I am 52 years old and a father of one. Although still married 20-plus years I am separated from my wife, having moved to Holland MI where I work as a turbine combustion systems test engineer. My prior three jobs were also as test engineer, most recently for a French company making automotive anti-vibration components and earlier yet for a German company making automotive suspension and crash protection components. Before then was an American firm that re-manufactured really big hydraulic robots. My jobs before then were as a technician for instrumentation and electronics.

If you have accounts in these other worlds you can IM me as resident Aplonis Ember in Second Life, OpenSim and OpenLife. Unlike a basic account here, a freebie accounts there are not restricted as to social privileges. In all those a newbie can go anywhere, message anybody, do anything. The only cost to Second Life is in owning land and collecting a large inventory of items (clothing, etc). So visit me there, if you like...or message me here, as you please.

I do still have the Uthervers/RLC client installed. But I very rarely come here. I might if I could PM my friends as non-VIP. But since I can't there's little point. I now spend my in-world hours mostly at Second Life rather than in RLC as the social environment there is very much less rife with drama.

Still, who knows anything for certain? I login to my profile every now and again to check on my friend's bulletins and for messages. If there were a compelling reason to talk to one of my old friends I might very well cough up the $20 so as to login to PM them. I can't imagine what that would be however. Nor can I imagine who as most of my dearest friends have also migrated (or maintain dual accounts) also in Second Life. Still, all things are possible, I suppose.

My main interests outside of work are quite varied. I do some martial arts, having a 1st Dan in Tae Kwon Do and hoping to acquire 2nd by this time next year. I also dabble in Jujutsu where I am a rank beginner. I like martial arts as good, clean exercise and with maybe the potential to get me out of a tight spot if ever that should happen. But I don't get all macho or culturally anachronistic about it the way so very many do.

I also like to ride motorcycles and am on my 7th bike since age 14. Each of those was bigger than the last. But the 1300 is about my limit as I am only 5' 7" and 156 lbs and the bike is 760 lbs with no reverse gear. So any bigger I might not be able to back it up without help. And that wouldn't do. Nevertheless I still look at the bigger ones from time to time.

I have the highest available class of ham radio license for what thats worth. Do some Morse code, but not a lot of that lately.

Science fiction, fantasy and crime novels...about half in print and half as audio books.

Humor too, especially the adventures of Serge A Storms, that most lovable of all fictional serial killers...who's long string of victims seem only to include such folks as: insurance claim deniers, environmental rapists, seriously crooked politicians, truly vicious criminals, and that really loud jerk on the highway who everybody hates...the hip-hop redneck in his $500 Datsun with the 2000 Watt stereo amp and windows rolled down..

And, of course, everything by Jack Vance or Terry Pratchett will always hover somewhere near the top of my list no matter how many times I may have read them before.