Who are you? The details.

Adam's post for Satoshi got me thinking.

Who are you? I mean really. Not the fishing stuff.

I'm two weeks from being 45. Been married for 24 years this week. Four kids, two in college getting their BS's in nursing, one minoring in biology and the other in medical missions (aged 20 and 18), and two more still at home (9 and 11.) We homeschool our kids. Not the steroetypical homeschooling. We didn't want to. It's a long story that starts with a public school teacher telling us to do it because she was too busy teaching to the lowest common denominators.

I grew up on an almond ranch in California, spent summers at the rickety old (awesome) family cabin in the mountains out of Santa Cruz. Met my wife when I was studying Aeronautical Engineering at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Was putting myself through school shooting photos and working in a custom photo lab. Ended up with a degree in Fine Art photography and a career in corporate Learning and Development.

Live In Austin TX. Live music capital of the world, so they say, and soon to be the F1 capital of North America.

I currently work for Hanger, Inc. dealing with all things Learning and Development - we're the largest prostherics and orthotics company in the US for humans (and dolphins.)


This is me:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/a1/ges-1.jpg

This is me at a work trade show we put on where Kevin and I were teaching. Kevin is the guy from our Company who made the tail. Told me we had to get a photo for my daughter who is a huge fan of his.

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So tell us about you!

Okay, I'll go next.

I grew up a country kid and I’m still a country kid. My wife and I live on a hobby farm in the Upper Midwest. Gus said not to write about the fishing stuff, but I have to say that I have made career and job choices that pay less but have allowed me to always live within an hour of a trout stream, (today much less than that,) and I have never been sorry.

We have three grown children, the scientist/international rock star, the retail store manager/athlete, and the mortgage banker/world traveler. We have one three year old granddaughter who is Grandpa's delight and a handful.

As a 63 year old aging heart disease victim, I’m still strong enough to tramp the fields and woods and swamps all day, and carry one hay bale in each hand from the truck to the stack in the barn, and to partner with one of my horses to move several tons of rock for a landscaping project.

Late last year my publisher released my first book of short stories. I’ll have a second collection ready this year, and I’m working on a novel. This year I began writing about the outdoors for a community newspaper.

I have a day job with a large employer where I negotiate labor contracts, answer union grievances, and consult and draft policy and training materials on employment matters. When I stop having fun there, I’ll be a country kid again full time.

Im not shy. Im Dave, married with 3 kids, work at one of our local schools as a janitor.

My life long addiction is old cars, doesnt matter much as far as make but does have to be USA iron. Currently I drive a 1963 Plymouth Valiant.

I dont shelter my kids but do try to teach them older ways of doing things as my parents did for me. I want my kids to be able to use their minds, not a calculator or computer although they do know more about those than I do. I want them to appriciate work instead of trying to avoid it. My oldest son is 13 and wants to get a job. I think its working so far.

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52 in a week, father of three boys, husband of SWMBO (she who must be obeyed) and a small stream fishing enthusiast. I started this site in the mid early 90's and have focused on the techniques that take small stream fish.

I continue to participate at this web site as a member because I enjoy the direction it continues to take.

Fly fishing is a quiet and gentle past time and this web site does represent that.

I am now three years into my practice of Tenkara. I practice it in traditional Japanese style with one fly pattern and I share my love of it at tenkara-fisher.net

I have meet many people through this web site and I am grateful for all the stories that were and are submitted to make this web site what it is.