Currently employed as the Regional Technical Trainer for a Cable / Communications company

Hobbies: reading, chess, camping, running, swimming, working out, rock climbing, hiking, cooking/cook outs, music, dancing, fishing, walks at night, street hockey, soccer, UofK sports, pool, spades, hearts, rummy, traveling...drinking sometimes, and anything that challenges me mentally or physically (i.e. I am trying to learn sign language right now)

Favorite Color: Royal Blue...hence the color in the background on the homepage

Favorite Drink (NA): that light blue powerade, fierce lime gatorade, blizzard lizard SoBe drink, water, propel water (kiwi strawberry) and skim milk

Favorite Drink (A): either an amaretto sour, tom collins, grasshopper, or rattlesnake shot...and a Riesling (spelling) wine is preferable)

Least favorite drink: coffee and str8 shots of anything

Most Embarrassing Moment: Upon special request only.......;)However...to satisfy those who are curious about what embarrasses me here is one for you though it isn't the MOST embarrassing. Once, when I was MUCH younger, I got one of those stomper 4x4 trucks we had as kids stuck in my hair while it was on...my mother had to cut it out of my hair in front of the company we had at our house!

Best Friends: Robby Anderson (pictured in my graduation picture on my pics page) and Scott Redner are the two people I have grown to love and trust as very dear friends over the past few years. I wouldn't trade them or pull my support from them for any reason. I would also like to make a dedication to a very very good friend of mine who passed away recently... Jessica Ham (age 24, June 20, 1975) was one of my best friends all through high school and beyond...she died at the age of 24 August 7 of 1999 of lymphnoma and cancer in her lungs...she leaves behind a loving husband and a gorgeous daughter, Kaitlin, and a very saddened and empty me...I will miss you Jessica - I will always keep you and our memories in my heart. You will be missed but never forgotten. Good bye Jess...Some other people I would like to thank for being in my life are Warren, Paul, Roger, and Ed. Thank guys, so much for being there for me, forgiving me my faults and giving me the opportunity to be your friend. I have much love for all of you!

Favorite Tree: Willow

Favorite Words: livid, competition, hoot, theory, hypothetical, logic, abnocity (I know this isn't a word, but I like it and I think it should be a word - its' meaning is a form of the word abnoxious), superfluous, epiphany, whatever, shag, palate, harmonious, dubious, inundate (I use this word all the time and people laugh at me for it because they don't think it is one...well for those non-believeers, I saw it used in an article summary on MSNBC this morning and here it is...)

A running tab of McCain's online cash haul:

If you're having trouble logging on to John McCain's Web site today, that's because it's being inundated with hits in the aftermath of his New Hampshire victory. Since yesterday the site has raised has raised $330,000 and counting. ...

Favorite Pet: Dog...specfically an Akita, Malamute, Husky, German Shepherd or Black Lab

Least Favorite Pet: Guinea Pig, Snake, Spider, Small yippy abnoxious dogs, Lazy unaffectionate spoiled cats

Education: I'm from kentucky....what do you think? I started out as a Music Education major at IU then went into the military and then I went to and graduated from UofL with the degree I listed above.

Favorite Painter/Artist: Michael Parkes (fairly modern surrealistic painter)

Favorite place(s) I have visited: well, I would have to say that I have enjoyed Myrtle Beach, Houston, Atlanta, New Orleans, Las Vegas and Chicago the most so far...oh and Toronto too

Least favorite place(s) visited: Mississippi (yes...the entire state) - Cincinnati, Ohio (though it is getting better) - all of Louisianna (especially Shreveport), except for New Orleans - Augusta, GA

Places I would like to go: Brisbane and Melbourne, Australia - Seattle, Washington - Northern California - Dublin, Ireland - Tokyo, Japan - Denver, Colorado

Places I don't want to go: I was going to put something here, but then I decided I probably offended enough people already by listing cities I didn't like so why add insult to injury and make myself even less popular by spouting out cities I have no desire to travel to? Suffice it to say, I am open to new things, but some cities just don't attract my attention (NY) enough to want to visit them.

Favorite Movie/T.V. show: Good Will Hunting, Gattaca, Dead Poet's Society, Stand By Me, Braveheart, Philadelphia, The Color Purple, Night of the Living Dead (the original b/w version), Beautiful Thing, Somewhere In Time, AbFab, Saving Private Ryan, Apocalypse Now, Dying Young, 9 to 5, Where Eagles Dare, Shakespeare In Love, Get Real (the movie - not the t.v. series), Ally McBeal, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Empire of the Sun

Least Favorite Movie/T.V. show: Pink Flamingos, Austin Powers, wrestling shows, talk shows, soap operas and a host of many others

Favorite Meal: Steak (flavored with garlic, onions and green peppers), baked potatoe, corn on the cob (fresh), garlic roll, iced tea (sweetened), green beans (fresh), salad (no tomatoes or olives), broccoli casserole, macaroni and cheese, and for dessert either cherry delight, pumpkin pie, dutch apple, or vanilla cake with chocolate icing...of course I don't eat all of this...these are just my favorite things to eat...tho I don't eat any of them anymore since I have been training for the past 1-2 years...;(

Favorite Book(s)/Magazines: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig, Grendel by John Champlin Gardner, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, Poetry by Robert Frost, The AD&D series, the Melanie Rawn SunRunner series, The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, anything by Richard Bach, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, InLine Skating Magazine, Mens Fitness, The Advocate

I have added a link here that will take you to a page that has the story Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. This is one of my favorite books and I think more people need to read it. I am not taking any credit for this story, so please don't write him and have him sue me or anything like that. Eventually I plan on highlighting the text that I highlighted when I first read this book because of what the words meant to me...they are the parts of this book that made me stop and think about how those exact words were speaking to me...

Least Favorite Book(s)/Magazines: ??I don't guess there are too many except for tabeloids (spelling?)??

Bad Habits: sometimes I have been known to snore a little, I can be stubborn and indecisive, I do talk in my sleep and sometimes sleep walk, I like to tickle, sometimes I can be too sarcastic with people, I am bad about keeping in touch sometimes...and, unfortunately I tend to become even more withdrawn and defensive when I get hurt by someone than I tend to be normally, even if the incident was a small one...I take things too personally sometimes...

Bad Habits I find in other people:chewing with their mouth open, popping gum, being loud for no reason other than to draw attention to themselves in public places, plain old rudeness

Favorite Poem: Robert Frost...Two Roads

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
But be one traveler long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, how I kept the first for another day
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood and I...
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference

Favorite Excerpt: Faust Part I by Goethe...the first is from the Dedication, the second is from The First Part of the Tragedy (Night) as spoken by Faust in conversation with Wagner...

There grips me now a long unwonted yearning
For that serene and solemn spirit land;
My song, to faint Aeolian murmurs turning, 
Sways like a harp string by the breezes fanned;
I thrill and tremble, tear on tear is burning,
And the stern heart is tenderly unmanned.
What I possess, I see far distant lying;
What I had lost grows real and undying.

***************

Wagner: Pardon my intrusion!  I heard you declaiming; no doubt you were reciting 
a Greek tragedy?  It's an art from which I should like to benefit, for nowadays
that's a way of getting ahead.  I've often heard it claimed that a preacher could
learn from a comedian.

Faust: Yes, if the preacher himself is a comedian, as may be the case now and then.

Wagner: Ah me, when you're confined like this to your workshop, and hardly ever see 
the outside world even on a holiday, hardly through a spyglass, always only from afar,
how shall you guide it by persuasion?

Faust: If you don't feel it, you'll never achieve it -- if it doesn't well forth
out of your soul and conquer the hearts of all listeners with its genuine gusto.  Aye, 
keep on sitting!  Paste your borrowings together, make yourselves a ragout from others'
banquets, and blow on your handful of cinders to get a few paltry flames!  Admiration
of children and fools, if that's what your palate craves -- but you'll never bring hearts
together with anything that doesn't issue from your own heart.

Favorite Joke: There are many, but I received this one recently that I think sums up how I feel about UofK Basketball...

Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Heaven, God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael the archangel found him, resting on the seventh day. He inquired of God, "Where have you been?"

God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look Michael, see what I've made."

Archangel Michael looked puzzled and said, "What is it?"

"It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put LIFE on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a great place of balance."

"Balance?" inquired Michael, still confused. God explained, pointing to different points of Earth, "For example, Northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while Southern Europe is going to be poor. The Middle East over there will be a hot spot. Over there I've placed a continent of white people and over there is a continent of black people."

God continued, pointing to different countries, "This one will be extremely hot and arid while this one will be very cold and covered in ice."

The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a place, "What's that?"

"Ah," said God, "that's Kentucky, the most glorious place on Earth. There's beautiful lakes, rivers, streams with beautiful landscapes from east to west, balanced by a temperate climate. The people from Kentucky are going to be modest, intelligent and humorous and they're going to be found traveling the world. They'll be extremely sociable, hardworking and high-achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats and carriers of peace. I'm also going to give them an undefinable basketball team who will be admired and feared by all who come across them."

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration but then proclaimed, "What about balance, God?" You said there would be BALANCE!"

God replied, "Wait until you see the loudmouths I'm putting on both sides of them in Tennessee and Indiana."

Other Interesting Facts: There are 3 (three) words I choose not to use if at all possible. This stems from my desire to prove to people that the English language can be just as powerful and romantic as any other. I am tired of hearing that our language is simplistic and lacks the power that other languages possess. So to combat this, I try to avoid using the words love, hate and promise. These 3 words I try to reserve for special occassions. I want people to know that I mean them when I say them. And I will never make a promise to anybody unless I know I can keep it in spite of anything (natural or unnatural that may occur).

Some of my fondest/most impressing memories: Summers with my best friend George (who is getting married in September...congratulations buddy!!!), UofK football team beating Alabama for the first time in 75 years, all of the UofK Basketball championships I have been alive for, my college days at IU ( I learned more about myself there than anyplace I think ), my first kiss with Aimee Jones on the the playground in 3rd grade, my family, my first camping trip, learning how to catch crawfish at Natural Bridge, almost catching my first Northern Pike in Ontario, my one and only migraine, graduating from college, completing basic training for the United States Army at Fort Jackson, buying my first new car, getting my own apartment, beating my dad in chess for the first time (sorry dad), trying out for the jv football team, attending the high school for one year that my grandfather graduated from, winning first chair at all-state symphonic band and first chair in the top orchestra in the Louisville Youth Orchestra, being a counselor at the YMCA, camps with other teen leaders in the Blue Ridge Mts. of North Carolina, walking on the battery of Charleston SC, finishing my first mini marathon, running two miles in 12 minutes flat, soccer, my first dog Ammo, my father singing Puff the Magic Dragon to me at nights, my mother making pancakes for me on Saturday mornings while I watched my favorite cartoons, my first big wheel, learning how to water ski, my first solar eclipse in middle school, Audra, Scot, my first car accident, getting kicked out, getting attacked in the middle of the night downtown by three rednecks, my first roller coaster ride, the speech my father gave at my college graduation party, splitting my forehead open on the side of a car while riding my big wheel (I remember being so upset because I was bleeding inside my fathers car which was a Baracuda with white interior), my 13 recurring nightmares, running barefoot on the beaches of the east coast with a good friend at sunset knowing that the world was mine for the taking...

Things I am proud of: Golden Key National Honors Society, Beta Gamma Sigma Business School Honor's Fraternity, Phi Eta Sigma Honor's Fraternity, graduating Cum Laude, making first chair symphonic band at All-State, Governor's Scholar, Dean's List for 11 out of 12 semesters, Distinguished Honor Graduate at AIT in Fort Gordon, Distinguished Honor Graduate at PLDC in Camp Shelby, Dean's Scholar for 5 semesters, Governor's School for the Arts, getting a 5 on my AP English exam, my 3 Army Commendation Medals, 2 Army Achievement Medals, my parents, family and friends, my life, my beliefs, my country...

Things I am not so proud of: getting caught stealing stickers from K-mart when I was little...lying to the nun about a fight I got into in the fourth grade...not spending more time with my grandfathers... not saying I love you enough to my friends and family...not standing up for myself more in high school...not completing my degree in music education ( I guess that is more something I regret )...losing touch with my friends from high school and college... my temper (on rare occasions)...

Things I have learned: don't touch the stove...look both ways before crossing...share... give respect where respect is earned...trust is earned or lost, not given or withheld...promise is a word that should well forth from your soul and hold the truth with a grip that would challenge the gods...it takes more than 3 licks to get to the center of that damned tootsie pop, just goes to show you can't believe everything you see on the television...communication solves more than silence...silence can solve pain...people surprise you, so give them the benefit of the doubt no matter what their outward appearance might suggest...love is more a rare thing than most people realize...credit cards are evil... friends are more rare than people realize...kindness goes a long way in the hearts and memories of those it touches...patriotism is nothing to be ashamed of... cars will fall apart at the worst times...rain feels good on your body even when you aren't in the best of moods...taking time to yourself and enjoying nature is a sure way to discover yourself...willow tree branches are not the best to swing on as you get older...when searching for crawdads in the creek under rocks, know that you may not always find a crawdad - mother nature created many other interesting creatures who share the rock dwelling...going barefoot is the best feeling, but remember to keep your eyes open...being intimate with someone and having candles nearby is not always the best way to be romantic...it is ok to laugh after the funeral...hate is a waste of energy, so get even quickly and get it out of the way...I don't know as much as I thought, but I know that I can always learn...men and women are special, unique and the same... why the sky is blue...why the grass is green...what happens when you poor salt on a snail...be yourself...be true to yourself...people will stab you in the back, so be quick on your feet (army motto - stay alert, stay alive)...children deserve more attention than they get now, and teachers deserve more pay...less t.v. and more reading... sharing a starry night in the middle of nature is one of the best ways to say thank you to someone...(list not complete...)

Things I want to learn more about: sky diving...me...you...japanese culture...music therapy...the bassoon...chess...sign language...my friends... sociology...scuba diving...snow skiing...super string theory...(list not complete...)

Well...if you made it this far then I suppose there are more personal things you might be interested in...I would like to make this website into a media I can use to express myself and let others know more about me in an intimate manner without the "awkward" feelings that can occur when in person...though I am much more of a "face-to-face" person, I realize the advantages of the Internet and I will try to use these tools to offer those interested a more in depth view as to who I am. So, if you are compelled, feel free to enter and seek what I hope you will find to be an opportunity to not only learn more about Jason, but most importantly about yourself.

dante_amadeus@yahoo.com