Third Hour Forum Rules - Please be familiar with these rules before posting

Attention on Deck!

Captain_Curmudgeon

By Captain_Curmudgeon,
in Introduce Yourself

 Share

Recommended Posts

Captain_Curmudgeon

Captain_Curmudgeon

Posted
Posted

(Called out by anyone who first detects the presence of the commanding officer of a ship.)

I'm not a Captain (although I was a naval officer), but I am a curmudgeon.

I was born of goodly parents (all of my ancestors came to SLC before the railroad) in 1940 and caused them to strongly believe in the preexistence, since they couldn't see how I could be their kid. I became a Skeptic at age 5 after busting Santa Claus by counting the oranges in the fridge on Christmas Eve and then counting them again Christmas morning and adding in the oranges in the toes of the Christmas stockings. As soon as I heard about Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, I became a believing nudist, although I did have to test it out in my Grandfather's orchard before I could fully accept it. Both beliefs have continued to the present.

(I came here when a friend in a Mormon nudist group pointed out that there was some discussion of the topic here.)

William Penn Elementary School, Central Junior High, Olympus and Granite High schools.

CalTech, until my senior year when I decided to switch from EE to English. The only Utah school I could find that would let me graduate in a year (to keep my National Merit Scholarship) was BYU, so there I went, got a B.S. in English (minors in math and physics) and started in on an M.A. Got tired of being in school after a year of the MA program and joined the Navy, serving on the USS Sellers (DDG-11) and then sent to Viet Nam with MCB6, attached to MarDiv III (that means I was on the mainland with a bunch of Marines). Back, finished my M.A. and wandered off into Ph.D. program at the University of Connecticut and teaching, ending up at the University of Hawaii.

Discovered that teaching was not for me and got another B.S., this time in Computer Science (not at BYU), and have been earning my living as one sort of a programmer (or Computer Scientist or Software Engineer) ever since.

I have always been a bicycle nut and rode from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1976 as part of Bikecentennial and did a 3,000 mile jaunt by myself back in 1982: UT to ID to WY to MT to ID to Canada to Jasper to eastern WA, across the Cascades, around the Olympic Peninsula, and down the Oregon coast. CA was just too weird, so I caught a plane back to SLC.

Reading, writing, wandering, always.

Naturally,

R.O.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BenRaines

BenRaines

Posted
Posted

CC, moved often means moved to the Open Discussion forum, for more adult conversation than we care to be in the family area. If you would like access please send a Private Message to Heather stating that you are over 18, obviously, and would like access to the Open Discussion forum.

Ben Raines

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Captain_Curmudgeon

Captain_Curmudgeon

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

Meridian! My grandparents used to live there with my Uncle and Aunt and we were up to visit with them just about every summer. Probably grown a lot since. My uncle had a corral in the back with a deer pony (meanest and smartest horse I ever met), Snip. Next door neighbor kept a cow and Uncle Mac bought milk from him. We used to make hand-cranked fresh peach ice-cream every visit.

Hope you have as much fun as I did, Ben.

Naturally,

R.O.

PS The '82 trip was on a road bike, Trek (6000?) designed for road touring.

Edited by Captain_Curmudgeon
PS
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Captain_Curmudgeon

Captain_Curmudgeon

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

You are the coolest LDS hippie -in the world-, Captain.

You are a rockin', nudist, beard-wearin', people-lovin' person. Welcome to the group!

Thanks, FT. I'm flattered.

LDS and hippie may be a stretch. I spent most of the '60s in the Navy or at BYU. On the other hand, except for the Navy, I've had the beard since '47. Had it all the time at BYU.

Rockin'. Hmmm. Adjective, maybe. Musically, I started with Country and Western, added Classical, and then folk. Still like 'em all, although my C&W tastes run to outlaw. Waylon, Willie and me.

I like people but I have to take them in small quantities. (I'm not only a curmudgeon but a sort of hermit as well.)

Naturally,

R.O.

Edited by Captain_Curmudgeon
Cumudgeon warning.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
BenRaines

BenRaines

Posted
Posted

My bike is a Specialized, model roubaix.

I am sure it has grown a lot. There are now 1.4 million people in Idaho. 200K in Boise, 80K in Meridian, 75K in Nampa and another 75K in Caldwell. I bet when you were a kid it was a long way to Caldwell. Now it is only 20 minutes on the 84. We are hoping in a year or so to get out to Middleton or Star on acreage.

Ben Raines

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Captain_Curmudgeon

Captain_Curmudgeon

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

I am sure it has grown a lot. There are now 1.4 million people in Idaho. 200K in Boise, 80K in Meridian, 75K in Nampa and another 75K in Caldwell.

Sigh. Guess I'll have to move even farther north to find what I want, namely not many people and cool weather.

Spent a whole summer when I was 12 out at my Uncle Parley's dairy farm on the Black Canyon Project, north of Caldwell. Learned how to drive and drove the pickup truck on the hay crew. Learned that farming is mostly very hard work so I was quite immune to all the communes I heard about in the '70s.

We used to get into Caldwell now and then and it was a pleasant, sleepy little town. Albertsons sold ice cream cones in the store and we'd always go by and get some.

Naturally,

R.O.

Edited by Captain_Curmudgeon
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Elphaba

Elphaba

Posted
Posted

Hey CC!

Has anyone ever told you you look just like Mr. Cotton from Pirates of the Caribbean?

I watch that movie every night, because I have no life and am in love with Johnny Depp. You think I'm kidding? NOT!

And Jack Sparrow liked Cotton, so I like you too!

Elphaba

PS: You have to have a parrot to be Mr. Cotton, as it talks for him. You see, Cotton's tongue was removed by really mean pirates, (as opposed to really gorgeous pirates like Johnny).

So, if you don't have one, scoot scoot to the parrot store. ;)

E

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
 Share
Go to topic listing