Randy, at home, Winter, 2015

Personal Stuff!

Family

My family is probably the single most important thing to me. I'm happily married to an incredible woman, and we have two amazing daughters! As I update this (8/24/15), we've just started a new chapter: we left our oldest yesterday at the College of William & Mary, to begin her freshman year. This is both exciting, for obvious reasons, and a little scary, because she's still only seventeen.

Biking

When I was a kid I had a passion for biking! I loved BMX and road riding. At seventeen, I took up running, and ran almost daily for about twenty years. Unfortunately, knee pain forced me to give it up a few years ago.

Marin XC6

I tried to stay active, including riding sporadically, but steadily put on pounds, especially after a car accident. After my radiation treatment ended (5/14), I decided to get a little more serious about getting fit. I bike two or three times a week, and go to the gym two or three times a week. I also learned that it helps to rest a couple days a week. That regimine coupled with some minor dietary changes has resulted in my losing about half the weight that I've put on over the years, and I hope to keep moving in that direction!

My favorite local place to ride is the mountain bike path at Fountainhead park, but I also ride a trail closer to home when time is tight. My current bike is a Marin XC6!

Music

Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe Randy, in the Chorus of Dukes (5th from the left).

I love music of all kinds! I was a chorister as a kid, and sang in college choir and many shows.

We put on a Gilbert and Sullivan show almost every year when I was in college. The picture on the right shows me in the chorus in Iolanthe, along with many of my friends (click the pic to see it full size). This was just before digital cameras became common place, so pictures are scarce! Somewhere there's a picture from Brigadoon of me in a kilt that I hope never sees the light of day!

I also traveled to England multiple times with a choir. We performed Evensong at cathedrals in Salisbury and Wells on the first trip, York and Edinbourgh, Scottland on the second, and Durham and Saint Pauls London on the third and final trip.

Krankenstein: a hot-rodded 2008 Les Paul Studio

I took up the guitar a few years ago, after a long hiatus.

In order to play with some friends, I wanted an electric guitar. I'm a tenacious do-it-yourselfer, so I bought a Les Paul body and neck on eBay, and assembled the hardware that I wanted a la carte. In terms of style, I like things that are somewhat austere, so I thought the black hardware would look good with the walnut finish. Anyway, I think the results speak for themselves.

I still have a '92 Alvarez Yairi from before that hiatus, but my favorite guitar is a 12 string Art & Lutherie that belonged to my brother (my sister-in-law gave it to me after he passed away). I've also always wanted to try the bass, so I built a Jazz Bass clone with a Warmoth neck and body and aftermarket parts. I thought it would be just like finger picking a guitar, but the huge gauged strings and frets make it a different animal altogether.

1950 Baldwin M

Like many kids of a bygone era, I was subjected to piano lessons starting in first grade. In about the fifth grade, my parents gave in to my complaining and let me quit. I've regretted it almost ever since. So...

A couple years ago my daughter was taking an AP Music Theory class, and needed a polyphonic instrument to study some of the lessons. Rather than just buying a keyboard, I thought it might be the perfect time to acquire an acoustic piano, and hunted down the 1950 Baldwin M pictured to the right. I tend to like old things, but older instruments are not necessarily desirable; this one, however, had been well maintained! Unfortunately, we got it only one month before I was diagnosed with cancer, so I haven't spent much time with it myself, but I'm hoping to start taking some lessons in the future.

Barred Owl, Fountainhead Park

Bird Watching

Bird watching is not something I do actively, but a friend of mine is an avid bird watcher, and I'm starting to catch the fever!

I spend a lot of time in the woods on my bike, or hiking, and one of the coolest things I've come across so far is the Barred Owl in the picture.

Pound-for-pound, owls are the toughest birds in the forest! I've seen several Barred Owls in the area, including my own neighborhood, and can hear them calling in the evening or early morning. They are relatively big, but in a cool phenomenon over the last year or so, I've stopped hearing the Barred owl calls, and they've been replaced by calls from the Great Horned Owl, which is even more dominant. I haven't seen one yet, but I'm looking forward to sooner or later!

I've also come across a pair of nesting Bald Eagles, seen a couple of Red Tailed Hawks up close, and a number of Piliated Woodpeckers, etc. In terms of wildlife, I also come across a lot of deer, turtles, and an occasional snake (I don't usually stick around to take pictures of snakes).