Who I be!

Believe it or not, I updated a lot of this in June 2002...read on!

I live in Ridgecrest, California, which has become known as the earthquake capital of the United States. It sounds worse than it is! Most of our quakes are of a very low magnitude and are generally unnoticeable. This is one case in which having more faults works to one's advantage! As if that doesn't make you want to move here, Ridgecrest is a gateway community to Death Valley, one of the national 'hot spots.' We have a saying: "Once you learn to love hell, you will be in heaven!" (Don't miss the other links to "hot" Death Valley websites below). Actually, there are two really hot months, two relatively cold months, leaving eight really fine months!

I've gotten tired of the hot months, so, anymore, I travel to Alaska over the summer. Recently, I bought a few acres on the water in the town of Haines. The property enjoys a wondrous view, including a hanging glacier across the fjord, and salmon run by my favorite rock. (I took this picture from a kayak off the point of the property.) Even when I don't catch anything (often enough!) I enjoy just sitting and watching the world. In addition to salmon, we have lots of eagle and moose in the neighborhood. I suspect one or two bear may wander around as well, though I haven't seen any sign of them yet. Last year (2001) we knocked down a bunch of trees, put in a road, and drilled a well. This year we hope to get a garage set up, and perhaps a foundation poured. There are four seasons in Alaska, Winter, Still Winter, Almost Winter, and Construction.

Luckily, I am a teacher at the middle school level. This gives me both summers off and countless days of entertainment working with eager young minds. People often ask me what I teach, and I often reply that I teach "not hitting one another." I have taught sixth and seventh grade science the last few years, covering physical, earth, and life science. The last few years I have concentrated on Earth science in the sixth grade, as I am the rock star in our department. This coming year promises to be an interesting one as my focus shifts to the computer lab. I anticipate exclusively teaching technology, which will consist of keyboarding and office applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software, and writing html code. The students are very self-directed and engaged in these classes, and I don't have to assign any homework, so I am looking forward to a very pleasant year.

Now that you know all my secrets, here's a shot of the mug himself:

Who I be!

MORE LINKS TO DEATH VALLEY!!