The David Gibson Executive Summary

Well seeing as I attend UC Davis, I am naturally living in luxurious Livermore, California. To be a bit more precise, here is a map. This, actually, brings me quite nicely into my first hobby. Well, I suppose "hobby" isn't quite the right word. O.K., this is probably the best time to throw in the disclaimer.

Note: The contents of this page are somewhat to highly disturbing in terms of societal norms. Be forewarned that the interests discussed here are of a somewhat "different" nature, and would often be jested at in more "common" circles (i.e. bridge clubs, bowling teams, frat houses, etc.)

That being said, I can profess my interest in maps. What? Yes, maps. The little printed pieces of paper with lots o' pretty lines and colors an' stuff. I'm a card-carryin' member of the AAA (ACSC chapter) so I can get all my free road maps, and I'm building an impressive collections of USGS topographical maps, as well as the Trails Illustrated® series.

While I'm on the subject of interests, another sick and twisted one is my interest in the legislative process. I'm probably far and away the leading cause for traffic on the Thomas server, and a big help for the GPO's system. By the whole system fascinates me, and I like to keep informed of what's going on. I'm considering taking a position on every bill some session and writing to my congressman on each one. Boy, I'm sure Rep. Tauscher would love that.

Segueing (yes that's spelt correctly...I checked. "Spelt", however, is not correct.) into other hobbies now, I am very interested in the culinary arts. I am, of course, nothing resembling a chef, but i like to follow recipes. Maybe someday I will have done it enough to try to come up with my own recipe, but for now I need instruction. My Senior year of college saw me cooking at least once a week, and sometimes more. Now that I am in grad school with no meal plan (praise the Lord) I cook much less (it's not as much fun alone when you have to).

Jetéing now into other time sucks, when I'm not cooking, watching T.V., or doing work (and usually even when I am doing work if I'm not watching T.V.), I am listening to my music, which is usually (current) broadway showtunes. Yes, it's weird. Yes, I know it makes me sound like a færie. You were, however, warned (see note above). I also rather enjoy classical music. And I've found this year that the popular stuff has started to get good again. During the VH-1 1997 Year End Top 50 Video Countdown, I knew 24 of the of 25 songs, and had the CDs from which 2 of the top 3 songs came. This is thanks mostly to Star 98.7 (KYSR) in Los Angeles, CA (They had the best DJ's, from their newest morning show "Jamie, Frosty, and Frank", who were being fired from their Denver station when I was there for the summer, to Ryan and Lisa in the afternoon). Between them and KCRW (station number may vary) to provide my daily news fix through NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition (Robert, Linda, Bob, Noah, and Carl, Jean, Ann, Craig, Korva, and Corey, and everyone - else - who - I - want - to - list - but - keep - coming - up - with - more - so - I'll - just - stop - with - hosts - and - anchors - and - not - list - all - the - other - cool - reporters - like - Mara - and - Nina - and - Chitra - and - Don - and - so - forth - not - too - mention - the - essayists - like - Andrei - and - David - and - Sandra - and - other - cool - guys - like - Daniel [last names upon request], are all gods in my book), as well as some nifty eclectic programming, my radio is complete. My friends think that I'm odd for saying the NPR news anchors lead-ins with them (you know, the "From National Public Radio in Washington, I'm ..." bit), but they are impressed I always get the name right. It probably is sick that I know their voices so well. At least I don't harmonize the funders also like I used to. I also sing along with the production companies bumpers before movies (e.g. the Fox monolith and the little castle thing before Disney films), which my friends also find odd. Well #^$@ them. I also like T.V. and movies and theater.

What do I want to do with my life? I don't know. I think it would be very cool to end up working in the government doing secret things I can't talk about, but as long as it's physics I'd be happy. I'm also considering taking up graphic design somehow. I really find it fascinating, and as is usual, the site is my current experiment in it. I professionally maintain the web page for the California Association of Directors of Activites and am trying some of the tricks I want to use for the next generation of that site here. One page I'm rather proud of was one I did for my summer research, but it never quite got completed. Maybe I'll put the bits of it up here sometime.

You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned any sports. Well, there's a reason. For some reason, they don't interest me all that much. I don't pay much attention to any of them, except for the Olympic ones (and in that case not really the ones that we have here). I think it's an attention span thing. I can watch 30 second heats just fine, but an hour of game is too much (soccer being an exception). Recently I've taken to watching Sumo and their bi-monthy tournaments. They are quite fun.

As Brian notes, one needs to summarize all one's vital statistics in a bulleted list. You can see that list here.

That's all for now. Enjoy my page. Or not, I'll never know.