Thomas profile picture

Thomas

hehearsthemountains

About Me

If I had to sum me up in one word, it would be "eclectic", but fortunately, I don't have to do that... I am an engineer, a musician, a friend, an outdoorsman, an amateur photographer, someone who enjoys traveling, driver of a 4WD truck, connoisseur of fine and not-so-fine foods, and a drinker of coffee...

My Interests

Music (listening and playing), backpacking, other outdoor pursuits, travel, reading, photography, food that doesn't come from chain restaurants, new and exhilerating experiences, and people who like any and/or all of the above.

I'd like to meet:

There are a lot of people I would like to meet, but unfortunately, many of them are dead... Some of the living ones include Paul Simon, James Taylor, Jim Whittaker, etc...

Music:

I have really eclectic tastes when it comes to music... Iron and Wine, U2, Chris Thomlin, Richie Havens, The Smashing Pumpkins, Solas, Bob Dylan, The Pixies, The Grateful Dead, The Magnetic Fields, Simon and Garfunkel, Modest Mouse, Robert Earl Keen, Wilco, Charlie Parker, Michael Hedges, The Ataris, Toots and the Maytals, etc...

Movies:

The Three Amigos, The Princess Bride, A Fistful of Dollars, Spaceballs, A River Runs Through It, ...

Television:

I don't really watch a lot of TV these days...

Books:

I enjoy reading almost anything, but some of my all-time favorites are the Bible, The Man Who Walked Through Time (Colin Fletcher), The Pilgrim's Progress (John Bunyan), and They Can't Hide Us Anymore (Richie Havens). I love wilderness classics, books about mountaineering, books about the American west, the Icelandic sagas, etc...

My Blog

Basic Vertical Skills

Contrary to what you may have inferred from the title, this is not a blog about my ability to jump or fly; it's actually about something much more exciting! On April 20-22, I took a "Basic Vertical Sk...
Posted by Thomas on Wed, 09 May 2007 05:00:00 PST

Sir Edmund Hillary Quotes and my longing for the mountains...

I just started reading "View From The Summit" by Sir Edmund Hillary (first man known to summit Everest), and already, I have found several quotes that I thought were worthy of recounting... "We h...
Posted by Thomas on Tue, 10 Apr 2007 07:47:00 PST

Why it's good not to forget the past...

I think Utah Phillips said it best in a song he collaborated with Ani DiFranco on... "I have a good friend in the East.  A good singer, and a good folksinger, a good song collector, who come...
Posted by Thomas on Sun, 01 Apr 2007 02:53:00 PST

St. Louis Pictures

I recently spent a week in St. Louis, and while there aren't too many fun stories to tell, I thought that you might enjoy seeing the few photographs that I took... I'm not sure which building this is...
Posted by Thomas on Sun, 01 Apr 2007 07:23:00 PST

Alaska...

What do you say about a place when the temperature is seventeen degrees below zero? (I actually saw -26°) Aside from the fact that Alaska was really cold, it was absolutely beautiful!!! I got to spen...
Posted by Thomas on Mon, 13 Nov 2006 08:13:00 PST

Sipsey and Meeting a Legend...

Sometimes the things you least expect to happen have a way of surprising you; I was at Sipsey Wilderness Area in Alabama this weekend with my cousin and his wife when I unexpectedly got to meet a lege...
Posted by Thomas on Mon, 16 Oct 2006 08:56:00 PST

A Box Full of Fortune

Hello, my name is Thomas, and I admit that I am addicted to fortune cookies...  I love the way they taste. ...and I have always heard that you should not shop for food when you are hungry... ...s...
Posted by Thomas on Fri, 13 Oct 2006 08:18:00 PST

A Life On the Edge

I just start started reading Jim Whitaker's "A Life On the Edge", and before I could even finnish reading the Preface, I could tell that on some level, Jim and I are kindered spirits. For those of you...
Posted by Thomas on Fri, 15 Sep 2006 08:23:00 PST