Spectre profile picture

Spectre

"The most aggravating thing about the younger generation is that I no longer belong to it." - Albert

About Me

I'm a fairly "normal" person, whatever that means. I've always been mellow and easy-going. Life's too short to get stressed out over every little thing. :)

My main interests are building and riding motorcycles, reading Sci-Fi and science books, teaching myself LabVIEW programming (currently, for the job), and doing basically anything outdoors. I also like fabricating parts for my bike (1995 H-D Dyna) and truck (1978 Ford F-100 Custom). Anyone can buy chrome parts for their machines and bolt them on, but I prefer to have custom, one-of-a-kind parts, which means that I usually have to make them myself.

I also dabble in computer repair. I used to do it as a part-time job and owned my own business, but found that I just didn't have the time to do it anymore. I've been working as a turbine engine technician for a total of 28 years as my main career, both in the USAF and now for a civilian company, Wood Group Pratt & Whitney Industrial Turbine Services. Our home office and shop is located in Windsor Locks, CT. We haul the engines up here to the former Plattsburgh AFB to test them.

Another hobby of mine is digital photography. I currently use a Canon EOS 20D digital SLR, but I'm considering upgrading to a 30D or 40D soon. I enjoy outdoor photography the most (I took the background shot for this page), but also take pictures of just about anything that passes by my lens. :) A few of my shots made it onto the jacket of Ten Year Vamp's new live CD that was recorded here in Plattsburgh. Thanks for the credit, Mark!

I may be adding another area to my personal/business website so that I can try to sell some nature shots. Considering what I paid for all my equipment, I may as well try to make a few bucks with it! LOL

OK, by now you are probably wondering... "where did this weirdo come from?". Well, I grew up in a small town (Pendleton) 17 miles east of Niagara Falls and 15 miles northeast of Buffalo, NY. Aside from being settled during the building of the Erie Canal, about the only thing our town is "famous" for is being the hometown of that bastard Tim McVeigh.

I still go back when I can to see my family and friends. It's a nice trip when I ride through the mountains and then follow the southern shore of Lake Ontario.

I've lived in a few other places over the years, including Abilene, TX, and Wichita, KS. I also lived for two years in Keflavik, Iceland. That was one place I really enjoyed and would like to go back for a visit sometime. They are some of the friendliest people I've ever met. I still keep in contact with a couple friends that live up there.

Wondering why I was all the way up in Iceland? I thank the USAF for that. I got to travel quite a bit during those 20 years. I decided to pursue this career field when I was in the 10th grade and went on a field trip to the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Base. I've always been interested in aircraft, engines in particular, so it was a natural step for me.

I now live in the "North Country" of NY State.... meaning the far northeastern corner of the state between the Adirondack Mountains and Lake Champlain. This was actually my first Air Force "permanent duty" assignment. I've lived here a total of 18 years and love it! I don't really care much for big cities.

That's it for now.


Wish I had an Angel



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My Interests

Building and riding motorcycles; Digital photography; the Great Outdoors; Restoring old vehicles; Amateur Radio; Metal fabrication; Storm chasing when I lived in Kansas and Texas. I'm a certified Skywarn Storm Spotter and volunteer with the local Emergency Management Agency.

I'd like to meet:

Nemo

Nightwish - Wishmaster Live



Music:

Primarily classic rock... Led Zep, Black Sabbath, The Who, BOC, Montrose, The Tubes, Triumph, ELO, Eagles, Aerosmith, Lita Ford, Judas Priest, Rush, Iron Maiden, Zappa, Yes, UFO, Deep Purple, Rainbow, etc., etc., etc. I also enjoy a lot of European symphonic and goth metal i.e. Nightwish, Lacuna Coil, The Gathering, After Forever, Sonata Arctica, etc. Also the good ol' blues. Classical when I'm in the right mood.

Much of the newer rock and metal I listen are female-fronted bands. There's just something about the contrast between a woman's voice and the music that makes it more enjoyable and unique. Nightwish is a perfect example. A classically-trained, lyric-soprano vocalist with heavy metal backup creates a fascinating and unforgettable sound! Their new vocalist is good too, but they just don't sound the same without Tarja (I wish they could have acquired Floor Jansen, a mezzo-soprano, as a replacement). Besides, I'd rather go to a concert to watch a beautiful woman sing than some ugly fuck like Steve Tyler. LOL! Just kidding, Aerosmith is one of my favorites, too!

Ten Year Vamp Episode 24b - Edgefest 2007

LACUNA COIL - Acoustic Performance@ Russo's

The Gathering - Eleanor

Movies:

Contact; 2001: A Space Odyssey; A Beautiful Mind; The Wall; Woodstock; Dazed and Confused (which was more like a documentary to me... LOL); One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Too many others to list here.

Television:

Seinfeld; House; Monk; Dead Like Me (new movie coming out in 2009); Millennium; X-Files; Family Guy; American Dad; Who's Line is it Anyway; Anything on the Discovery Channels or Comedy Central. Laughing is good for the body and soul!

Books:

Contact by Carl Sagan; Anything by Isaac Asimov; World of Tiers series by Phillip Jose Farmer; On the Shoulders of Giants and other books by Stephen Hawking. Basically, anything science fiction or science fact. Oh yeah.... can't forget the Far Side comics! Gary Larson is a genius! Also, anything by Patrick F. McManus. I started reading his stories in Field and Stream when I was a kid, and still read them in Outdoor Life. I also own all of his books (compilations). FUNNY STUFF! It's "clean" humor, too! I have a collection of Outdoor Life magazines dating back to the late 1970s.

Heroes:

My family is #1, Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, Sir Isaac Newton.

My Blog

Whew!

Yahoo!  I finally finished mowing the lawn!  It was still pretty wet on the south side of the yard because of the trees blocking the sun all week.  I may have to go over it again tomorr...
Posted by Spectre on Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:55:00 PST

Gonna try this out.

I figured I may as well try this blogging thing out.  It'll most likely consist of random, and often meaningless posts, but sometimes I need to just let loose and ramble on about one thing or ano...
Posted by Spectre on Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:26:00 PST