics with some regularity, so I update this section more frequently than I probably should have to.
Running and Triathlon
In 2007, I quit smoking and started running with the idea that it would help me stay off cigarettes. Ultimately, it didn’t, but that’s neither here nor there. In 2008, I ran seven marathons and half-marathons. By the end of the year, I had my eye on triathlons, having made several friends who really enjoyed the sport. A close friend had already talked me into buying a road bike and so I signed up for several events in 2009. By the time the season started, I had bought a triathlon bike and was considering a full Ironman triathlon. In November 2009, I completed the Beach2Battleship Ironman Triathlon in Wilmington, North Carolina. It was a challenging and grueling event, but also a life-changing experience.
I’ve spent the last couple of years doing a lot less training, and fewer races. I ran the Disney Marathon and raced the Rocketman Half-Ironman triathlon in 2013 and then decided I need a long break. I’m just getting back into running and will probably look for a local race to do in early 2017, if only to keep myself motivated.
I’m really not as inclined to run so much as I used to be though I really would like to get back to it just to maintain physical fitness. I’d really like to do some cold(er) weather runs and do a little trail running. I actually feel like I enjoy those runs.
Web Design
I started designing web sites years ago (1996 to be exact) and have always enjoyed it. I own a small web design and software development business that caters to other small businesses and offers site design and process automation services, as well as business process consulting.
Genealogy
I took a college history course several years ago that included a genealogy assignment as the final project. The instructor required us to (correctly) research at least three generations of our families and document our findings. I was instantly hooked and have managed to trace my maternal line back to the late 1700s and my paternal line to the late 1600s.
I’m in the middle of trying to better document this and complete a second verification of all my sources so that I can publish the information and distribute it to known family members. I’m hopeful that I can complete this project by the sprint of 2017, and I plan to also publish it on my website.
It would be nice to be able to distribute an updated Genealogical Record to the family members who are interested in our lineage.
Music
My love of music goes back to my childhood. I’ve always loved listening to music (sometimes on repeat, which drives my wife absolutely nuts) and spending several years as a DJ only made the addiction worse. I love house remixes of old songs and especially closed distribution white labels that are not particularly well-known.
Travel
As a kid, my parents used to try to get us away from home and take vacations into the mountains at least once a year. That only lasted for about three years. As an adult, I’ve never been one to take vacations, usually because I was so overloaded at work and taking time off would have painful consequences afterward. Every October, my mother and her husband rent a cabin in the mountains and sit there for a week doing basically nothing; that doesn’t sound fun to me. I have to plan, I have to do things all the time, I can’t sit idle.
In 2011, my wife and I decided to take an actual vacation and picked Las Vegas as the destination. We planned a three-day trip to the Grand Canyon, and I can tell you now that Vegas pales in comparison. Our new approach is to take an annual vacation and hit at least one National Park on each trip. In 2012, we visited Los Angeles, Yosemite National Park, and San Francisco. We stayed closer to home in 2013, only going as far as Savannah, Georgia a couple of times. We had considered going to Glacier National Park for our 2014 trip, but that was put on hold due to the impending birth of our sun in August of that year.
We’d really like to go to Budapest, Hungary. I’ve been there a couple of times on business and really love it. I’d like for my wife to see it, and it would be great to visit my friends there again.