Travels
I've seen 47 of the 50 United States (not Idaho,
Montana, or Hawaii.) Some favorite things:
Everything in San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Buffalo,
Atlanta, and San Antonio, and Lafayette Louisiana. Almost everything in
New Orleans, Mobile, New York, Houston, Nashville, Knoxville, and
Washington, DC.
I have done white water rafting the Grand Canyon, West
Virginia's upper Gauley, from the foot of the Mendenhall Glacier in
Alaska, and the Reventazon in Costa Rica. Camping in the Great Smokies,
on the Appalachian Trail, at Percy Quinn and Clear Springs in
Mississippi.
International favorites include Canada: Nova Scotia,
Quebec, Montreal, Vancouver; Istanbul: the Grand Bazaar, Hagia
Sophia, and a real Turkish Bath at the Cagaloglu
Hamami; the flower barges on Amsterdam's canals; Paris' Louvre and
the Seine; London's Tower and theaters; Rhodes' old city wall; Austria:
Salzburg and Vienna; Prague's Charles Bridge and opera house; Buda and
Pest; Switzerland's Alps and gingerbread houses; Mexico: Cuernavaca,
Temples of the Sun and Moon; climbing the Acropolis in Athens, the
Coliseum in Rome, losing and finding the Plaza del Marco in Venice, a
carriage ride in Florence; watching Catalans dance the Sardona, and
Gaudi's frivolous buildings in Barcelona; bullfighting in Madrid; the
Alcazar in Sevilla; and in Costa Rica: iguanas, sloths, monkeys, coati,
strange birds, giant iridescent butterflies, wildly colored frogs and
crabs in the national parks. And the great people we met in all these
places.
My Family
This is a considerable topic, you'll have
to go to their page... or if you really wanted
to find out about OTHER Dawes families, go HERE.
Hobbies
Computers
I've enjoyed using computers at work since 1978. I started with the Radio
Shack Model I, and have owned 8080, 16, 80, 86, 286, 386, 486, and
Pentiums I, II, II, IV, and various Intel clones. Now I do a little web
site design and hosting for very select clientele. See www.dawesbiz.net
for details.
 Tropical
Fish
In Virginia, I used to breed Angelfish: include Silver, Gold, Blacks, and
German Blue Blushing - my last breeding pair are pictured at the right. My
gear was mostly destroyed by the flood, but I have a few of the German
Blues right now. See my really popular Web pages, the Angelfish
Breeding FAQ.
Theater
Two decades ago I enjoyed parts in amateur versions of Pirates of Penzance,
HMS
Pinafore, and professionally in Carousel. Now my tours satisfy the
urge to be on-stage.
Music
Favorites are Jacques Brel, Marion McPartland, Taj Mahal, Yanni, Pete
Seeger, Peter Paul and Mary, and just about everyone at the New Orleans
Jazz Fest. I've enjoyed playing piano... poorly, harmonica, ukulele,
banjo, mandolin, and a button accordion. I love to sing and whack away on
my Dixie chrome banjo-uke, do Sweet Georgia Brown, the MTA Song and a
hundred other oldies. By ear only, I can't read music.
Calligraphy
Pretty good cursive and uncial hands, though now I only do it to address
envelopes. I would rather write with ink than a ball point.
Folk Dance
This activity is now a consuming passion once again. I do 'International
Folk Dance", Irish set dancing, and Cajun dance most every
week.
My current favorite folk dances are Les Noto's, Forgatos,
Csardas, Hambo, Vossarul, Guzzeleme, Kujawiaks's and Mach!, plus many
Greek, Turkish, Polish, Hungarian, Scottish, English, Bulgarian, French,
Canadian, Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Macedonian dances. I designed a
web page for my home group, the Crescent City International Dancers at www.folkdancers.net/ccid.
Unfavorite things
-
Plain boiled squash.
-
Long speeches. Five to ten minutes
should do it.
-
Guns, loud noises and clumsy
machinery of any kind, car racing in particular.
-
War and violence.
-
Gossip.
-
People who are sure they're right
and someone else is wrong. Myself, when I've been sure that I was
right...
Personal philosophy
-
Rote work can be demeaning to the
human spirit. I'll work like the dickens to eliminate it. On the other
hand, some repetitive chores may be the best time to let my mind
wander and think deep thoughts.
-
What's wrong with the Internet is that
not everyone is on it yet. And I pray daily for tolerance to spammers.
As I filter out and delete 200 to 300 messages a day, I hope yours
isn't among them.
-
Data not shared are usually data
wasted.
-
What human endeavors are really worth
doing? I'm sure about singing, dancing, entertaining, learning,
educating, helping the needy, and giving others the chance to help me.
Very little else.
-
My own pleasurable survival is
enhanced by assuring the pleasurable survival of others.
|
6'4"
tall, 200 pounds. Born March 4, 1934, white hair and beard; I've had a
full beard since I left the army reserves in 1965. Nice deep baritone
voice, sometimes too loud. Fairly good story teller and tour guide, if
you don't mind hearing some repeats. Can walk pretty far. I like late
hours, I can take a nap most anytime. Usually up by 9am, rarely go to
bed before 10pm.
