Tuesday, May 8

Portraits of the Artist as a Young Man

Having lost a bunch of pictures, the result of the raveges of circumstance, I offer these three from my perfomance at a Rock show in 1990 ( a benefit btw).






What follows is a litany or compendium of accomplishments, a start of a process to document all of the crazy shit I have done, most of it well. How do you make a resume for this guy (thumbs pointing in the obvious direction)

I was a publisher of a zine called Read This! (I think we only got one issue out, but I thought it was a good one).

I built my own revolutionary bicycle frames from a box full of tubes, some lugs, some brass, flux, and an oxy acetylene torch. Using an angle iron jig, c-clamps and some proper tubing blocks (picture an aluminum cube bored to an inch or an inch and an eight straight down the middle and sawed in half).

I was a bass player in six bands.

I tought myself more or less all of the previous shit and that which will follow.

I have cut threads on a metal lathe and turned a brass rod which previously measured .375 into a cube measuring .305 with an accuracy of + or - 5 thousands of an inch. demonstrating my facility with a four jaw chuck, dial indicator, surface plate, etc.

I have been paid for an article published in a medical journal.

I have built my own computers.

I have competed in the national championships on a bicycle, later being invited to try out for the National team as a first year Junior. I was 16 at the time competing with 17 and 18 year olds for a spot. In the only race we in which we competed en masse, I finished 13th out of 90, in my first cyclocross event on a course with two inches of snow, riding a bike with slick tires. I think I crashed once during the race.

I was President of my senior class.

I have had an actual Mechanical engineer tell me in earnest that I was a better mechanical engineer than he was. Eight yars later when i ran into him again he reiterated his previous stance (while appending that with; in his opinion I was worth at the very least 80K a year). Thank you Tom for giving me the highest compiment twice. and the first time I thought you might have been shitting me.

I have had moderating privileges at Slashdot and the Daily Kos, and have been called one of the nicest people on the internet.

I have fixed* a problem with a clutch on a 53 Plymouth Cranbrook with the assistance of the library, microfilm, and a wrench which happened not only to be the correct size, but was located under the passenger seat.

I coughed up the idea of a multiverse while walking home from highschool, around the time that string theory was being developed.

I made the little league all star team as a catcher based soley on my defensive skills (nothing got past me though I could not hit worth a damn, but if i got on base, I was dangerous).

I ran three quarters of a mile on a cross country course in 3:15 during a ladder drill.

I ran the mile on every indoor track in town in under five minutes a year out of highschool, when I wasn't actually training.

I have had pictures appear at BFA shows, the result of borrowed camera's and drunken evenings.

I have written papers that got other people A's, in college.

I played my first gig less than two months after picking up the bass guitar, in a trio, with a guitarist that had been nominated for a grammy two years prior (Jeff beck won that year).

I have been a ham radio operater, have built my own radios, and made contact with other hams in over 130 countries.

I have built a fire from a single spark (pro tip-Dryer lint for tinder).

I have worked in two bakeries and more kitchens than I care to count, but at one point was asked by an eastern European lady if I was a chef, because the first time I ever thought about making ratatoui, I apparently knocked it out of the park. My braided Challah was also a big hit with the local jewish population. And while I have made amazing croissants, I am no chef.

I know my way around a darkroom, have processed thousands of photos, and rolled my own film.

In any event once I learned of the concept of the Renaissance man, which was right around the time that I read Fahrenhiet 451 I figured that I had to become one, and try to learn everything that I could wrap my mind around.


I tend to do a horrible job of selling myself, though once people get to know me they tend to find that i am competant, knowledgeable about a wide variety of things respect life (and the choices made in its service). If anybocy who has made it this far would like to help me turn the above into a resume I would greatly appreciat it.