Hobbies and Interests

This was perhaps the most exciting page for me to put together because I am now able to share some of my hobbies and interests with family and friends. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about my hobbies or interests than please feel free to Contact Me.

Radio Controlled Sailplanes

My grandfather used to be involved with many hobbies. It didn't take long for some of his interests to rub off on me. At the time, we built and flew radio controlled power planes. However, after a time, I switched to radio controlled sailplanes. Today, after some dust collection, my planes have been resurrected from the closet. Although my schoolwork and full time job keep me very busy, I'm still finding some time to fly a few hours on Sunday afternoons.

I belong to the Huntsville, AL Northeast Sailplane Club.

Amateur Astrophotography

When I was very young, I stood in awe looking up at the night sky. I grew up on Long Island, NY and could actually make out the Milky Way. The reason we can see the Milky Way is because we are actually looking into the center of our galaxy and the stars are so thick that it looks like a twinkling cloud going across the night sky. It wasn't long before I had a nice telescope and took pictures of many deep space objects.

This interest of mine continued into adulthood. Armed with an 8 inch mirror telescope and 35mm manual camera mounted where the eyepiece should go, many objects can be taken. The quality will never be like the Hubble Space Telescope, but it sure is fun taking your own pictures and developing them in a dark room. A friend and I recently took some decent pictures, which you can review from the slide show below.

Bowling

Okay, what can I say about bowling? I started when I was about 14 years old. I've owned equipment on and off. Recently, after a few years of not bowling, I bought a new ball and shoes and am going back to the game every Sunday. Getting out of the house is always a nice change. I hope to get my average back up to around 180--only time will tell.

Internet Gaming

About a decade ago, I got into text based adventure games. In those days, there weren't any fancy graphics or sound to go with those games. However, if you had an imagination and could read a book than you could immerse yourself into these interactive text based adventures.

Today, the games have become much more complicated and much more intense. I started playing Dark Age of Camelot (DAOC) and really enjoyed it for a few years. You can see the web site I created for that game at http://sacrednemesis-daoc.caspersconsulting.com. I followed DAOC with World of Warcraft (WOW) which I played for about a year. Currently, I'm playing EVE which takes place in the future in a far removed colony of Earth in a distant galaxy cut off from a black hole gone bad. Gaming is a great way to meet people and take your mind off daily mundane tasks.

I think Internet gaming will be around for a long time!