Old-school rock, everything from Jefferson Airplane and Jimi Hendrix through Pink Floyd and Eric Clapton, and lots of modern stuff, from Eighties Retro through the present-day stuff. I'm fond of spooky gloomy stuff too, and I favor a lot of the same types of music that Goths like. I'm not that fond of Industrial most of the time, though I like it if it's original. I mostly hated "Disco" and was more into punk rock back in the day of The Clash or the DKs. I have a pathetic weakness for female singer-songwriters with attitude such as Chrissy Hines of The Pretenders, Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan. I'm pretty fond of a lot of the New Age / Goddess stuff like Loreena McKennitt's "Mummer's Dance". I also have a pathetic weakness for hard-rocking classics with angry monster guitar leads, from Hendrix through almost any old Punk band I might see in a club.
A community activist in Aspen Hill, Maryland, a suburb of Washington DC. My interests are in improving the neighborhood, with a particular focus on
after-school programs and community involvement in crime-prevention. I work with other concerned citizens and various state and local agencies to clean up local parks, fund and implement afterschool programs, and improve the reputation of the area. From 2002 to 2007 I was a member of the local civic association's board of directors. We promote the community as a good place to live and keep our members informed of any legal, legislative, or capital-improvements activities by local or state government. We also act as representative of our community and membership when a group approach is necessary in order to influence policy at the local or state government levels.
A Radical Centrist, almost of the old Newt Gingrich school of Radical Center Republicans. I seek an end to divisive extremism and partisanship in US politics.
An author, although not published unless you consider a vanity publication of a SF vampire novel, or writing for the Internet, as being published. I do an awful lot of writing, and reading and writing are, more or less, my life. I like to be well-informed and I like to inform other people. I particularly enjoy fine examples of rhetoric.
A musician, although I am not particularly accomplished and certainly I am not famous. I have been playing guitar since first picking it up in 1976 or so and practicing with some seriousness since about 1980. Most of what I play is pretty much the blues, rock/blues, and some neo-classical stuff I've written. Most of that fairly limited repertoire I can play rather well, and often rather loudly, and surprisingly, I get no complaints.
An InterNet technologist, someone who has been on the InterNet since right about the time the public was permitted to access it. Since 1995, I have done all sorts of things, from running servers out of my basement over 24/7 dial-up connections, to being an network-operations-center point-of-escalation engineer with superuser access on about a thousand client servers scattered around the globe, for a fine company which sadly went under in the dot-com collapse. I also operate InterNet services and maintain points of presence for various community activism groups, including others than those in which I am personally involved. I'm not particularly talented in technology, merely competent with the commonplace basics, but I am fairly talented in applying the technology to purposes I believe are useful: improving communications between and within groups working to create positive change in society and culture, and assisting others to do the same.
German-American (mostly) and proud of it, from families with ancestors who helped build the USA since before the Revolutionary War. The last name is real, an anglicization of "Hardtmann". Obviously, we've done some geneological research, and discovered huge numbers of relatives all across the continent.
Underemployed, no arrest record, clean credit history, and getting involved in local politics.
I have a FaceBook entry, if you want to see that.
Who I'd like to meet:
Community activists in and around Aspen Hill, Maryland, especially if they're interested in promoting a clean community with less crime, more hope, and happier people.
People who are interested in helping clean up the local parks and ponds and streams, which could really use some help. It's all part of promoting a healthy environment and helping to Save the Chesapeake Bay.
Musicians for some jamming. I really need to learn some new licks and material before I go totally stale.
