tennis (singles and doubles), guitar, keyboards, vocals, songwriting, home studio recording, hiking, desert bicycling, international travel, mensa, absurdity, tech stuff, NASDAQ (how to gain and lose a $million dollars without really trying), futurist babbling, whimsical and intellectual discussion, alternativepolitics and discussion, alternative philosophies and thinking (aaltuit and pantheism), and more ...
Music
A broad range of tastes, excluding only rap/disco, twang country, harsh jazz, saccharin pop/bubblegum, etc. My favorite styles are blues, R&B, rock, progressive rock, alternative, old-school soul, and soft jazz.
A few old groups I like: Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Neil Young, Steve Miller Band, Pink Floyd, Stones, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Beatles, Yes, Todd Rundgren, Chicago Transit Authority, Byrds, Flock, Doors, Clapton, Creedence, Steve Winwood, Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac, Van Morrison, Moody Blues, Elton John, Bob Seger (70s), Bonnie Raitt (70s), Santana, Mitch Ryder, Beach Boys, David Bowie, Steppenwolf, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Jimmie Spheeris, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Eagles, Doobies, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett.
Somewhat more recent: Prince, U2, Depeche Mode, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Clash, Living Colour, Steely Dan, Bruce Cockburn, Split Enz, Crowded House, Eurythmics, Gloria Estefan, K D Lang, Melissa Ethridge, Pretenders, Police, INXS, Natalie Merchant, Sarah McLachlan, John Cougar Mellencamp, Alanis Morissette, Nirvana, REM, Simple Minds, Spin Doctors, Oasis, Sting, George Michael, Sade, Stevie Ray Vaughn
Relatively recent: No Doubt, Joss Stone, Norah Jones, Sixpence, Sheryl Crow, Lenny Kravitz, Sneaker Pimps, India Arie, Keb Mo, Craig David
Before Sunrise / Before Sunset, Return to Paradise, Contact, Solyaris (1972), Solaris (2002), Vanilla Sky, What the Bleep, Total Recall, A Beautiful Mind, Adaptation, Dave, Somewhere in Time, Zardoz, 2001 A Space Odyssey, LA Confidential, Pulp Fiction, Annie Hall, Sleeper, Apocalypse Now, Back to the Future, Forbidden Planet, and so many more
Piracy is Good?
..
Lecture by Mark Pesce at the Australian Film Television and Radio School about the future of TV distribution in the age of P2P networks.
Television
CSI (Las Vegas), Star Trek (NG), Nova (PBS), Futurama, Outer Limits (original series), CNN, MSNBC, A&E, tennis, Bill Mahr, Daily Show with Jon Stewart, various (usually late-night) PBS programs, Leno (monologue only), Craig Ferguson (monologue plus), Seinfeld, Friends, That 70s Show, Chris Rock specials, Faux News (to check out those on the dark side)
Books
Walden (Thoreau); Walden II (Skinner); Erewhon & Erewhon Revisited (Butler); Brave New World (Huxley); Rich Dad, Poor Dad; Breakdown of Nations (Kohr); Live and Learn and Pass it On --- actually, I read very few non-technical books these days, while reading a lot more, technical or otherwise, on the Net and in magazines.
Heroes
Galileo, Thomas Jefferson, Thoreau, Thomas Edison, Margaret Fuller, Charles Darwin, Edwin Hubble, Albert Einstein, Aldous Huxley, Carl Jung:Isabel Myers:Katherine Briggs, BF Skinner, Margaret Mead, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clark, Gene Roddenberry, Jonas Salk, Eugene McCarthy, Leopold Kohr, Phil Donohue, Suze Orman, Bill Maher, Bill Moyers, Arianna Huffington, Linus Torvalds, Richard Dawkins, Tim Berners Lee
Central Texas College
Killeen, TEXAS
Graduated: N/A
Student status: Alumni
Degree: None
Major: Counseling & Public Administration 4.0 GPA
Clubs: --> was American Technological University grad school (now merged with Central Texas University)
1978 to 1979
University Of Arizona
Tucson, ARIZONA
Graduated: N/A
Student status: Alumni
Degree: None
Major: Psychology 4.0 GPA
1975 to 1975
University Of Nebraska At Lincoln
Lincoln, NEBRASKA
Graduated: 1978
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Major: Psychology - minors: Journalism and English
Clubs: Centennial (experimental education) program, editor of Marrowbone, owner/program director of underground/pirate KNOZ-FM, campaign chairman - Pro Apathy Party
5 year suburban Las Vegas resident, 10 years in Honolulu, 2 years in Utah, 10 years in Germany. Degrees in Psych & Computer Science. Here's a larger photo. I'm a former Mensa hiking group leader. My Myers-Briggs personality type is INTP. I like to play tennis frequently. I created the 500+ member Las Vegas Tennis Pals MySpace group. I also like to fool around with music as a singer and playing guitar & keyboards. I'm a societal alien, with personal, political and philosophical views apart from most Americans. I am well traveled in Europe, Australia and Asia. I'm also a converted Frisbeetarian - we believe that when we die, our soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck. :-)
ADDENDUM-- I really like the clean, crisp desert air in suburban southwest Las Vegas, easy year-round access to scenic hiking areas, desert bicycling, tennis, etc. Even so, I find that Las Vegas is not a good place for 20-year computer professionals. So, I have opted to sell my home and consider relocating to another warm climate area in California, southern Utah, Arizona, etc.
If you want to email to me offline, just add that .com to my username.
..
Who I'd like to meet: CURRENTLY BEING REVISED.
(1) Songwriting and recording partner(s) to jam a little and form a songwriting team. I like many different types of music but prefer British rock, British R&B, blues, and progressive rock. I sing and play guitar and keyboards. I also have the basics for small studio recording. My vocal stylings can range from similarity to Sting to Jim Morrison to Craig David to Michael McDonald to Steve Winwood to Donald Fagan to Van Morrison.
[ links to sample music will be added here. ]
(2) Tennis practice partner(s), male or female, for play anywhere near the Las Vegas 215 Beltway ( preferred tennis courts )
(3) Networking leads to help me to find a good systems analyst, programming, or other technical/administrative position. After moving to Las Vegas at the time of the bursting of the tech bubble, I found out how poor this area is for highly skilled computer professionals in comparison to other metro areas.
I'm sure there are many exceptions, but Las Vegas seems all about paper credentials, narrow focus, and low cost instead of real experience, expertise, and broad-based knowledge. Over the past few years I decided to just do freelance computer work rather than deal with the common discourtesy among potential employers of not even acknowledging submitted resumes, etc.
Even so, I'm not a sales or business type. I much prefer the more predictable income and use of higher-level skills on something more than routine computer / network setup, virus removal, and low-level tech fire-fighting.
(4) A potential long-term partner. I am fairly recently divorced. I don't do the bar scene or even do that much typical socializing. However, I would like to meet that special someone to help make life more complete and to share a future together.
Despite all the horror stories one hears about dating on the Net, I have met via the internet, directly or indirectly, some very good people who became friends or in a few cases, more, (including my ex-wife.) You just have to be willing to sort through the noise, as with almost anything on the Net.
For me, a good relationship requires sharing at least some common interests. If you are not conversationally interesting or intellectual or humorous or interested in tennis, hiking or active musicianship, etc. then I believe prospects for a fulfilling relationship would be greatly diminished. Unlike most folks, however, I do value quirkiness, eccentricity, unique personal experiences, divergent thinking, etc.
Another part is that elusive, highly individual "chemistry" between two people. It must eventually be found or all bets are off on a successful relationship. (Instant chemistry is nice but sometimes it pays to be patient enough to discover things over time, particularly with more analytical or cautious types. :-)
While I think Las Vegas is great for tennis, hiking, desert bicycling and general convenience, it is not so great for professional folks. So, I have opted to sell my house and consider relocating to another warm and dry place in California, southern Utah, Arizona, etc.
(5) Bright, entertaining friends
Although I am technically an introvert, I like to meet interesting, intelligent persons of many types, particularly in the Las Vegas area. (Humans can be great if taken in small doses. :-)
Last year I started a small non-commercial neighborhood message board just for my 89148 zip code to find activity partners, announce garage sales, and for general neighborhood postings. I got requests to expand it to all of the southwest Las Vegas area and then to other Las Vegas neighborhoods.
For a while there was good participation helped by having active moderators from several parts of town. Unfortunately, the most active ones moved out of town or just seemed to disappear and participation dropped. It is also possible that when Craigslist added Las Vegas to its member sites, some of the need for the message board diminished. If anyone out there would like to put new life into the message board (as moderator, etc.) or even to take over with a new approach, let me know.
The framed site also contains easy access to Craigslist, Meetups, government listings, area maps, newspaper classifieds, local TV and movie listings, local and national news, etc. Now that I think of it, I may bump Tribe.net and replace it with mySpace.com
Come check out the new Singer/Songwriter, Indie Rock night "resodence" (local sound) at the Thunderbird Lounge inside the Aruba Hotel in Las Vegas, April 14th, 8:30pm-Midnight. If you don’t see these artists now you will pay a lot more to see them tomorrow!
Featuring: Mischievia, Kevin Kennedy, Cody Shawn Gay and hosted by Sharon Paquette
The Aruba also offers great food and drink specials!! $5 sugg. donation and $4 beer, 21+
1215 Las Vegas, Blvd. On the Strip South of Charleston
Check us out on myspace if you are interested to hear more.
hello bob :) just dropping in to say welcome to our esteemed friend list - glad you could jump on the bandwagon so to speak...we will be heading stateside hopefully next year and to a town near you :)~ until then - peace and blessings from over the oceans - rachael