My Interests and Hobbies
I am a Christian, and I belong to a congregation in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. I work as a network specialist for Eastern Suffolk BOCES. I am happily married to a wonderful woman named Tania, we have a wonderful son who also happens to be called Edward. I have varied interests, as you will see.
I enjoy mountain biking, reading good books, classical history, historic Christian theology, Ice Hockey, family, fiddling with my computer, fiddling with HTML, fiddling with my Linux box, and good friends-plus a good debate once in a while. I have also been known to dance, play cards, tell jokes and just have fun. I am also the administrator for this web site. If you have any computer or technical issues with this site, please contact me. My address is at the bottom of this page, and also on the contact web page.
Mountain biking is how I get most of my exercise. Being in the woods can be calming, but at the same time challenging. There aren't really any "mountains" where I live, so most challenges are "ride up the sandy hill" and "avoid that tree." If you are a mountain biker, you will know that this is difficult! If my gear is too high, I will just bog down because of lack of speed, if my gear is too low, I won't have enough momentum to get to the top! So biking is a mental as well as physical thing.
Going down a hill can be just as challenging; go too fast and kiss a tree, go too slow and why bother? But exhilaration is only one part of the sport, seeing nature has its benefits as well. In the woods about my house, there are quite a few deer, opossum, raccoon, fox and even ospreys. Just to stop and watch the animals is a pleasure in itself. On occasion I have seen entire families of deer grazing. One thing in particular I remember is an osprey swooping down to catch a small mammal (he got away!). The graceful gliding of the osprey really made an impression on me, since it was perfectly designed to accomplish its task. Then it went from a graceful glide, to a dive reminiscent of a dive bomber. All with just flesh and bone!
Exercise is another reason I ride, and there is plenty of it! Riding on dirt is much more difficult than riding on a paved road. When I keep up with my program, I am in excellent shape, and I feel no hill is too difficult to climb! (of course my feelings don't always conform to reality) ;-)
Classical (i.e. ancient) history is another interest I have. I have read such authors as Plutarch, Livy, Thucidides, Julius Caesar, Herodotus and Cicero. Some would call me a "Roman buff." My favorites are Livy and Plutarch, both of these are the easiest to follow (although Caesar's works are very clearly written). Plutarch doesn't write detailed history so much as personality sketches. Of all his biographies, I liked the one called Timoleon the most. He is the only one to have died peacefully in his bed. He drove out some tyrants from Syracuse. After that, (obviously!) he saved the Greeks in Sicily from marauding Carthaginians in a dramatic battle at the Crimesus river, while a massive thunderstorm raged . What makes this battle interesting to me is that the Greeks were outnumbered by about five to one, and the storm. You see, the thunder and lightning, plus the swelling river and attendant confusion, made the Carthaginians' line waver, always dangerous in battle, and victory went to the Greeks. He also set up a democracy in Syracuse. Not too bad eh?
Livy treats the Second Punic War as a titanic struggle between an evil genius (Hannibal), and a glorious hero (P.C. Scipio Africanus). Sometimes it seems more like an "historical novel" than history, but it has many fine moments. I highly recommend both of these authors if you are interested in Greek or Roman history, but especially Plutarch. The others are meatier as far as history goes, for those of you who seek more detailed information.
As for Christian Theology, the beliefs I hold to would be considered "conservative" by most. I subscribe to the Bible as the infallible word of God, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed (with the filioque which means "and of the Son"), the Athanasian Creed (a Trinitarian creed), the Augsburg Confession, the Smalkald Articles, the Large and Small Catechisms, and the rest of the Book of Concord.
But what really strikes me is the fact that Jesus has saved me. The Father called me through His Word to his Son Jesus Christ, and made me his own. This is all done for me out of the pure and unmerited love that the Father has for me, through the life and death of His Son Jesus Christ. His love is the primary motivator of my life, I never cease to gain strength; I never tire of learning. Of all the things this life has to offer I am firmly convinced that God's love for us in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ is the only thing that ultimately matters. All else is vanity and grasping for the wind! What if I became the ruler of the world, yet I spend eternity in hell?
That's about it for now.
If you have any questions or comments please e-mail me.