What I do for Fun

Reading

My favorite authors lie in three categories. First, there are those considered literature . They include Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, John Barth, Thomas Pynchon, Larry McMurtry (his historical stuff) and . Links to their work can also be found at most book related sites (e. g. Bookwire or Barnes and Noble.)

The second group, where more of my attention is spent, is with Cyberpunk. My favorites there include Phillip K. Dick, Rudy Rucker, David Brin, John Shirley, Spider Robinson, William Gibson and, more recently, Jeff Noon and Neal Stephenson. Howard Waldrop's writing cannot be classified. David Gerrold's "War against the Chtorr" series is also interesting. Kage Baker's Company series is, too.

Finally, there are a pair of mystery writers who have been pretty interesting: Tony Hillerman and Carl Hiassen.

Music

I like to listen to music. Categorizing my likes beyond the class "rock" and/or jam bands is hard. A listing of current and past favorite groups might give an idea of my likes. My current (and long time favorite) is Jethro Tull. Other currently active groups I like a lot are They Might Be Giants, Johnny Clegg (Jukula, Savuka, etc.), Manfred Mann, Mike Scott/ Waterboys, the Dave Matthews Band, moe, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane/Starship, and Roger Waters. Bands no longer active I like are Frank Zappa, the Doors, the Beatles, and the Rainmakers.

Hiking/Backpacking/Backroading

The Spring Mountain National Recreation Area, which includes both Red Rock and Mount Charleston, and the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, along with the Desert National Wildlife Refuge (for mountain sheep) provide plenty of places for hiking, 4-wheel driving and bushwacking nearby. If that isn't enough, Valley of Fire State Park, the Mojave National Preserve, and Zion and Death Valley National Parks are no more than 3 hours away. I have not included the National Scenic Byways and Scenic Backways. A source of information was the program Outdoor Nevada . There is a subscription based hiking web site, Las Vegas Hiking. One could hike or drive every weekend if one wanted to. See the Short Trips/Daytrips or Recent Vacations Pages for examples.

Photography

I enjoy nature and scenic photography All of the pictures are mine. I tend to shy away from "people" photography, other than candid family snapshots.

Running/Racewalking

The Las Vegas Track Club organizes running in Las Vegas. There are runs every Saturday. When there is not a sponsored charity run, the club stages informal runs at varying locations around the valley. The club has around 1000 members, though many of them use the club (like I do) merely to get the schedule and results of previous races. Races vary from 5k (most of them) to the Marathon and from the 2000 foot elevation level (most of them) to 11,000 ft (Running up Mt Charleston (and back down). Interesting runs are the Forest Challenge and the Notch Run. Both start at around 8,000-9000 feet and go uphill. The Forest Challenge is 4 miles, from 8,000 to 9,500 feet. The Run to the Sun, every Memorial Day is similar: 3 miles uphill and 3 miles back.

I have also become a track and field official. I do high sckool meets for the Southern Nevada Officials Association. I have been the Head Referee and the Head Referee for field events at Zone and State Meets and Meet Referee for Zone Meets in Nevada. I am also a Masters Level Official with United States Track and Field (USATF). I have done the NCAA Division I and Division II Championship meets for the last 6 years.

The Las Vegas Walkers is a racewalking club. Some members compete in races in Southern California. The rest of us walk in local running events.

Family

My wife, Margaret (Maggie) Poindexter, and I were married on July 27, 1974. She is a clinical psychologist and works at (what used to be called) Children's Behavioral Services, a function of the State of Nevada. She has also provided home based services for dysfunctional families, focusing on assuring adequate postnatal care and the avoidance of child abuse. She could run tours showing the worst places to live in Las Vegas. Maggie is active in the University United Methodist Church.

Elizabeth (Beth) Freese was born on July 2, 1978 in Lafayette, IN. She has finished a year at William Woods University, majoring in Equine Business Management. Beth placed in the top 10 at the National Arabian Youth Horse Show on the Arabian Toliroyal in the Country English class. She is a Registered Nurse, working at Sunrise Childrens Hospital.

Paul and Susan Freese are twins, born on February 17, 1982 in Homewood, AL. I will discuss them separately, lest they kill me. Paul was born first--by five minutes. We did not know we were having twins until 8 hours before delivery. We don't have a copy of the xray, but one was taken after Maggie convinced ther nurse there were twins. It showed Paul's head ready to come out. Susan's head was right next to his, and her hand was trying to push Paul out of the way so she could get out. Paul was postmature by several weeks. Both are active in church youth activities.

Paul completed a business degree Oregon State University and is working as an accountant At Deloitte in Portland, Oregon. He married Caitlin Speer on 7/7/07. He likes to rock climb.

Susan graduated from Claremont McKenna College. She studied International Relations and languages. Susan is also following my penchant for puns. She has been living in Seoul, Korea for the few years.She received a masters in Korean Studies and International Relations there and is working at a financial securities company there. she and Jaden Cho will be married in Las Vegas on 5/5/2009.

The family also contains two dogs. They are littermates. Theirmother is a Labrador. Isabel's (Izzy) father was probably a Blue Healer. Ferdinand's (Ferd for short) is probasbly a Rotweiler.

Wine

In addition to the health benefits that have hit the news recently, I like wine because it can taste good. My favorite wines vary by color. In the whites, I prefer German style wines like reisling and gewurztraminer. A lot of good cheap gewurztraminers and rieslings are made in California and Oregon. Favorite wineries include Fetzer, Clos du Val, Bridgeport and Foris. From the reds, I prefer the bolder wines like zinfandel and syrah/petit sirah in the US or shiraz from Australia I find Australian wines to be good values at the moment. A variety of wines are available in Las Vegas at good prices.

As far as wine touring/tasting goes, I find Napa Valley to be crowded these days. There are some beautiful places with outstanding wines (e. g. Sterling and Mondavi), but I prefer the Russian River and Alexander Valley areas of Sonoma for good wineries where you are not elbow to elbow with hundreds. Oregon offers a great opportunity for wine tasting as well. In adition to the biggies like Erath and Sokol Blosser, you can find (then) brand new places like Chateau Benoit or real small finds like Serendipity Cellars. I recently spent a day touring Amador County wineries. They are still small and friendly. The wines, mostly red, are very good, done in the Rhone or Italian style. I would like to tour the Santa Barbara and Paso Robles areas. The wines I've had from those areas are very good. I would also like to visit both western and eastern Washington wineries. Some good web sites for organizing wine trips are Wine.com and Winecountry Virtual Visit . A fun regional site I found is MikeL's Guide to Washington Wineries Notes , which also covers Oregon and the Okanagen regions some as well.

Gardening/Xeriscape

I enjoy taking care of my yard. The front yard is densely desert landscaped. The back yard has an area of grass, an equally large area of cement (an outdoor dance floor?), and is otherwise desert landscaped. Plants still seem to die in the winter, co I mostly replace plants and keep the sprinkler system going. Roses do OK the deseert, if they get placed properly and getenough water. Roses bloom all year here.