kentuckiense
Debaser
Well, I want to go...
So who are you and what do you do?
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DavidH
Guest
Well, I appear to be the oldest as I'm approaching 42 in August. My primary job is flying F-16's and teaching international military pilots to fly the airplane. I've been married for 4 years to a younger woman (10 years my junior) and we're working on starting a family. I graduated with a double major in Psychology and Middle East History from the USAF Academy, have an M.S. in Instructional and Performance Technology, am almost complete with a Chief Information Officer certificate from the National Defense University, and will be working on my MBA in another year. I also work part-time teaching Flawless Execution methodologies to Fortune 500 companies as a facilitator with a company called Afterburner Seminars. I've hiked the Grand Canyon every year for the past 5 years and have decided to make it an annual habit (this last year I finally had zero blisters and didn't lose any toe nails - the previous year I did rim-to-rim-to-rim (48 miles total) and lost one big toe nail).
I once grew phrags and catts 17 years ago, but took a 13 year sabbatical after they were killed by a caretaker when I was stationed for a year in Korea. I bought a greenhouse in May and currently have accumulated over 350 plants, with almost all being paphs or phrags, in the last 8 months. The scary thing is that I'm out of room and I've got another 100 plants arriving tomorrow...so creative greenhouse placement is in the works and I'm creating rolling shelves on the bottom rows to I can use the middle area when I'm not in the greenhouse. I've got 10 roses growing in my backyard, a pond with 200+ mosquito fish (they are worse than rabbits) and a single goldfish, two cats (mine...my wife has to put up with them as part of the marital package), and 120 feet of algerian ivy covering the entire adobe brick wall in the backyard. For Tucson, it's a pretty lush oasis, especially when compared to the rock covered front yard with the desert landscaping.
As far as family stuff, I'm the oldest of 3, but have an older stepbrother, and two younger stepsisters as well (Dad got re-married when I was 19). Everyone lives in Minnesota. My grandparents started a family nursery in 1942 and my dad is currently running it. The greenhouses didn't arrive until 10 years ago and I wasn't very much interested in landscaping. He raises and sells Koi on the property and keeps about 14 peacocks roaming the nursery during the summer (they get locked in a barn in the winter because they're too stupid to come out of the cold).
As well as enjoying hiking, I play tennis, mountain bike, build computers, and love reading Sci-Fi/Fantasy books. That's a quick summary.
-Dave
I once grew phrags and catts 17 years ago, but took a 13 year sabbatical after they were killed by a caretaker when I was stationed for a year in Korea. I bought a greenhouse in May and currently have accumulated over 350 plants, with almost all being paphs or phrags, in the last 8 months. The scary thing is that I'm out of room and I've got another 100 plants arriving tomorrow...so creative greenhouse placement is in the works and I'm creating rolling shelves on the bottom rows to I can use the middle area when I'm not in the greenhouse. I've got 10 roses growing in my backyard, a pond with 200+ mosquito fish (they are worse than rabbits) and a single goldfish, two cats (mine...my wife has to put up with them as part of the marital package), and 120 feet of algerian ivy covering the entire adobe brick wall in the backyard. For Tucson, it's a pretty lush oasis, especially when compared to the rock covered front yard with the desert landscaping.
As far as family stuff, I'm the oldest of 3, but have an older stepbrother, and two younger stepsisters as well (Dad got re-married when I was 19). Everyone lives in Minnesota. My grandparents started a family nursery in 1942 and my dad is currently running it. The greenhouses didn't arrive until 10 years ago and I wasn't very much interested in landscaping. He raises and sells Koi on the property and keeps about 14 peacocks roaming the nursery during the summer (they get locked in a barn in the winter because they're too stupid to come out of the cold).
As well as enjoying hiking, I play tennis, mountain bike, build computers, and love reading Sci-Fi/Fantasy books. That's a quick summary.
-Dave
Wogga
Obsessed
well, i might be able to get a week trip tickets for $800. that could be doable by january, methinks methinks.
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Dave - nice to learn more about you!
Peacocks - gosh, this is the second mention of peacocks today! I keep finding myself wondering *why* Lien does not yet have a peacock....Lien?
Ecuador/Peru - goodness, can you people imagine the trouble we could get into down there? A group of us nuts? together? How fun would that be?? I might have to turn my orchid fund into a S. America fund....Hrm....
Peacocks - gosh, this is the second mention of peacocks today! I keep finding myself wondering *why* Lien does not yet have a peacock....Lien?
Ecuador/Peru - goodness, can you people imagine the trouble we could get into down there? A group of us nuts? together? How fun would that be?? I might have to turn my orchid fund into a S. America fund....Hrm....
C
couscous74
Guest
So Dave is flying us all to Ecuador in F-16s? :clap:
kentuckiense
Debaser
couscous74 said:
You are a genius!
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- Messages
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Sweet!!
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PHRAG
Guest
David, are we allowed to have handles? Can I be Blackbeard?
"Maverick, this is Blackbeard...I have a bogie on my tail!"
You lead a very interesting life. I got your p.m. and I will be calling you next week to see if we can setup a visit to tucson.
"Maverick, this is Blackbeard...I have a bogie on my tail!"
You lead a very interesting life. I got your p.m. and I will be calling you next week to see if we can setup a visit to tucson.
SlipperFan
Addicted
Dave, at 42, you're still a youngster... I've got you beat by over 20 years. I know there's at least one other person here that's older, also. But I'm not giving away any secrets.
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PHRAG
Guest
60 isn't old anymore. 60 is the new 40 they say.
SlipperFan
Addicted
PHRAG said:
Actually, it's not bad. I'm retired, enjoying myself, my orchids, my yard and my husband -- not necessarily in that order. I've "paid my dues," by working until my retirement a couple of years ago. Now I'm still working, but more or less on my terms.
This is a great forum, by the way. It's in the "enjoying myself" part.
J
Jmoney
Guest
Medicine resident at NYU, about to start the 3rd and last year. before that, med school at NYU, college at Princeton, majored in molecular biology. residency doesn't leave much time for anything, so that's why all the paphs went into modified s/h. windowsill growing for 12 years now, still waiting for the time and $$ for a greenhouse.
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PHRAG
Guest
Jason, if in the future you need a gardener/sushi chef you let me know. I'll even let you call me your man servant. I could use the work.
J
Jmoney
Guest
I guess you know you've made it in life when you can afford a 'man servant'. gotta work on the loans first though. 153,000 and getting compounded quarterly at 3.125% (which sure beats 8% a decade ago).
Marco
Slipperless member
Jmoney said:
That greenhouse will come in no time flat. You guys in medicine definately get props. I would go nuts.
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DavidH
Guest
Hmmm, Ecuador in an F-16...That'd be fun for me, but you'd probably be frozen while laying in the non-pressurized travel pod at temps of -70 C.
One time on a cross country, I pulled out my duffle bag and the entire thing was frozen solid because after takeoff I flew through a rainstorm.
I leave for the UAE for 5 months beginning in August...I'm hoping to be flying their F-16's while I'm there.
BTW, last time I looked most people here are already using handles. At work, everyone calls each other by their nickname. We often times have a hard time remembering the real first name for someone.
Fortunately, I've not done anything stupid to earn mine. The humor is that my primary nickname (I've got two; one that everyone calls me and the other the callsign I fly with - most call me by my primary, some call me by my flight callsign) is "Bud" because I had the orchid collection when I went to Korea, so they started calling me "Bud", short for flower bud. The best nicknames are those that flow with someone's last name. In my case, there were two competing nicknames. One was "Bud", the other was "Val" for the Viking heaven. Since my last name is Norweigan, I think you can figure out what my last name truly is.
Some of my favorites are: "Woody" Woodcock, "Swingin" Dickinson, "Slap" Maxwell, "Tunes" - last name is Looney, "Mo" Lester, "Fish" Salomonson, "Zip" Duda, and "Slacker" Acker.
One time on a cross country, I pulled out my duffle bag and the entire thing was frozen solid because after takeoff I flew through a rainstorm.
I leave for the UAE for 5 months beginning in August...I'm hoping to be flying their F-16's while I'm there.
BTW, last time I looked most people here are already using handles. At work, everyone calls each other by their nickname. We often times have a hard time remembering the real first name for someone.
Fortunately, I've not done anything stupid to earn mine. The humor is that my primary nickname (I've got two; one that everyone calls me and the other the callsign I fly with - most call me by my primary, some call me by my flight callsign) is "Bud" because I had the orchid collection when I went to Korea, so they started calling me "Bud", short for flower bud. The best nicknames are those that flow with someone's last name. In my case, there were two competing nicknames. One was "Bud", the other was "Val" for the Viking heaven. Since my last name is Norweigan, I think you can figure out what my last name truly is.
Some of my favorites are: "Woody" Woodcock, "Swingin" Dickinson, "Slap" Maxwell, "Tunes" - last name is Looney, "Mo" Lester, "Fish" Salomonson, "Zip" Duda, and "Slacker" Acker.
Wogga
Obsessed
SWEET!! i wanna be ICEMAN!!
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PHRAG
Guest
Colin, that might work if your last name is Riceman.
'Mac' McGarity has a nice ring to it. If I ever have a son, he has already been named. Magnus.
So, tonight I broke the news to my wife. In January, I am going to Ecuador, possibly also Peru. She took it rather well. So who is coming with me?
'Mac' McGarity has a nice ring to it. If I ever have a son, he has already been named. Magnus.
So, tonight I broke the news to my wife. In January, I am going to Ecuador, possibly also Peru. She took it rather well. So who is coming with me?
kentuckiense
Debaser
I'm going to start selling girl scout cookies RIGHT NOW.PHRAG said:
