First and foremost, I am a Christian. That is to say, I strive to honor Christ in all I do.

This means that I strive to be upright and honest in all my dealings. If I say I will do something, I will do my utmost to follow through. This also means that if I am in error -- if I have a wrong attitude, if I have offended someone, if I have been unjust -- I want someone to clearly point this out to me, and I want the opportunity to correct my error.

Unfortunately, many are Christians "in name-only" because it serves their own purposes. Many complain about "Christians" for being hypocrites -- and they are right. I do not associate with individuals who say one thing and do another.

I attend and participate actively at Victory Baptist Church. This includes singing in the choir and driving a van route for mobility-limited individuals.

The Victory Baptist Church television program can be seen Sundays at 6:30PM and 9:30PM on Living Faith Television. This is on WLFG in the TriCities, which is on channel 68 for both local broadcast and Dish Network. The station is also streamed online and services a number of other areas - see their website for details.

For more information on what a Christian is, see here for how one becomes a Christian, and here for the basics of what we believe.

I have long been interested in trying to improve my community.

I believe that society should first be based around the family, then around the local church, as honoring God is to always be the central focus. As such, I try to work through the local church whenever possible, and through ministries supported by the local church, such as Salvation Army nationally and Haven of Rest locally.

These ministries are then aided by other organizations that are not directly tied to the local churches, and Christians should also work together through and support these, such as Red Cross nationally and Second Harvest locally.

However, the local church cannot meet, or at least is not meeting, all the needs directly. God also established government, and He gives significant responsibility to the government. So, Christians need to work through the government, and our nation's founders recognized this need.

While government is no place for doctrine, it is a place for principles, and both must be based on God's standards. Most of God's Ten Commandments do not involve our relationship with God, but with each other. Things like not killing or stealing from one another (Ex 20, Deut 5). God gives enforcement authority to the government, as reinforced by Paul in Romans 13. Ever notice that Romans 13:6 even authorizes government taxing authority?

Some say that our leaders aren't listening, but they can't hear us unless we actually tell them. I try to stay informed and involved with my leaders, and I promote candidates for office who I believe to have the best interests of the people at heart.

I attend gatherings of both local political committees, whether or not I agree with them on everything, so I can stay informed. I attend the meetings of the City Council of Bristol Virginia, and I let them know what I think, both thanking them when they do right and pointing out when they make poor decisions.

And I have been appointed to the Bristol Virginia Planning Commission, where I can be a little more hands-on in my involvement.

I was trained in principles, standards which do not change even when society does.

Principles like, it's always right to do right -- because it is right, not just if it happens to be popular. And that it's never right to do wrong, even if you mean well.

I also believe that the Bible is always true, even when we may not understand -- if there is a conflict, it's our understanding that lacks, not God's Word. We cannot pick and choose the parts you want to believe -- God wrote the entire Bible, not just the parts we may like.

Or as the late Larry Burkett said, "Do you trust God, or do you just say you trust God?"

Over the past 20 years, I have supported computer users with both hardware and software, functioned as a network administrator, infrastructure administrator, network engineer, and programmer in several languages, and generally worked in almost all areas concerning information technology.

I now work as a Network Technician at Networking and Computer Connection (NACC) in Johnson City. This role has a lot of variety, and despite my title, I actually provide a wide range of support to our customers, from malware removal to printer repair, in addition tasks related to networking and servers.

I enjoy my work, and I enjoy computers and technology for both professional and personal use - from my high-capacity, high-definition DVR, the kitchen wall-mounted computer, and the various laptops, to my two office computers with large four displays. But as you can see in the other sections of this page, computers are not the whole of "my life".

I like getting good deals. Not "cheap", just paying a lot less than the item normally sells for. Things like HDMI cables for $5 that sell at Wal-Mart for $40 or an LG Blu-ray reader / DVD burner combo drive for $125 that was running $500 at the time. See my Good Deals page for some good websites.

I enjoy a variety of games, including board games, video games, card games, and casual sports.

I also enjoy movies, walking, amusement parks, live theater, etc, but I don't go very often, because they are also less fun by oneself. Besides, theaters are expensive, when it costs less to wait a couple of months and just buy the movie on Blu-ray to watch at home.

I also like doing things with friends or my family. I am not married, but my parents live about 9 miles away and I try to do something with them weekly. (My three cats are my at-home family.)

I also like:
• Transformers. The toys, the comic books, the animated TV shows (some are better than others...), the movies, etc. G.I. Joe is a closely related property; I like it, but I don't follow it as closely. The purple logo above is from a TF/Joe crossover comic.

• Video games. But not first person shooters - they make me nauseated. I like multiplayer games, but not with monthly payments. I prefer games with an element of strategy. And while I like games, I don't actually play that much. I usually either play as occasional downtime, or with others as a group activity (I can use a anti- nausea medication if needed :) ).

• Science fiction. I like Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, Heroes, Doctor Who, and anything else that's written decently. Oh, and Transformers...

• Any other well-written fiction, or entertaining non-fiction for that matter.

I like "chick flicks", and I own "While You Were Sleeping", among others. "The Princess Bride" is probably my all-time favorite movie. I'm not so much for sitcoms though - they're usually mindless. I like "The Big Bang Theory" - it's a good show, despite using the name of a disproven idea. I don't like excess sexuality (with or without nudity) or juvenile humor (which is why I don't like most "comedy").

Give me a good storyline, and maybe have some reasonable technology (whether or not the theories have been proven, just not fully disproven), some action (the Mummy movies, X- Men, Lord of the Rings, or Chronicles of Narnia), and maybe some (clean) romance (While You Were Sleeping, The Net, any of Jane Austen's stuff). Hey, look - "The Princess Bride" covers all of these! Well, if you count "magic" as "experimental pharmacology"... :)

• Cats. I have three inside cats, two brothers and a sister that somebody dropped off at church when they were about 5 weeks old. They are all tabbies, one orange/white (Goldbug), one light orange/white (Creamsicle), and one with some orange, yellow, white, brown, black, and about any other color to some degree, but mostly dark (TigerKitty).

For the cat-haters: They don't cause a stink. I use an automatic litter box, a Litter Robot, that takes care of things. I just change a trash bag once a week and check the litter level every now and then. Since they're always inside, there's no problem with fleas or anything.

And my father dropped off a black cat at my house who doesn't get along with their other outside cats, but he's very friendly to people. He's indoor/outdoor, with the "indoor" being the garage. My parents have inside a kitteny Maine Coon, a gray dustmop of a cat named Bella, and an aging gold cat they call "Doodlebug." They have over a half-dozen outside cats that they take care of without actually "owning."

• Spending time with friends (as indicated above under "Recreation", usually at church or in church-related activities.