Wow! you came here?! To be honest, I am rather flattered you're interested enough to read
anything here. I am rather imaginative and a little above average intelligence,
but if you are not a SciFi fan you might find me a little dull. Let's face
it, I'm not the best looking character in the world. But I really do respect
and appreciate almost every one I meet. I don't always like everyone but
I respect their point of view.
It was brought to my attention that this page rated some link off of
some search engines "50's SciFi Movie" search. It wasn't planned that this
page would ever be accessed other than from the main page at Strait.org.
Go figure.
My father passed away on July 25th, 2003 and my mother passed away March
23rd, 2006.
I have no brothers or sisters. No children. Never married.
I was born in Kingman AZ and lived there until I moved to Phoenix AZ in March 1979 (not counting college or Army time). We native Arizonans seem to be rare and far between. I have visited many parts of the country and I would really rather be here than anywhere else.
I went to Kingman Elementary School, Kingman Jr, High, and Kingman High School (class of '72). I am an alumni of the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico from Aug 72 till May 74, where I got an Associate of Arts degree. I am a lifetime Alumni member of NMMI. I have taken various college classes at Mohave Community College (Kingman) and Phoenix College. I completed the Army Military Police Officer's Basic course in Ft. Gordon Georgia (1974) near Augusta GA. I completed the Computer Programming Specialist course at Arizona Tech (1979) (which later became Miller Institute then ITT) in Phoenix.
My interests have been (or are), in Science Fiction, Law Enforcement,
Emergency Services (police, EMT, fire, rescue, commo, etc), Scouting, camping,
CB's, Military Science, flying, Astronomy & Space, cartography, math,
computers, and the Internet. Is "gadgets" an interest? I wish I could say
"Philosophy", but I have had no formal schooling in it. I was in the Cub
Scouts, Boy Scouts, Explorers, and was an Assistant Boy Scout Master. I
was in a CB group called REACT. I was in the Elks club for a while in Kingman.
I managed to get my pilots license, however, I do not fly anymore.
I did manage to solo an UltraLight once.
I spend a lot of time watching TV. I collect SciFi movies. I was going
to try to collect all SciFi movies ever made. Impossible (?), I know, but
it's the quest that counts. To be honest, though, I have gotten a little
burned out on it as of late. Did you know video tape has a shelf life.
Realization of this hit me kind of hard.
I served eight years in the Army Reserve / Arizona National Guard. I was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 1974 into the Military Police. (reserves & NG only). I was promoted from 1st Lt. to Capt. 2 days after my discharge from the Reserves. (I guess almost doesn't count. Oh well.)
In the course of my life I have worked doing errands, assisted friends in construction, worked on a survey crew, deliveries and janitorial etc for a electric appliance store, ROTC & Army Reserve training, florist delivery, police dispatcher, car salesman, break-in driver (Ford). I worked at three different motels/apartments as a combination of maintenance, desk clerk, and night auditor. When I moved to Phoenix, I did a few computer related jobs. I worked collating computer prepared tax forms. I was a Computer Lab Assistant (AZ Tech). I have worked for Kealy Construction, Apache Business Computers, CAMAC, and Glen-Mar Door Manufacturing (where I was the Computer Systems Manager for ten years). I currently work for Data Systems of Arizona, Inc. as Technical Support.
I am a Computer Programmer. I could also be called a Computer Analyst, Systems Manager, Technical Specialist, or Tech Support person. I have training in the computer languages: BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, Macro, RPG, Pascal, C, and Visual Basic. But all my professional experience as been using one form or another of BASIC. It's a living.
My primary interest is Science Fiction. I have always been a SciFi fan. I grew up on the 50's SciFi classic movies and TV. I enjoyed Star Trek from the beginning. I really didn't identify myself as a Trekkie till '77. I started attending SciFi conventions and joined a Star Trek club in 1980. I have been involved in organized SciFi fandom since. I had been a member of the United Federation of Phoenix (Star Trek & general SciFi Fan club), the Central Arizona Speculative Fiction Society, Inc. (CASFS), and the USS Matrix (an Internet based Star Trek fan club).
You may have noticed I have put a lot about myself up here for just about anyone to read. I am not that big on privacy. If you were trying to find me, at least you should know by now if you have the right person. And should we ever meet, it will make it easier to find common ground.
And in case you are looking at this and considering it... I am not buying
anything; I am not trying your product or offer; I am not investing in
anything; I am not donating to anything; so don't even try. (damn telemarketers
and con men)
PIZZA?! Did somebody say PIZZA!!? Pizza is nature's perfect food. It should not be made by rank amatures or at home, only by trained professionals. If you work at a Pizza parlor, please add "Jim Special" to your menu. This is a medium size pan (or equivalent non-thin crust) pizza with Black Olive and Mushroom with extra cheese. I am not a vegitarian, it's just you can eat a lot and it doesn't give you heartburn.
I am sure these details will come up about me sometime or another as well, so it's best you find out (up front) from me, now: I hate eggs. I do not like Tomatoes either, but I hate eggs. Even the smell of them makes me quizzy. If we should meet in a restaurant and you feel the need to eat chicken unborn, please do not sit next to me. Thank you.
I don't read. Call me dislexic, I don't know. As long as I have an excuse. Reading short texts are ok. If I have to read anything else, I find myself reading the first paragraph over and over again like in a trance, with no idea what it says. Please don't try to convince me that I should read more, it is not my choice. Actually the word "Agony" comes to mind. I read about 3 times slower than most. It may be related to a lack of short term memory. So, any phrase addressed to me that starts, "Did you read ..." or "Have you read ...", the answer is automatically "no". But I can sometimes fake it pretty well.
I am the steady phone contact for the United Federation of Phoenix Star Trek club, so my answering machine occasionally has directions to meetings. If you aren't interested in the info and want to leave a message, just press (and hold) the "1" key. The "2" will work. It'll just pi** me off. I occasionally have long phone conversations with newbie (and other) Star Trek fans. A friend of mine once commented that it seemed like a rite of passage for a dedicated Star Trek fan in the Phoenix area to have a long phone call with Jim. I don't know if I want to be remembered in that way. Let's just say, if you are a Trek fan and you want to know what is going on in the area, don't hesitate to call me. If I start to tell you more than you want to know, just tell me you have to go. I won't take offense.
My Personal Philosophy & Attitudes: Mr. Spock is my idol. (With one exception, I believe any psychological, thinking, being requires a sense of humor to deal with failure and mistakes.) Much of my personality is driven by Vulcan philosophy as I understand it. I believe "the system" can work. We need to understand why it does what it does then adjust it to be functional for everyone. We must first understand our roles as elements to society and not the reason for existence. Recognize others as individuals equal to yourself. Second, making something work is a better challenge than to see if you can cause it to fail. One way is to live life by the numbers. Doing so does not mean you have to just look on and imagine, censor yourself, or speak within the numbers.
I appreciate imaginative people. Science Fiction fans know the world of "IF". I believe imagination is more important than knowledge. Any attempt to inspire others to spontaneous creative ideas in any form will eventually pay off for everyone later. Science Fiction allows everyone to escape from the day to day rehearsed life we all lead and explore other options. My point of view in this area will be the justification of much that I do and say. Pose alternate options, inspire creativity, and live by example. I think I would like that to be my legacy in life.