Things I Especially Like

My wife, Lisa
My sons, William, Michael, and Timothy

And, in no particular order...

The Palm III organizer. This is too cool for words. So why is it better than Windows CE (and this is not in anyway to be interpreted as bashing Windows). Because the Palm III is very tightly integrated with its hardware and contains only those functions that you really need. Look at the things you really need a PDA for... you do not need it to do heavy-duty processing, so cut-down applications like Pocket Word and Pocket Excel are pretty much useless, practically speaking. You need to jot down notes, check your schedule, manage tasks, and perhaps jot down simple sketches. The Palm III does all of this admirably. Also, when you turn it on it simply picks up wherever you left off, instantly. No bloody boot process, no bloody welcome screen, no bloody startup sound, no bloody self-advertisement. US Robotics and 3Com have realized that to be truly useful the organizer's OS must be absolutely invisible to the user. Beautiful job all around!.
I really like my Timex/Microsoft watch. This is the one that you hold in front of your monitor and it downloads your schedule. This is the way things should work! (UPDATE: I've been using a lot less of this now that I've got a Nokia digital cellular phone... I now do all my scheduling in Yahoo Calendar and e-mail the reminders to the phone. This way I can maintain the schedule from anywhere in the world using the Web. Such is progress. Another Update: I haven't used it at all since I got the Palm III. Mainly because we're using Lotus Notes at work... the Palm III links to Notes, the watch doesn't.).
I enjoy a good pipe now and again. When I smoke, it's Virginia Black (that's a variety of tobacco, not a brand).
Music. I don't like listening, and rarely do. Rather, I write and play several instruments (not all at the same time!). My music keyboard sits next to my computer keyboard, and I often swivel between the two when I'm thinking. I also play guitar, recorder, and harmonica.
I read the following magazines at a minimum each month.
- Astronomy
- Biblical Archaeology Review
- Computer. (Journal of the IEEE Computer Society)
- Discover
- Dr. Dobbs' Journal
- FoxPro Advisor
- InfoWorld
- Linux Journal
- Linux Magazine
- National Geographic
- Scientific American
- Skeptic
- Skeptical Inquirer
- Smithsonian
Shakespeare. I think that Taming of the Shrew is about the most hilarious thing ever written.
Sherlock Holmes. My study bears a striking resemblance to Holmes' Baker St. lodgings.
Science Fiction. Babylon 5 has supplanted Star Trek as my television favorite. I have no movie favorite. And as for books, Isaac Asimov was simply brilliant, IMHO... the fact that he could take damned near every science fiction book he'd ever written, and in the last few years of his life tie them in to one huge storyline spanning centuries... sheer brilliance.
Boardgames. I could write a book... in fact, I've actually started writing one, although I've only worked on it sporadically. I've also written a couple of very decent games of my own, which I'm sure I will someday publish. I've got some very specific preferences in this regard, though... I stongly dislike games of chance, so Chess, Shogi, Tablut, Hnefatafel, etc are way up on my list, while games like Backgammon rate somewhat lower.
I used to enjoy drawing. I'm actually extremely good at it when I do it, both on paper and on the computer; but I haven't actually wanted to in years. I'm still trying to figure out why. On the other hand, I went about five years without writing a song, then the next time I felt like writing one it was fantastic.