AVIATION - My professional career as an autopilot & flight control system design engineer (MD-11 and B717) is fulfilling because it is highly technical, and it directly relates to my love of FLIGHT. I also fly for leisure, but have not been "current" for the last few years. Bungy jumping and good ole water diving round out my attempts at defying gravity. Someday skydiving will be added to the list, but I am still looking for an airplane that is not "perfectly good" which requires jumping out of! J

INTELLIGENCE - My research into human (and non-human) intelligence via the Tree Of Life (TOL) grew out of a fascination with human cognition, and an admiration of the creative life of Alan Turing. There IS a blueprint for Human Intelligence..... and it is called the Tree Of Life!

NATURE - I am a natural ecologist who loves the outdoors, and all of the fun it provides to those who take care of it. I have spent the last 17 years backpacking the wild High Sierras (yes, even in the winter time!) and a few other remote spots around the world. New Zealand is a big favorite of mine because of its abundance of varied, natural scenery. I also greatly admire the social responsibility of the people of New Zealand (Kiwis) as they protect their natural wonders for all to enjoy!

FOOD - If you haven't already figured it out from my other web pages, I love to cook and enjoy good food. I experiment with all sorts of foods and textures, and the recipes I share on the Tree-O-Life web site are the ones that were good enough for me to make at least twice. NOTE: My definition of food includes BEER. Let's just get that straight right now, so we don't have any problems down the road! J

TRAVEL - Due to my involvement in commercial aviation, it almost goes without saying that I also love to travel. I've stood on all the continents with the exception of Africa and Antarctica (and I'm working on those!). Seeing the various creations of nature around the world is exciting enough; however, I think the most rewarding part of travel is learning from and experiencing all the different human cultures which have evolved on our planet.

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MY FAMILY - While I am not yet married, I do still have a family! I am the youngest of five siblings, and I get along with and keep in touch with all of them. My brothers have served as role models for my adventures in the technical world of engineering. My sisters (who I am especially close to) continue to provide me inspiration in LOTS of areas: family, cooking, relationships and homemaking, with a good dose of goofiness thrown in! My parents are, quite possibly, the two greatest people you could ever hope to have for parents. (Although I would have never admitted to this as a teenager... go figure!)

MY SPIRITUALITY - I am much more than just a brain and a body, as are we all. While my morals and ethics are well grounded in my Catholic upbringing, my spiritual beliefs extend far beyond those taught by the politicized Catholic Church of today. Jesus Christ taught (as did so many other esteemed teachers) that we are all the sons and daughters of God. No one person is any closer to, nor any further from, God than all others. Christ's message was as simple as a single word (often misused and misunderstood): Love.

MY FRIENDS - While I am lucky enough to have friends in many countries of the world, the majority of my closest friends are here in California. My definition of a friend is so much more than those people you hang out, eat and drink with. I like to view friends as extended family, in that I am there to provide help when and if they need it. On the flipside, friends can often be even more helpful than family members in certain situations where support and understanding are required.

MY DOG - Chili Dawg, to be precise.... Also referred to by his alternate identities of Chili Pupper, Chili Willy, Chili Dude, or just plain Chili. The Chili Dawg is a purebred, golden retriever born in June of 1998. He is a well-trained and well-mannered pal who will retrieve the ball from the pool just as many times as you can throw it in the water!

MY HOME - I own and live in my "dream home" in Huntington Beach, California. It's not a flashy, gigantic mansion; but then again, I am not a flashy, bigger-than-life person! I enjoy lounging around the pool and drinking margaritas on a hot, sunny afternoon, or sitting in the jacuzzi on a clear, starry night. Home improvement (and repair!) projects keep me busy, as well as amused. Being only a bike ride's distance from the beach means there are not a whole lot of reasons to stray from home (unless I am going FAR from home, like the mountains!).

MY MUSIC - I guess you could classify my musical tastes primarily in the alternative rock category. Peter Gabriel is my all-time favorite musical artist, and I am getting a bit impatient with him getting his next album finished! Guess he has been pretty busy with the virtual reality theme park he's been working on in Barcelona, Spain. Some of my most recent CD purchases that I classify as "good music" include:

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IMPROVING EDUCATION - I am not the only person who feels the US education system is in dire straits. What used to be the finest education system in the world has fallen woefully behind the rest of the developed world. My personal feeling is that we are teaching too much KNOWLEDGE, when we ought to be teaching more WISDOM.

When a teacher (or book!) seeks to impart WISDOM, they wish to take you through some experience. Whereas with KNOWLEDGE we only need to KNOW a particular fact, with WISDOM we need to EXPERIENCE THE KNOWLEDGE IN ACTION. Our school systems should be changed to offer a balanced education of KNOWING and EXPERIENCING... of KNOWLEDGE blended with WISDOM. Physical classrooms were limitations of the old ways we had to convey WISDOM and KNOWLEDGE. The power of the Internet must now be focused on building virtual places where people can learn in a balanced manner. I want to make TREE-O-LIFE.ORG one such place on the Internet.

ADVANCING SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING - I am eternally curious by nature. I view the questions of "HOW?" and "WHY?" as questions with answers that stretch into eternity. We will always be learning about or universe and our place in this universe, therefore I consider the advancement of scientific knowledge and wisdom to be a valuable endeavor for ourselves and the generations that follow us. I wish to apply the knowledge & wisdom of the Tree Of Life and Qabalah to answering the perpetual questions that Science asks about our universe and ourselves. The answers are there; we only need to ask the appropriate questions!

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CHOOSE WISELY - If you were to boil life down to a single, important concept, it would be the concept of CHOICE or FREE WIIL. There are many things that can be taken away from you throughout your life, but none is more important that your FREE WILL. You create your own existence by choosing to act in certain ways, or in choosing to refrain from other actions. This power of choice is what leads to you leading a "good life" or a "dismal life." The choice is yours.....choose wisely.

 LIVE IN THE PRESENT - The past and the future are not real. NOW is real. NOW is when and where you live.... remember the past, and look forward to the future, but do not dwell in either, lest you allow an opportunity of NOW pass you by! Make decisions based upon on how you feel NOW, not how you felt in the past, or how you might feel in the future.

 ASK QUESTIONS - The universe it set up in such a way that whatever you focus on, it will deliver. Asking questions about your life situations as you ponder the choices ahead of you will stimulate the universe to answer these questions. The more you ask the questions, and the more you refine them to be specific, the more specific the answer you will receive. Prayer is another form of focus which will cause the universe to respond to the prayer.

FOLLOW YOUR FEELINGS OF LOVE - You know what you love and value better than anyone else! The emotions of joy and happiness you experience when you do certain things are signals of what you love. Take the time to stop and think about what you REALLY LOVE TO DO. Following your own feelings of love as you live out your life will lead to happiness for yourself, and will likely benefit many more people than you could possible know! Love begets Love.

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