*

Influenced By 

 I list the following sources of having an influence on me either heavily or lightly but all positive. Anyone want to try and figure out who all these people are, some are obvious, some not so much.

Abrams
Adams
Asprin
Asimov
Beck
Bradbury
Bryson
Cussler
Carlin
Cosby*
Disney
Heinlien
Hemingway
Henson
Joel
Lewis
Lucas
Marvel Comics
Mccaffrey
Niven
Robinson
Roddenberry
Ringo
Seus
Schulz

Smith
Spielberg
Spirko
Serling
Stirling
Tolkien
Twain
the U.S. Army
Verne
Watterson
Wells
the World Book Encyclopedia

-Warning a couple of them are twofers, referring to two different people with the same last name, thus two for one, a twofer.

*I wish now I had not enjoyed Cosby as much as I did, but his storytelling skills are excellent, too bad his personal life is/was awful.

Stuff about me:

I have flown in Hueys, Black Hawks, private corporate jets, taken a very long ride in a C5-A Galaxy cargo plane to a place with 500 men I still call brothers, and I took a memorable trip in a Russian passenger jet over the continent of Africa. I have driven motorcycles, luxury cars, tanks and APC’s, traveled over curvy twisty dirt mountain roads that were one heavy rainfall away from washing out and drove a Hummv thru a Chinese dug natural tunnel and I raced the sun on the summer solstice. I have traveled the world to places like Egypt, Panama, Kenya, Mexico, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Johnson Island and Somalia. I have seen about 42 of our fifty United States and been inside of every type of correctional institution you can imagine; from the brig on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor to little jails in rural PA, and worked several shifts on death row inside a maximum security prison. The following places have been my home PA, AZ, the ROK, NY, HI, and OH. I have processed crime scenes and gotten confessions that put bad guys in jail and worked to keep them there, designed security systems, taught, counseled, yelled at, been yelled at, climbed up , fell down, gotten up, been kicked, done some kicking, bled, helped heal, cried, made people cry, built things, torn down things, laughed a lot, and loved. I have been shot at and shot back and have been on the receiving end of crab apples, mortar rounds and RPG attacks.

My heart resides in various places like Rancho Arriba, Penn Township, Tongducheon, Armstrong County and the Laurel Highlands. My dogs and I have lived in South Philadelphia less than a mile from the Phillies Stadium and three blocks from the Broad Street subway line (a lot different from the farm I grew up next to). I recently retired from being a Parole Agent after leaving West Philadelphia to a small town caseload. I enjoyed my job as a Parole Agent, I got to do lots of different things everyday; act like a lawyer, kick down doors, arrest people, counsel people, encourage people, write reports which no one reads, talk, talk and talk some more.

I have a nice life and dream of people enjoying my writing and making a living from it.

I think I experience a small portion of the great Love in the Universe when I look at my daughter and realize I had a small part in making her the beautiful, wonderful, funny person she is today. Life is short it should be full of love, laughs and joy. Hopefully (and I fail at this regularly) I try and share the joy I have found all before I pass off this rotating, revolving and spinning ball of mud, and if I fail today let me remember there is a tomorrow, but they are not guaranteed.

Further personal things about me and how I see the real world are found in the Category: My Views on the Real World– A Man Should Know Who He Is, You Are Not Special, Leaving Troop 313 and Space, Mine and Yours

Not my writing but from my friend at Malcom’s Corner, about backpacking. Being Alone with Style.