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I love Bears, especially the two-legged kind! Here are some of my favorite Bear groups, links, and events:
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 Bears of the Old Pueblo Hosts of Fiesta de los Osos |
Bear 411 Bear chat site |
 Bear Book Bear chat site |
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 Dallas Bears Hosts of Texas Bear Roundup |
 Full Moon Saloon Our local Bear bar Closed down July 2, 2007 |
 Lynn Ludwig's photo site My favorite Bear photographer |
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 Resources for Bears |
 Chumley's Bear Cruises With nearly 500 bears! Cabin C706 for 2011 |
 District of Columbia Bear Club Hosts of Bear Invasion |
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 Carolina Bear Lodge Hosts of Bear Hunt And many other great events |
 Virginia Mountain Bears Hosts of Mountain Bear Madness |
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| Of all the things that are important to me in my life, I consider friends one of the most important. Pictures of many of my friends can be found in the photo album. |
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Foreground left: An Apple Mac Mini. It runs Mac OS X Version 10.5.4 (Leopard). It has an Intel 1.66 Ghz Core Duo processor, 1 GB RAM, 100 GB SATA drive, and a superdrive (CD and DVD burner). It is connected to a 19" LCD monitor. I got it to learn more about Mac's, especially since they run Unix now. It, along with possibly a linux desktop, will replace Windows. Left of hutch, under desk: A PC a friend put together for me. It runs Microsoft Windows XP Pro. It has an AMD 1800 XP processor, 1 GB RAM, two 60 GB mirrored IDE drives, CD-burner, DVD-ROM, 3.5 floppy, integrated GeForce graphics, sound, and 10/100 Mb Ethernet. I use it a lot for desktop publishing and web stuff. Currently I have the Adobe Printing and Publishing Collection (PageMaker 7.0, Illustrator 10, Photoshop 7.0, Acrobat 5.0), Macromedia Homesite 5, and Microsoft Office XP Pro. A 19" flat-panel monitor completes the system. This system will eventually be replaced by my Mac Mini and some form of linux desktop. Right, underneath hutch: A Sun Microsystems SunBlade 100 workstation. It runs Sun Solaris 9 9/04 (Unix). It has a Sparc IIe 500 Mhz processor, 1.2 GB RAM, two 60 GB mirrored IDE drives, CD-ROM, 3.5 floppy, smart card reader, integrated graphics and 10/100 Mb Ethernet. Currently it hosts my domain, vmbear.com. On floor, underneath SunBlade: Two Dell Pentium 500's, spares from work. The left one runs Fedora Core 1 (Linux). It acts as a backup server for my SunBlade, and also holds my MP3 collection. The right one is not currently in use, but I will eventually install either the latest versions of Fedora or Ubuntu Linux. Recently added but not pictured: A Sun Microsystems Ultra 10 workstation running Solaris 10. Used for learning new features of Solaris 10. Printer: An HP 2200DN LaserJet with a Jet Direct card and 40 MB RAM. |
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| All of my computers and the HP LaserJet are networked together and share a cable modem connection. From left to right: a Linksys BEFSR41 router and 4-port hub, and a Bright House Roadrunner cable modem. Two Linksys 8-port 10/100 Mb hubs sit on different parts of the desk. I have a Roadrunner business class account and a static IP address. | |
| My very first computer, a Commodore 64. I had a daisy wheel printer that, along with Commodore's Easy Script word processor, I used to type my high school and college papers. I also have a Commodore 128 in the closet. |
Click here for an information page on how I programmed
the Commodore 64 to play Bach organ works.
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Those who have known me the longest (mostly family) know that I have never been much of an outdoors person.
So it was surprising to them (and me) when I started going camping and canoeing with my friends
in the club. The first time I went camping I stayed in a tent. Subsequent times, though, I've mostly
stayed in one of the cabins (with beds and A/C). Our local gay campground and resort is
The Sawmill, located about 60 miles West of Orlando.
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When I get time, I do like to cook. My favorite dishes are chicken dishes and pasta dishes, mostly
Italian. I also occasionally make Southern Divinity (handed down to me from Granny), cookies,
and chocolate eclairs (my co-workers fight over them at our office Christmas party).
David used to be a professional chef and his recipes have been published in various places, including the New Yorker. He cooks mostly just for the two of us these days. |
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I am almost always listening to some kind of music; thank goodness for ipods!
I have somewhat of a musical background, in that I took several years
of piano lessons, and then several years of organ lessons. I had an old Hammond E-100 drawbar organ
along with a giant Leslie speaker. That organ had the tone wheel generator system, something which
today's organs can never seem to duplicate very well. I still have the original owner's manual and a
vial of generator oil. I also have a 4 octave Casio keyboard which I like to play from time to time.
Some of my favorite artists are: Lee Blaske, Delerium, Wendy Carlos, Loreena McKennit, Connie Dover, Enya, Clannad, Enigma, Andreas Vollenweider, Vangelis, Secret Garden, Mychael Danna, David Arkenstone, Tangerine Dream, Cusco, Pink Floyd, Pet Shop Boys, Madonna, Rhett McDaniel, K.D. Lang, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and of course Bach, as performed by E. Power Biggs, Virgil Fox, and Michael Murray. I also like collecting movie soundtracks. David enjoys listening to dance music and likes to DJ. So far he has DJ'd for Bear Bust and for the Charlotte Eagle in North Carolina. Check out his website at http://www.cub4bigbears.com/. |
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Living here in Orlando does have its advantages: three of the most famous theme parks in the world. We have annual passes to Disney.
 Walt Disney World |
 Universal Studios |
 Sea World |
The house that David and I are currently living in was built in 1995. When I bought it, it still had mostly bare white walls and that cheap tan carpet that seems to show up in most apartment complexes. I wanted to do something about it, but I never inherited the gay fashion or decorating genes. When David moved in April 2003, we embarked on a massive renovation of the house. More details can be found here.
Some other things I like to do include:
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