Chris

I was born in Chicago, Illinois, and proud of it!   Although I've lived in California most of my life, a part of me is still in the Windy City, and always will be.   This is a city known for its world famous architecture, art institute and museums, its creativity and drive, and for still living it's motto of "I will."   Here's to you, Chicago!   Keep the lights burning bright and the L trains rolling.
"Hog butcher for the world,
Tool maker, stacker of wheat,
Player with railroads and the nation's freight handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the big shoulders."
- Carl Sandburg's "Chicago" (1916)
City of Chicago - official site
I thought it was time to update this.   If I had to say one word to describe myself, I would say I'm curious.   I always have been, and I always will be.   I'm a daydreamer.   I still dream of seeing space someday.   Every since I saw the news in 2004 about SpaceshipOne and the X-Prize, I dream about the day when I can fly to space and see the Earth's curvature and bright blue horizon against a black sky. One day, maybe that dream will become a reality.
I dream about all the places in this country and this world that I've never seen.   One day, I want to travel far enough north to see the Aurora Borialis, the Northern Lights.   I will gaze into the night and watch the ghostly lights get painted across the sky.   That's one of my biggest dreams.
I have a lot of unusual hobbies.   I experiment with high voltage.   Come visit me any day, and I will show you 100,000 volts crackling through the air in a fiery, glowing display of pure energy. I will show you electricity turned into a wispy high voltage arc that burns hotter than a flame.   And many other things that you have probably never seen.   This is what I do.
I'm a walking contradiction.   I've had friends say that I tend to be moody - acting very talkative and goofy one moment (sometimes even downright obnoxious), but very quiet and more withdrawn the next.   I'm young, but I believe in doing many things the old school way because it's more interesting.   I shoot 8mm movie film.   I take pictures with both digital and 35mm film cameras, but mostly 35mm. (I also use 120 film to get super sharp landscape photographs that can blow away any digital camera out there).   I develop my own black and white film.   I play on the computer all night, and I couldn't live without the Internet....But I remember a time before the Internet.   I download all my music and listen to my mp3 player all the time...but I'm also just as comfortable listening to AM on one of the antique vacuum tube radios in my collection.   I'm a walking contradiction.   I speak my mind, and I do what I love.
Unusual things fascinate me.
I have a lot of weird habits.   I love soda, and I've been known to hang upside down from my bed and drink a Pepsi.   I HATE palm trees.   I like pizza and could probably live on it. My favorite color is probably dark blue or silver.   I usually don't wear shoes in the house, because I hate wearing shoes. And despite my interest in high voltage, I don't really like thunderstorms because lightning terrifies me.   If you want to know anything else, just ask.   :)
I've also done a lot of volunteer work with the city and in our neighborhood, and I have this crazy idea that in some small way, I can change things for the better.
But above all, I'm just Chris.   If I'm given the chance, I would like to think I'm fun to hang out with and I'm a good friend.

Resonant Rise

Here I am with my 100,000 volt Tesla Coil!   This is not static electricity - the coil is powered by very real and very deadly high voltage Alternating Current.   The purple glow you see at the top of the coil is a corona discharge, literally a ring of sparks crackling in the air.   You will also notice that the florescent tube in my hands is being lit without any wires! The tube is being lit by the high frequency radio energy from the Tesla Coil. A Tesla Coil can generate incredibly high voltage at high frequency with a phenomenon known as resonance or resonant rise.
This is not a Photoshop trick.   I really am drawing sparks from the Tesla Coil through a rod with my bare hand.   High frequency current tends to flow mainly on the surface of a conductor, so most of the current was actually flowing around me, rather than directly through me.   Also, the nervous system doesn't respond to high frequency so you don't feel any shock, and it's (mostly) harmless.

Electric Flames

A hot, flaming arc drawn from a 15,000 volt transformer.   The arc makes a continous, low pitched humming sound because of the alternating current, and appears as a bright white and greenish glow.

Looking To The Heavens

This picture of the full Moon was taken with my 60mm refractor telescope (with a lunar filter) and a 3.2 megapixel digital camera. I just held the camera to the eyepiece and focused it with with the LCD display!
Eventually, I'm really going to have to get a bigger telescope and a camera adaptor so I can take better pictures. Someday I'd like to try astrophotograpy - maybe have a picture here of the Orion Nebula or the Andromeda Galaxy.   Now, that would be nice!
Yup, that's Saturn!   Don't laugh.   This is the best I could do for now with my 70mm telescope, a digital camera, and a cheap tripod.   It was NOT easy to do!   It looks much better in the telescope, I just need a better mounting for the camera.
Hey, at least you can see the rings!   :)

Photography

This is a Yashica A, Twin Lens Reflex camera. It uses 120 film.   It was made over 50 years ago, and still works great...and it will probably work great in another 50 years.   Photography is a new hobby I'm just getting into.   But I'm really growing to love it.   I use both digital and film cameras, but 90 percent of the pictures I take now are with FILM. I love using antique manual film cameras because they have a solid, well crafted feel to them.   There is just something special about using a real mechanical camera.   Also, there is something pretty cool about using a camera that was made long before I was born...and still works.   You have much more control with a manual film camera.   There is more to real photography than just aiming a camera and pressing a button, and I've taken pictures with 120 film that would blow away any digital camera out there.   I also develop my own black and white film and pictures. I take photographs or pictures, not "pics"   :)
(You just can't beat real black and white film.)
Check out my website to see my photos taken with film, including B&W pictures I've developed at home:
http://www.geocities.com/gatewaycityca/Photography.html