A Little About Me
I find writing about myself difficult. In fact, frankly, I just hate it. If you really want a fairly good sense of who I am and some of the things I value, I'd invite you to click on the "100 Things 1.4" button up above. The list took several days to write and sums me up fairly well I guess.
I'm not at all your ordinary guy. I spend way too much time with things technical and creative. In fact, I can't imagine a world without both as they can be so intertwined. I think the truly gifted among us are those rare people who can take the complex minutia of the technical and creatively transform it into solutions for problems or tools of creation or prevention--whatever shape those may take, and in such a way as to make the transformation appear simplistic yet profound.
You may be interested to know that the entire intent of my starting a blog was to see if/how this technology could serve the pre-collegiate educational setting. I wanted to learn the "guts" of the process and explore the possibilities for my work place. I'm excited to report that I think blogs (and wikis) can serve a significant role in education.
The reason I have redesigned my personal blog with navigational links across the top is to learn how to do this for my school web site, soon to be transformed into a blog--which is substantially easier to maintain than HTML web pages. [That school site, MabryOnline.org, took the world by storm actually, averaging (as of this writing) serving up over 2,000,000 files per month!, and leading to a new and unexpected direction in my career path as an educator.]
On a personal note, I tend to be an easy going, chocolate-loving, never-enough-hours-in-the-day, spiritual, socially more liberal, fiscally more conservative guy that expects a lot out of this life experience. One would only have to take a short stroll through the category "Politics," formerly named "Unpolite Conversation," to quickly realize where I stand on most social and political issues. And I find mildly amusing that George W. Bush (not his father) brought me to a full realization of how much I detest people and parties who say one thing but do another. Enough, I shall not rant! :o) I've included some links in the sidebar that you may find of interest--or not.
I've enjoyed traveling and photography lately. So, explore some of the many pictures I have on the site. I also have a great love for music and the art of movie-making. Have some fun with those links as well. Enjoy your visit. Comments and suggestions are almost always (wink) welcomed!
This pictures is, well, rather obvious. I popped up out of the "Tube" making certain to "Mind the Gap" and unexpected saw Big Ben during my 2005 trip to London and the surrounding British countryside.
This picture was taken in April, 2005, near the Broadway Tower, a folly built in the rolling British countryside near the town of Broadway.
The shiny bug, as this picture has come to be called, was among the first pictures I ever took with my little digital camera. I just saw the shiny bug sitting there on a leaf as I was walking in the woods near my home. It didn't seem to mind that I snapped its picture.
The beaches at LaBedee, the first stop on the first cruise I ever experienced. I was one of the first people off the ship, (so many firsts) so few people were around to spoil the serenity of the moment.
Taken during my first trip to Paris in 2003, I had just been to the top of the Eiffel Tower and had been convinced of 2 things: I was lucky to get down without having been blown off the top by the unprecedented gusts of freezing cold rain and wind, and I would certainly die of pneumonia from the whole experience. I didn't. Instead, I looked up, snapped this picture, then got into a warm cab.
Another of the many pictures I have taken around my neighborhood. This particular flower is a simple wild weed growing alongside the train tracks near our neighborhood. Just a few days later this very flower was the source of lite feathery seeds that sailed easily in the gentle fall breeze. The drama of nature was not gone; it had just changed.
As we sped down the tiny "I think this is a shortcut" lane, I yelled, "Stop the car!" and took this shot. I have never seen greener grass anywhere on this planet than that which graces the gentle slopes of the British countryside.
The mystery of this place was nuanced by the weather during my brief 2 hour visit. From a bright sunny day, to blistering cold wind accompanied by biting sleet, and back again, this place has an allure much too hard to describe. And one can see for miles through the surrounding countryside that these stones were only a part of something much, much larger to some long absent community.
Of the places I visited during my eastern and western Carribean cruises, St. Thomas was my favorite! But I must confess, the beaches on which I grew up in Pensacola are still the most gorgeous in the world.
Rome, the city of magnificent gushing fountains! One of them is not too far from this place. This picture of the setting sun against the front of the Pantheon is among my favorites. I loved this city and was fascinated by how ancient and "modern" were side by side, keeping in mind that modern is probably still hundreds of years old, older than our whole country.
Still, without any hesitation, the greek isle of Santorini is my favorite spot on earth. No place I've been is as beautiful. In this picture I caught the morning sun as it rose above one of the many cobalt blue church domes that are generously sprinkled atop the caldera.
The forecast in Paris (November, 2005) was unusual, calling for snow showers. ... And the snow fell in the City of Lights. The experience there at that time was nothing short of magical. This picture is the top of a car in Bohemian Montmartre. I was freezing cold but absolutely loving it!
Lest anyone think me to be a complete geek, be it known that this old Underwood typewriter sits in my dining room. (OK, admittedly, that's a bit odd.) Is it the only thing in my house that doesn't require electricity? It speaks of my grandmother who used it in times long since gone by. She was an unusual lady, ahead of her time. She never drove a car, was a school principal, and had the odd notion that everyone should be treated kindly, even if we didn't like them. (Oh for those days when American values were simple and meaningful!) I guess I share a lot in common with her, and while I drive of necessity, without a doubt, I hate it!
These bright little flowers greated the morning sun by the train tracks one early Spring morning. One of my grandfathers was a conductor on the L&N lines. Perhaps that partially explains my fascination with the tracks.
At lake's edge on a gorgeous day in the North Carolina mountains, I lay down on the grass. Looking up, this is what I saw. I immediately grabbed my camera. Snap!
Again, while in the North Carolina mountains in 2004, I saw this short needled pine peeking through the early morning fog as it rose from the mountains.
I love to walk in the Emory Forest near my home. One summer I came upon an entire field of wild flowers painting the hillside. They had been planted that year by the Emory Forest Conservancy. To my dismay, the conservancy hasn't planted any since.
And finally, this picture was shot in April, 2005, along the Hudson Riverwalk near the monument dedicated to the victims of 9/11.
