Myspace Layouts at Pimp-My-Profile.com / The flame and the rose
The Life and Times of Travis, condensed into a quick little block for those who might even remotely be interested ...
BORN: In the Central Texas town of Temple, in the summer of 1970 -- back in the day when we pretended to go to the moon and we pretended that shag green carpet was actually cool. After my birth, my family moved to Pflugerville, Texas; back to Temple; then to Stillhouse Hollow Lake -- just outside Belton, Texas, where I lived from the age of four until I graduated high school and joined the circus army.
SCHOOL: Went to Southwest Elementary School in Belton, where I wore what appeared to be bowling shoes. Then off to Belton Middle School (now called "Tyler Elementary" if I'm not mistaken), then across the street to Belton Jr. High, and then on to Belton High School, were I perfected the geekish art of wearing paisley shirt, parachute pants, and penny loafers before graduating in 1988. Had a few short stints in college after the army, but I had a family of my own by that point, so it just didn't work out that well.
WHERE I'VE LIVED: After leaving Belton in 1988, I lived in a number of places. I'll list only the ones I spent a significant amount of time at: Monterey, CA; Sierra Vista, AZ; Mason City, IA; Rochester, MN; Fargo, ND. All in all, most of my adult life was spent on the Iowa/Minnesota border. I currently live in Odessa, TX. I am tired of bouncing around -- I've lived in enough places for two lifetimes, and my parents are getting older, so I'm staying in West Texas ... or at least Texas. No more than six hours from "home" is a good thing.
MARRIED LIFE: I have been married (technically) three times, although it has only been to two women -- I married one of them twice. I am currently separated from the women I married twice and getting ready to get divorced from her twice. Always on the prowl to meet the next ex-Mrs. Beaty.
KIDS: I have three. Two daughters (18 and 16) who live in Iowa, and one son (13) who lives with me.
PERSONALITY: I'm a fairly easy going person, but I am also very opinionated and stubborn. I can't say that I'm a saint, but I don't think I'm a demon's spawn either. I take to heart a line from the movie "Star Trek: First Contact": "Don't try to be a good man, just try to be a man."
RELIGION: Oh, the ever dangerous topic. I believe in God. I grew up in a wacky Southern Baptist church, which promptly and professionally weaned me of any desire to go around Bible-thumping as they continually perfected the art of witch hunts and gossip mongering. For those of you of Lutheran (and Catholic?) persuasion, I believe everything stated in the Nicene Creed. But they sort of left Mary out -- so the Nicene Creed is a subset of what I feel in my heart to be The Truth. However, there is also a lot of Wiccan influence in my beliefs. In my opinion, modern Paganism and modern Christianity are two extreme, and the truth lies on a razor's edge between the two. Hence, Christianity would dub me a heretic, Wicca would decide I'm a goody two-shoes witch wannabe.
POLITICS: I am an indepedent, liberally conservative socialistic republicrat. Seriously, I'm a moderate, with liberal views on some things, conservative views on other things.
INTERESTS: I've still got geek in my roots. My favorite hobby is computer programming, and messing around with all things having to do with the internals of the machine. I am comfortable with either Linux or Windows. Both have their strengths and faults, and we'll let the people decide which one they want to use. I write code in C/C++, C#, Java, and Python. I'm currently studying Visual BASIC ... the last time I used BASIC, well, let's suffice it to say, it's a different programming language now.
Other interests include Role Playing on the MMORPG World of Warcraft (I'm on the Moonguard server), science fiction writing -- when I have time -- and just writing in general, again, when time allows.
... More to follow ... one of these days, I should do some sort of FAQ on myself, if people don't have a life and really find me that interesting.
