Flickr: twelve tens Jim

Kelly asked for the following and I think it is a great tribute to the courage, strength and positive outlook of those who have , have had or are free of cancer no matter what kind.:

-----///\\------Please
----///--\\\----put this
---|||----|||---on your
---|||-- -|||---profile if
---|||-- -|||---you know
----\\\--///----someone
-----\\\///-----who is living with, survived
------///\-----or has passed away from
-----///\\\----cancer.
----///--\\\---Thank you

Ga. Tech graduate in Math many Physics and EE courses; Computer programmer nerd all my life. Love to read (Jack Higgins, Harry Potter, Alexander McCall Smith, and many others) , love photography, I tend to be somewhat messy, talkative.

Made some really close friends through Flickr because of their great photo abilities. I have been taking pictures - had two Leicas but now use digital - since mid 50's so I've been at it longer than most of the younger set have been alive. I like to comment on the work of others keeping my comments focused mostly on the work of getting good images but some times get side-tracked by the greatness of the subject either human or otherwise.

I'm sorry but I don't do the golf thing with the boys; and don't belly up to the bar to bond with the boss; love the ladies instead; love to dance - ballroom; love hiking; love gardening; travel but no cruises [my time in the Navy provided plenty of that] because they will not let me carry my 9 mm for protection; love my diesel MB; love Italy - lots of other stuff. I am 6-4; weigh 194 lb (used to be 205 but cut back to my running weight for health reasons), blonde, blue eyes, fair skin; don't watch much TV; hardly ever go to a movie (maybe 1 in 5 years); enjoy cooking; supported NASA and Army on space programs and ballistics missile defense; designed branch banking system; developed operating system for cutting aircraft parts; many other computer software things. Grew up in Birmingham (Mt. Brook) and went to Mt. Brook School before they messed up the building then Ramsey High School. Spent summer vacations at Orange Beach/Gulf Shores before the high rises took over.

I am what some would call an ancient (am 78 bow in 2911) mariner having served aboard ships home ported on the west coast. Most time spent on the USS Gunston Hall LSD-5 home ported in San Diego. Have spent several years in the Seattle/Tacoma and San Diego areas much of it hiking and visiting local areas such as Mt. Ranier, Seaside and Cannon Beach Oregon, and Tijuana, Mexico. I visited the Philippines, Guam and Pearl Harbor while in the Navy.

While on the USS Virgo AKA-20 home ported at Port Chicago, and on the Gunston Hall I spent many months in the San Francisco bay area and fell in love with that Tony Bennett city. I believe I have walked most of the downtown streets many times and visited most of the well known places of interest many times.

My wife and I have two sons: One living in San Francisco and the other in the Seattle area so I visit those areas as often as possible. Both graduated from Stanford - one works for Google and one for Microsoft.

So far I have been fortunate to vacation and hike among the fiery volcanos of the big island of Hawaii, visited Austria, England, Scotland, Switzerland, France and Italy (which I love almost as much as America).

Wife and I made in 2008 a 17 day trip to China and Tibet. What an eye opener. Between the two of us we took over 2800 photos. I have been working furiously (among other things I do) to get the good ones posted. I know it is getting late and I should have some up already. I've finished many but am now agonizing over the organization. It will not be long - promise.