My interests pretty much revolve around the outdoors. I try to explore as much of God's amazing creation as often as I can. My main passion is hiking and backpacking. I love to hike places I've never been, and every weekend I try to explore somewhere new. My favorite backpacking place is the Emigrant Wilderness and my favorite hike is Yosemite's half dome. I've done it like a dozen times and it is always amazing. I am also a fan of fishing, rock climbing, exploring caves and abandoned mines, mountain biking, snowboarding, surfing, wakeboarding, golf, mini-golf, ping-pong, bowling, road trips and short walks on the beach. When I'm not doing something active, music is my next favorite thing. It soothes the soul. I am into the rock/alternative/indie/punk/emo stuff. I also try to fool around on the guitar when I have time and write songs that no one will ever hear.
I am still waiting for my Lafawnda. I'm just a little T.O.’d that she hasn’t sent me a full body shot yet! Someday my friends…someday.
First of all if you like good music you should check out my friends from San Luis Obispo's band called Sherwood. Good stuff. (www.sherwoodmusic.net.). Anyway, here are my 10 favorite albums of all time (so far): 1. Any Beatles Album (but Rubber Soul and Abbey Road have honors) 2. Weezer (Blue) 3. Paul Simon (Graceland) 4. Plankeye (Relocation) 5. Ben Folds (Rocking the Suburbs) 6.Cake (Prolonging the Magic) 7. The Offspring (Smash) 8. Red Hot Chili Peppers (By the Way), 9. Newsboys (Going Public) 10. Sherwood (Sing, but Keep Going). That's just a quick list but there is so much good stuff out there. Here are some new additions to my music collection: Waking Ashland, The Fold, This Day and Age, Discover America, Quiet Drive, New Atlantic, Tokyo Rose, Mashlin, The Robins and House of Heroes. Here's a peak in my CD collection (in no particular order): Coldplay, Death Cab, Foo Fighters, Kieth Green, Live, Jars of Clay, Remedy Drive, Guster, Sum 41, Blink 182, Supertones, Small Town Poets, Beach Boys, DC Talk, Brand New, Switchfoot, Bob Dylan, Jackie Green, Creed, Bleach, Audio Adrenaline, Nirvana, Wings, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, No Doubt (shut up), George Harrison, Elliot Smith, Cursive, Dashboard, Van Morrison, Relient K, Chevelle, Blindside, Thrice, Terminal, Copeland, Mae, Delerious, Five Iron Frenzy, Amy Grant (greatest hits), Further Seems Forever, Bush, Ben Folds Five, Wilco, Radiohead, The Get Up Kids, Greenday, Hoobastank, Jimmy Eat World, Branston, Nada Surf, Jack Johnson, The Hives, The Strokes, Homegrown, Better than Ezra, Inspection 12, The Juliana Theory, Lit, The Killers, Metallica, Pinback, Papa Roach, Rufio, Avril Lavigne (shut up), The Smashing Pumkins, The Flaming Lips, Feeder, The Rentals, The Pixies, Ozma, Saves the Day, Stone Temple Pilots, Sugar Cult, Lifehouse, Kosmos Express, MxPx, P.O.D., Philmore, PFR, Reality Check, The Shins, Snow Patrol, Starting Line, Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkel, They Might Be Giants, The Wallflowers, The Steve Miller Band, Lynard Skynard, Tom Petty, Third Eye Blind, Taking Back Sunday, Toad the Wet Sprocket, U2, Three Doors Down, The Vines, The White Stripes, Oleander, Oasis, Petra, Sanctus Real, Fountains of Wayne, Rooney, The Postal Service, New Found Glory, Neil Young, Something Corporate, Yellowcard, Zwan, Seven Day Jesus, Skillet, Michael W. Smith, The Cars, Watashi Wa, The Ataris, A.F.I. and Last of the Mohicans soundtrack....to name a few. Also within my collection is Brian Regan, a hilarious comedian which I encourage all to check out.
Like music, there is a lot of good stuff out there. Here are my top 30 movies...I think (This did start out as a top 10 list but whatever). 1. The Last of the Mohicans 2. The Great Escape 3. Back to the Future 4. The Fugitave 5. Dumb and Dumber 6. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 7. The Lord of the Ring Trilogy 8. Star Wars-Return of the Jedi 9. Braveheart 10. The Goonies 11. Jurassic Park 12. Clear and Present Danger 13. River Wild 14. Shawshank Redemption 15.Hook 16. The Bourne Identity 17. The Rock 18. Tombstone 19. Chariots of Fire 20. Napoleon Dynamite 21. Glatiator 22. Pistol Pete 23. Dead Poets Society 24. Rudy 25. Swing Kids 26. Matchstick Men 27. Snatch 28. Night at The Roxberry 29. Rat Race 30. Memento Yet I can't leave these out either: Robin Hood (the cartoon), High Fidelity, Arlington Road, Rushmore, Bottle Rocket, Fight Club, Donnie Darko, Escape from Alcatraz, Saving Silverman, Ace Venturea, Austin Powers, Elf, Ferris Buellers Day off, Best in Show, Beverly Hills Ninja, Liar Liar, The Magnificent Seven, The Burbs, The Royal Tennenbaums, The Truman Show, There's Something About Mary, Trains Planes and Auto Mobiles, Rush Hour, School of Rock, Shanghi Noon, Sgt. Bilko, Wayne's World, Stuck on You, Spinal Tap, Starsky and Hutch, Zoolander, That Thing You Do, The Incredibles, The God's must be Crazy, Arlington Road, Mission Impossible, Minority Report, Collatoral, Crocidile Dundee 2, Davey Crocket, Endless Summer, Robin Hood Prince of Theives, Rocky 4, In the Line of Fire, Pirates of the Carribean, The Rocketeer, Almost Famous, The Thomas Crown Affair, Tremors, Cinderella Man, Mystic River, Ocean's 11, Finding Neverland, Gattica, Good Will Hunting, I am Sam, Iron Will, Karate Kid, Man from Snowey River, The Passion, The Usual Suspects, Home Alone, The Sandlot, Toy Story, A Hard Days Night, Help, and Yellow Submarine. I am sure the Chronicles of Narnia wil be in here soon.
I used to have one word for this category. It was "Sienfeld." Then I had two words for this category when the amazing show, Arrested Development was on the air. This show was amazing and could have potentially surpassed the greatness of Sienfeld if it wasn't cancelled. But thankfully The Office arrived just in time and it has been taking over most of my Thursday nights. Yet when I am not watching one of these three shows you will find me flipping between Conan O'brien, That 70s Show, Family Guy, Spin City, Friends and King of Queens for some good laughs. Oh wait. I forgot that there are non-funny shows out there that deserve some recognition: golf, the weather channel, the discovery channel and for awhile I was getting suckered into watching the O.C....but don't tell anyone. I also want to get into 24...but I don't have a TV.
Right now I am really into magazines. Surfer, Snowboarding, Relevant, Backpacker, Paste, National Geographic Adventure, and Outside (I really like pictures). But I wish I read more books. Books are good. Speaking of good books you should check this book out. It was written by none other than the great T.Y. Atkins...my Dad! It is called Let's Cross Over to the Other Side. (It is pretty short for all you non-readers). You can get it at Mtn. Bookstore or on Amazon.comor come by the house and say hi. I haven't read a whole lot since I've been out of school, but here is what I've read in the last year: Wild at Heart, The Purpose Driven Life, The Case for Christ, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia (all 7 of them), No Compromise, Mere Christianity, Blue Like Jazz, The Baronet's Song, The Shepherds Castle and Monster. I really enjoy C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia and Mere Christianity)- he has an awesome way of putting words to make his point understandable. J.R. Tolkien is also amazing! The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy are my favorite right now and I can't believe I didn't read them sooner. Yet my favorite author is Frank Peretti (Monster). However his earlier books, This Present Darkness, Piercing the Darkness, The Oath, The Prophet and The Visitation are much better. I am also a big fan of true story books- My favorites are Touching the Void and Coming out of the Ice. Speaking of good true stories...I also try to read the Bible everyday so I can continue to try and fathom the wonders of God's love. I think that the Gospels contain the greatest love story of all time!
I would have to say that my hero is someone that died so that we may live. Someone who suffered so that we may have peace and joy. Someone who conquered death and rose from the grave and is preparing an eternal home for all who believe in Him. Someone who loves us no matter what we have done. Someone who is real and desires a relationship with all of us. Someone who is the way, the truth and the life.