Stormchasing
Stormchasing...Got into this in college (some of my best friends were/are storm chasers), I tagged along a few times and I was hooked. Greatest show on Earth, but I recommend educating yourself on this subject before going out. Not only does it keep you and everyone near you safe, but it also helps you to appreciate what you're looking at!
BTW, I attained my Ham radio license to do this, so maybe this should go in the "geeky" category too..oh well! :-)
Geocaching
I've been into hiking and rock climbing for the past 12 years or so (although I've been so busy lately that I haven't gotten to do this as much). Recently an acquatance tipped me off to geocaching, which combines my interests in hiking/climbing with the thrill of the seeking something (and, of course, it gives me an excuse to buy new toys! :-)
Bass Guitar
Working on getting back into this. I'd goofed around with bass guitar since I was a kid, but never really got serious about it until I was in college (hey, a little extra money never hurts, but I don't recommend some of the places I've had to play to make said fundage). I haven't played much since getting a "real" job (mostly just in my den...the cats still think I'm great!:-), however, I miss it terribly. I play a mostly classic rock, blues, and country. My instrument of choice is a Fender Jazz Bass (thinner neck than the Precision, so I can move about on it faster and with greater ease). I DON'T do Ibanez...
I'd like to meet:
Jesus, someday.
There are, however a few folks that I wouldn't mind meeting first. I'll just stick to the living, as the list of historical figures I would like to have met is WAY to long.
As for politicians in general, I'm just not sure. I think it would be too hard to get through the party line and to the real person. I just don't think it would be that beneficial of a conversation. I've met W. (I worked for Information Systems @ a state university in Texas while he was still the Governor. He stopped in for a visit with Faculty/Staff and later to give a speech, so I got to meet him briefly (kicking myself now for not getting pix :-( ) He seemed like the real deal, but he takes WAY too much advice from neocons like Cheney!
On to television. I wouldn't mind meeting Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage of the Mythbusters. What a neat concept for a show! They have the job I envy (indeed, I am a geek! :-).
Off to the musicians, You can pretty well gather from my music section who I would like to meet, so I'll save space by not mentioning all of them here.
To the writers: I'm big into Tom Clancy's works. I also wouldn't mind meeting Douglas Adams, although it is Infinitely Improbable that he's dead (if you don't get it, read his books!! :-) )
Music:
I listen to a great deal of different kinds of music, from rock to country to blues, it's all good (except for cRAP, I personally don't classify that as music). Recently, I've come to like Nickelback and Hinder's works. I also like Rammstein quite a bit (good music for storming Poland! :-) Def Leppard and Boston are right up there as well. George Strait & Waylon Jennings are my favorite country artists. I'm big into classic rock (70-80's)...back when bands played their own instruments and didnt dance around the stage like buffoons...back when their goal was simple: to make stellar MUSIC! As for my all time favorite group, that's easy: PINK FLOYD.
I enjoy live music because it truly gives one an idea of what the band is like. In short, I want to hear the quality of the band and not of the mixer. I guess why I like the Floyd so much is because they perform very complicated music, yet their live works sound as good as their studio stuff! David Gilmour (Floyd Guitarist) is the greatest guitar player ever to have walked the Earth, IMHO. I like his style of playing. Unlike most guitarists who simply bombard the listener with notes in an apparent attempt to see how many notes they can squeeze into a measure, Gilmour plays a phrase, and then is silent for a moment to let the listener sort of "digest" it, and then play some more, etc. Love that!!
Movies:
I mostly like comedies (80's comedies in particular), although I'm good with the occasional action flick. I also like my John Wayne westerns (like Rio Lobo, Big Jake, and The Cowboys). A few examples of films I like would be "The Princess Bride", "Joe's Apartment", "Office Space", and pretty much anything by Mel Brooks, like maybe
Spaceballs!
I think my all time favorite movies are the 80's classics "Real Genius" and "Ferris Buellers Day Off". All great flicks.
One of the greatest movie villains of all time: Khan Noonien Singh
"No. No, you can't get away. 'From Hell's heart... I stab at thee. For hate's sake I spit my last breath... at thee'." - Khan, quoting Moby Dick
Star Trek II : Moby Dick...but with Spaceships! :-)
Television:
British Comedies (Red Dwarf, Keeping up Appearances, etc) Mythbusters! (Good Stuff!)
Dirty Jobs! (Dirty Stuff!)
Who's line is it anyway (Funny Stuff)
MST3000 (More funny stuff...when I can find it)
Law & Order (the original, not SVU or CI)
Books:
I'm a fan of Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton. The last Crichton book I read was "Prey"; Pretty good read. What I like about both of these writers is that, while their stories are fiction, the circumstances relayed in them are such that you could almost picture them happening in real life. In short, they depict possible real life scenarios...Love that. That having been said, I was sucked into the whole "Harry Potter" thing by my wife. She had read ALL of the books (got the newest ones whenever they were released), and so after watching the 1st couple of movies, I became interested. Now I've read ALL of the books (couldn't wait for another 6 years to learn how the story ends...had to know NOW!!! :-) I'm also big into intellectual comedies, like "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series. If you saw the movie without reading the book, I'm sorry. The creators of that movie were so pressed to squeeze it into the alotted time that they left out A LOT. It seems that they tried to stick to the plot, which, of course, was not the point of the book(s). The plot in the books was just something to hold the humorous set of circumstances and scenes together. I was disappointed to find that the majority of those humorous situations were left out of the movie, I guess to either save time or perhaps because the American movie producers simply didn't grasp the subtle British humor. Anyway, enough of my ranting. I finally found a copy of the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which contains all five books in the Hitchhiker series in one cover...Good stuff!
Heroes:
My dad, Steve D. Perry (1949-1996)
Sam Houston (1793-1863)
William Barret Travis (1809-1836)
