Like many people, I have more hobbies than I have time for.

I pursue a lot of technical projects under the auspices of Digital Aggregates that I should probably count as hobbies since they generate zero revenue. Recently I installed and configured an Asterisk open source PBX. If you want to try it out, you can dial 1 303 940 9064 x200 and get a pre-recorded message selected more or less at random by a shell script running on my PBX. Right now I am trying to set up a development environment for an embedded Linux platform for an internet appliance, with some hope of playing around with Java ME.

I read. A lot. Both fiction and non-fiction. Fiction tends to be hard science fiction, mainstream fiction, or detective fiction. Non-fiction is typically books on software engineering, or popular books like (recently) The Tipping Point, The Wisdom of Crowds, Inviting Disaster, The Sociopath Next Door, and Freakonomics. It takes a lot of discipline to make time nearly every day for reading. You can get a list of some of the mostly fiction that I can recommend, or a list of the non-fiction that I've found useful.

I work out. I try to fit in two hours, three times a week, at the gym. I used to be really into weight lifting, but thanks to several broken bones over the past decade, all the result of motorcycle accidents, I've been recently concentrating mostly on cardiovascular training.

I like motorcycling. Most of my riding is either recreational jaunts around town or long tours. Recently, I did a seven day, three thousand mile trip around Nevada. I rode US50 ("The Loneliest Highway in America") across the state, SR375 ("The Extraterrestrial Highway") near Groom Lake and Area 51, the Las Vegas "Strip" at night, and across Hoover Dam. I own a 2000 BMW R1100RT touring bike, a 1991 BMW R100RT touring bike, and a 2001 Triumph Bonneville roadster. I carry some titanium in my left arm from high-siding my 1996 Honda CBR1000F sport bike, and as a result I decline to commute on a bike in rush hour traffic any more. Although it might not seem likely given my record of broken bones due to motorcycle accidents, I have taken the MSF beginners and experienced rider courses and a race-track course from former world champion Reg Pridmore.

I like to shoot and have taken several tactical shooting courses. My favorite tactical sidearm is my Glock 23; that's the compact form factor in caliber .40S&W. More recently: I'm trying to get some range time in with my new SIG P229R DAK, also in .40S&W. I expect it to eventually replace my G23 as my tactical sidearm. My favorite tactical long gun is my Bushmaster Carbine in 5.56mm with a holographic sight and an M6 tactical light and integrated laser. But my favorite firearms to shoot are my cowboy guns: a couple of Ruger Vaquero single action revolvers, a lever-action Winchester rifle, a replica of a Remington over-and-under derringer, all in caliber .45 Long Colt, and a twelve gauge double barrel coach gun. The derringer is by far the most brutal handgun I have ever fired, and that includes a couple of .44 Magnums that I own. On my recent trip to Nevada, I took the opportunity to shoot an H&K MP5 9mm submachine gun on full auto. My wife Kathleen shoots a Glock 19; that's the compact form factor in caliber 9mm. She has also proven quite adept with our Remington 870 pump-action 12 gauge shotgun.

I love ball room dancing, and have taken classes on and off for years, both with my wife Kathleen Sloan, and with my occasional but talented dance partner Tamarra Noirot. I like smooth dances like Foxtrot and Waltz, swing dances like East Coast Swing and West Coast Swing, and Latin dances like Tango, Cha Cha, and Salsa. What I lack in skill I make up for in enthusiasm. Unfortunately, thanks to losing the use of my left arm (see above) for almost a year, and some other health problems on the part of my dance partner, I have not done much dancing in the past couple of years. I miss it and hope to return to it.

I once was an avid downhill snow boarder. I rode a Morrow Rail 155 with Burton three-strap bindings, a setup I really liked. However, my snow boarding was put on hiatus a few years ago when I was struck from behind on a blue run in a slow zone at Breckenridge Colorado by an out-of-control skier who admitted that she was just learning and did not know how to stop. The collision took out my right knee. It took a couple of years before I could walk without a limp.

I also carry around some soft tissue damage from various other forms of sport. For a nerd, I seem to be remarkably hard on my body.

I own a lot of motion picture and television soundtracks (like, two thousand or so, on vinyl and compact disc). I like the mainstream like John Barry, John Williams, and Danny Elfman, but my favorite is probably the Japanese composer Yoko Kanno. I also listen to artists like Swing Out Sister, Supreme Beings of Leisure, Dirty Vegas, Everything But The Girl, with occasional into foreys into The Clash, The Pretenders, The Motels, Johnny Clegg, and a lot of obscure world music. I'm a little surprised to find out that I like a lot of trip-hop, house, and punk. I am pretty sure I am the only person in the entire United States that collects Swing Out Sister, a British duo whose fan base is primarily in Japan.

I have been married to my wife Kathleen since 1984. I enjoy goofing off with her and our two cats, Pyewacket and Bastet (who is "helping" me type this right now).

I like to travel. One winter I decided to cash in all the spare foreign currency I had leftover from my travels. It turned out I had over $800 in foreign cash, from France, Switzerland, Italy, England, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia, Japan, and China. It was a nice if unexpected Christmas bonus. The most interesting place I have been was a month spent in the People's Republic of China. I kept a journal about my adventures. The most relaxing was a few days spent with my wife in a grass hut on stilts over the water on an island off the coast of Tahiti.