I work at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as a statistician, and live in Cincinnati, Ohio. My job title is statistician, anyway. In practice I do quite a bit of web work for my division, and write programs in Perl whenever I get the chance.
One of my professors in grad school said that statistics is the refuge of the dilettante. That seems pretty accurate to me, because I sort of ended in it by default. My first choice of a career was, at one time, art, but the competition is terrific, and while I have some modest talent in drawing (pen and ink drawing; charcoal drawing), I was never confident enough to gamble on making a career of it. I was always interested in science and astronomy as a kid, so I started out majoring in physics, switched to math, and ended up with a double major in math and stat. I hadn't planned on going to grad school, but the opportunity was offered, and it sounded easier than working for a living, so I went, and got a Master's in stat. So, after a brief time as a contractor at the EPA, I ended up here at NIOSH. (and some would say that NIOSH is still easier than working for a living. Pesky Republicans...) (That last comment doesn't necessarily mean I'm a Democrat, although I usually vote that way.)
I'm an inveterate bookworm; anyone who knows me is accustomed to the sight of me with a book in my hand, oblivious to the world around me. My parents once had my hearing tested because I never seemed to hear them when I was reading. Turned out my hearing was better than normal, I was just absorbed in what I was reading. A friend of mine once said that I was the only man she'd ever seen that would ignore a naked woman in his bed to go read a book. True, but I can read all day and not get tired. :-) (We later broke up, but that had nothing to do with it, since she was a bookworm, too. We're still friends.)
Starting around 1995 I became interested in skepticism. I never realized before that so many people took such subjects as astrology, UFOs, dowsing, "therapeutic touch", spiritualism, spoon-bending, and other such nonsense seriously. Since the spring of 1996, I've become involved with the local skeptics group, the Association for Rational Thought. (Ok, I'll admit it -- I'm the 'webmaster'.) It's a pretty small organization at present, with maybe 80 members or so, and has only been in existence since about 1992, but we hope to attract new members. I've been trying to do my part by taking friends with me to the meetings, and putting up a few flyers at work. No real proselytizing: it's generally counterproductive, in my opinion. But if someone seems as if they might be interested, I let them know about the organization.
I would very much like to believe that there are extraterrestrial people flying around that we can talk to, but I'm simply not in the least convinced by any of the evidence I've seen. For something this historic, I want ironclad evidence that they're here, not anecdotes and suggestive documents. However, I do think it quite likely that there is life somewhere else in this galaxy, and probably even intelligent life. I have my doubts about other civilizations actually being close enough for us to contact them in the near future, though -- but I could be wrong.
I feel very much the same way about parapsychology; it's interesting, but no firm evidence, despite the claims of its proponents. Astrology is pure crap. "Scientific creationism" is rooted in religion and politics, and has little or nothing to do with real science. There are genuine difficulties with evolution as an explanation of the diversity of species, but they are with the mechanism, the "how" of evolution, not the observed fact that evolution has occurred.
I play guitar a little, mostly for my own amusement, although I have got up on a stage a few times. I mostly play Neil Young and John Prine tunes, which tells you right there that I'm not a great musician. My "showcase" piece is Empty Chairs from Don McClean's American Pie album. Either that or Any Old Time, which I learned from Tony Rice's Church Street Blues album. I can't play either of them completely right, but I fake them well enough to play for friends. I've been learning some Loudon Wainwright songs, especially after hearing selections from Grown Man on the local public radio station, WNKU (89.7 FM), of which I am proud to be a supporter.
