And Now For Something Completely Different

We’re going to mix it up a bit this week, and take a break from the usual Tories, Luddites and Liberals fare, so that I can share a bit of myself with you. Here, then, are some Hobbies and Habits, along with some personal history. Truly exceptional (or otherwise interesting) recommendations are highlighted:

BOOKS

I read quite a bit. I love history but also enjoy fiction, so I tend to mix things up by reading a couple of non-fiction books, then reading a “blockbuster” or a “summer novel.” My favorite non-fiction book is probably Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow. I had no real idea of just how important Alexander Hamilton was to this country. He was just phenomenal, and is a personal hero of mine. I am working on a synopsis of his extraordinary accomplishments to share with you at some point in the future. My all-time favorite book of fiction is Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. Simply awesome. Some recent non-fiction books I’ve read:

The Forgotten Man, by Amity Schlaes
Alexis de Tocqueville, A Life, by Hugh Brogan
The American Patriot’s Almanac, by W. Bennett and John Cribb
His Excellency (a George Washington bio), by Joseph J. Ellis
The Great Upheaval, by Jay Winik
American Sphinx (a Thomas Jefferson bio), by Joseph J. Ellis
James Madison, by Garry Wills
America The Last Best Hope, Volume II, by William J. Bennett
Benjamin Franklin, by Edmund S. Morgan
John Adams, by David McCullough
1776, by David McCullough
America The Last Best Hope, Volume I, by William J. Bennett

Recent fiction books I’ve read:

The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield
The Interpretation of Murder, by Jed Rubenfeld
The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova
The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown

I am currently reading:

Immortal Words, by Terry Breverton
The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson

…and these are “on deck”:

Who Really Cares, by Arthur C. Brooks
Grant, Memoirs and Selected Letters, The Library of America
A Country of Vast Designs, by Robert W. Merry
American Lightning, by Howard Blum
Sin in the Second City, by Karen Abbott

Subscriptions: We subscribe to both of the local daily newspapers, plus The Wall Street Journal, National Review, Vanity Fair and Playboy. I also read columnists like Thomas Sowell, George Will, Larry Elder, Suzanne Fields, Dennis Prager, Paul Greenberg and yes, Ann Coulter. They can be found at TownHall.com, which offers a free subscription via email. I also subscribe to PatriotPost.us, which is just phenomenal and always gives me something to think about. It, too, is a free subscription.

COIN COLLECTING

We have almost completed a U.S. Type Set, which is essentially a collection of every type of American coin ever made. The set is incomplete, however, as we still need several of the gold coins. They are kind of pricey, so it may take a while to finish our collection. I started the collection in part to get Jake and Will interested in history, and it really jump-started my own passion for it. Here are some of my favorite U.S. coins:

1798 Draped Bust Large Cent – It’s from the 1700’s (!)
1804 Draped Bust Half Cent – Lewis and Clark took off to explore America
1826 Capped Bust Half Dollar – On July 4th, 1826, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died fifty years to the day after signing the Declaration of Independence
1864 Two Cent – Just a cool design
1883 Liberty Head Nickel – The back features a “V,” for Five, but no “Cents.” An enterprising scam artist named Josh Tatum plated them in gold and passed them off as $5 gold pieces. Thus was the term “You ain’t Joshing me,” was, um, coined…

MOVIES

I am a cinephile, or a major Movie Buff. We own over 300 movies, and we generally rent several movies a week, usually on weekends. If I have to pick a favorite movie, it is probably The Godfather, Part II. I also really like Little Big Man, and for goofy fun I really dig Sean of the Dead. Here are some recent favorites for your consideration:

The Hurt Locker
Moon
District 9
Sherlock Holmes
Surveillance
I Love You, Man
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
The Reader
Bottle Shock
Tell No One (French)
Superbad
Slumdog Millionaire
Marley and Me

GUNS

I used to hunt a bit – deer, duck, geese, rabbit, and squirrel – but I haven’t been out in years. It isn’t something I’ve imparted to my sons and I’m not sure that I will. However, I do like guns and I have a lifetime concealed carry permit. My sons and I are just beginning to explore gun safety and marksmanship. There is a local gun club I am looking at and we’ll probably join it in the near future. Here is what I own and shoot:

.45 semi-auto pistol (model 1911-A1)
5.56mm AR-15 semi-auto rifle (w/ ACOG)
.243 single-shot rifle (breech load w/ scope)
.357 Magnum revolver (7-shot)
12-gauge pump-action shotgun
.50 caliber muzzle loader

SPORTS and LEISURE

I grew up playing football, baseball and basketball, but really only follow football (I’m in a fantasy football league – Go, Mean Machine!) and some college basketball (primarily the NCAA Tournament). I also enjoy golf. Golf is my passion. Although I’m not terrific at it, I’m a 12 or 13 handicap and usually shoot in the mid-80’s. I have two golf “dreams” that I’m sure are shared by a million other golfers: Make a hole-in-one (been close) and shoot a round in the 70’s (been very close). I have played at Sawgrass and, yes, I did manage to stick the green on the par 3 17th. The other course I would really like to play some day is Pebble Beach. I am a pretty fair dart-thrower, a decent pool player (we have a table in the basement) and I’ve been playing in a Bridge game for close to twenty years (best card game ever, by the way). I also enjoy playing Poker, though I don’t play on a regular basis anymore.

Proudest Athletic Achievement: Sports give us a lot of pleasure and enjoyment, but I suppose my favorite sports memory was when I was selected Most Valuable Player by my high school football teammates. I guess my picture is still hanging on a wall with all the other Lawrence North High School football MVP’s in the stadium locker room. Those were great guys, and good times. (I played linebacker, always linebacker, and my high school dreams of pro football stardom were sidelined by a dislocated shoulder as a Senior.)

MILITARY

I was in the U.S. Air Force from January 1983 to January 1987. After completing basic training at Lackland AFB (I was a squad leader) I attended Precision Measurement Electronics Laboratory (PMEL) training in Denver, CO. I would return to Lowry AFB twice more for advanced technical training, first in Physical/Dimensional Measurement and later for Optical Measurement. Other than the technical training at Lowry, I spent my four years working in a PME Laboratory at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS. It wasn’t bad; we were about 90 minutes from the Florida panhandle to the east, and “The City,” aka New Orleans, to the west. I wouldn’t trade the time I spent in the military for anything; I learned more, and grew more as a person, than I ever would have thought possible in just four years.

Highlights: I was named Keesler AFB DCM Airman of the Year in 1984, was promoted below-the-zone to Senior Airman, and was honorably discharged as a Sergeant.

Ironic Note: I was married to Ginger Ferguson in 1983, and in 1984 we welcomed a son, Zachary, into the world. He was born in July, in Biloxi, Mississippi at the Keesler AFB hospital. Ginger and I divorced in 1987, and about 20 years later, Zach, having joined the Air Force and completed basic training, received news that his first duty station was going to be…Keesler AFB. He’s still there; he’s an Air Force firefighter, married, with twins on the way.

CAREER

I’ve been with ITT in Ft. Wayne, IN since they recruited me while I was in the Air Force and joined them in January 1987. I started out as a calibration technician, was sent to an HVAC school to learn environmental chamber maintenance, was moved into the Phys/D lab, and in 1997 was named supervisor of the Calibration Lab at the Pontiac Street facility. In 2005 I was recruited to help start a Resource Management group, which is just what it sounds like: A group that looks to optimize company assets by maximizing the utilization of existing resources and planning for future technical needs. I won’t bore you with all the details – it isn’t at all as glamorous as it sounds, lol – but I will say that we’ve developed an amazing business model, and I wish I owned it. Our metrics have shown “hard” cost savings of one million dollars or more in each year of our existence, and we will exceed that once again this year.

ITT is a great place to work. Sure, there have been a few ups and downs, but I think of it as a quintessential American corporation and I am proud to have been associated with them. We do a number of things, and we do them extraordinarily well. When you see satellite pictures of the weather, it’s from our imagers in space. We provide our troops with secure tactical communication systems in the field. Ever hear of “night-vision goggles?” That’s us. Our water technology helped pump Katrina out of New Orleans.

FAMILY

Nancy Marie and I have been married for twenty years. We have two sons, Jacob Thornton and William Winston. Nancy is the brains of the outfit: She has a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University. She likes reading, watching “Days of Our Lives,” pro football, college basketball, and taking the boys to church. Jake attends Bishop Dwenger High School and is interested in becoming a doctor. He’s a regular “Renaissance Man.” He plays trumpet and piano, speaks a little French, and is a talented artist and writer. Will is “Joe Athlete.” He plays football and soccer for St. Charles, and plays tennis in the summer. He is also a very good student: He has consistently been on the Honor Roll, and has received High Honors for the last couple of years. Education is a very high priority in our household, but we also like to have fun. Recent vacations have been to Virginia Beach, Ft. Walton Beach, the Outer Banks, and Myrtle Beach. We also go to the movies, go to the pool, and play golf on occasion. We have a salt-and-pepper mini-Schnauzer named Lucy, who is the sweetest dog in the world. I should have named her Shadow, because she follows me wherever I go. Nancy calls her my “stalker.” In general, life is good. We live, quite happily (knock on wood), in a fairly average house in a golf-course community.

My Mom, Patty, and step-Dad, Dale, live in Greenfield, IN, and are great. Both are retired, although Dale went back to work part-time. I have the greatest sister in the world, Jodi, who shares a house in Greenfield with her husband, David, sons Eric and Connor, and two dogs, Annie and Izzy. I have numerous cousins, many of whom keep in touch, and their parents, my Aunts and Uncles, who I love dearly but don’t see nearly enough. My grandparents are gone, and I miss them every day.

ONWARD AND UPWARD

That’s it; that’s basically who I am and what I like. I’m not sure why I decided to share all of the flotsam and jetsam of my life, but I do hope that perhaps it gives you an insight into where I’m coming from amidst this discussion of ours. Please feel free to comment and I will attempt to answer or address whatever it is that you want to talk about.

A note on Tories: Moving forward, this blog will become more topical. There is much to discuss and, thus far, I feel that we have only laid the groundwork. These are target-rich times and I think it is imperative that we shine a little light on the important issues of the day. Do please join me.