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Where do I start? Since the work I do requires lots of mental work, I like to do other things that require physical effort. Purely mental creation does not provide the same creative satisfaction as the actual creation of something.

So, that said, I spend a fair amount of my spare time working with wood. Mostly building furniture. As of right now (February 2006) I am involved in building a bed for my youngest daughter. This will be the fourth canopy bed; counting a crib, a toddler bed and now two twin beds. My daughters are truly princesses, and they know it.

I also like to mess around with photography. I have a few photos available for viewing at PBase.

I've been known to sew. I'm not nearly advanced enough to design anything myself, but being dissatisfied with the quality of clothing available for my daughters has driven me to make a few things for them.

I like to read. Not a lot of time for that anymore, though.

I am teaching my daughters math. We decided to give home schooling a try, and Mommy takes reading/English and I'm doing math. That's the only two subjects for now, we're only in Kindergarten! But, the girls love it.

I like ancient stuff. "Huh?", I hear you say? Well, I love to go the Renaissance Festival in Larkspur (although I hear it going to move, auugh!) I also love and study heraldry, which is the science of Coats of Arms and such. If my wife wasn't so level-headed, then I might be involved in things like the Society for Creative Anachronism ...
I like fountain pens and pocket watches; cloaks and old hand tools; swords and armor.

What music do I like? Well, what am I doing at the moment! What I like has a lot to do with what is going on.

If I am at work (where it needs to be quieter and calm) or if I am working on a shop project then my tastes run to towards Classical. I am a huge fan of the Baroque period, Bach and Vivaldi in particular. Classical, Romantic and even Renaissance period music also fill out my favorites. The Modern era mostly turns me off, due to my distaste for the dissonant styles.
I also enjoy what is sometimes termed, "Celtic" music. Things like the works of Lorenna McKennitt.

If I am driving, then I tend to like things that are more fast-paced. My wife recently got into Mercy Me, and I like them too.

I used to like quite a few pop music things from the 80's, but mostly now I think to myself, "did I really like that?"

NetFlix is so cool. I can try out all sorts of things that I might never take in at the theater, and if something is a dud it is only a couple bucks I'm out.

I'm a pretty big Star Wars fan. I actually liked the new trilogy as much as the original, although that is a little, ... odd, for my generation.

At Netflix, these are my five-star rated movies:

• Amelie
• The Incredibles
• The Iron Giant
• Before Sunrise
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
• Spirited Away

• Casablanca
• Under the Tuscan Sun
• Fifty First Dates
• Batman Begins
• Dangerous Beauty
• Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
• Ice Age
• Lemony Snicket: Unfortunate Events
• The Notebook
• October Sky

• Project Runway
• New Yankee Workshop
• Denver Broncos Football
• University of Colorado Football
• Various, assorted things that happen to catch my interest

I like fantasy novels: Tolkien, some David Eddings and, of course, Harry Potter. I also like to read history, either ancient or modern ... although modern history seems to be mostly depressing these days ... :-(

As a Christian, I also read my Bible. Maybe that's a "duh" revelation, but it felt important to say. Hmm, well I guess I should amend that slightly. For a while now I've been listening to my Bible. No! I am not hearing voices coming out of the leather binding! It is on CD and I listen in my car during my commute. It is fascinating to me how some points come out so clearly when a passage is spoken, which lay quiet and unnoticed under the steady gaze of ones eyes.