My geeky interests!!

I guess by now I ought to lay these out. For loving sports and being such a "guy" I'm quite a dork. Trust me, dorks have more fun.

1. Sports: More specifically hockey, college football!!! I grew up playing hockey, and I think it might one of the few "real" sports left (we just have to get rid of Sidney Crosby). If you can't tell, I'm a life-long diehard Red Wings fan. I'll take it to my grave! I live in Michigan, the heart of the Great Lakes and a hockey hot bed.
Now onto college football. I just LOVE the whole aura and atmosphere. I like the NFL, but the college game is where it's at! Student sections, bands, tailgating on campus...do it. There is just a sense you get at a college game that can not be matched anywhere...the real America...a united heartbeat. I can't explain it...maybe I'll write a book someday trying to express the intriqacies one day.
I am a graduate of THE Grand Valley State University, and our athletic program is NCAA Division II. While I was in school our football team won 4, yes FOUR national championships. I am spoiled rotten. I will bleed Laker Blue and Black till I die.

2. I like...no love, commercial aviation. Should I have been a pilot??? I am sooo geeky about planes and airports it's scary. I can spend all day at a major international airport walking around, people watching, plane spotting, watching the tarmac operations, etc. I am just fascinated with the whole thing. Less then 100 years ago, people would have laughed if you tried to describe a place like O'hare or LAX or NY-JFK. Furthermore, major airports are cities within a city. They employ thousands on their own, and support employment for tens of thousands more in the city in which they reside.
Flying....flying, that says it all. Something that by nature man was not meant to do...we do! Give me a trans-con and a window seat and I am an entertained man for 5 hours, a kid in a candy store. Sitting at 38,000 feet, high enough where everything seems so small. I can be over Lake Michigan, see Wisconsin and almost all the way to Detroit. Wow, that puts things in perspective. Then, you look up. From the Concorde, you could see the curvature of the earth, and the black of space (they flew at 55,000 ft.), from flight level 380,(38,000) you can almost see that edge of space and the curvature of earth is almost there! I think another thing is that I love travelling, which makes flying so enjoyable.

3. Craft Beer. I like a tall glass of the good stuff! I guess I just got intrigued when around the age of 23 I stumbled upon an amazing craft beer store I lived near. I never looked back. I love the flavors, the variety, the culinary adventure of trying new and different beers, as well as enjoying the awsome mainstays that are my favorites (shout out to my locals, Founder's and Bell's!!).
I often cruise and peruse sites like Beeradvocate.com, check them out if you're interested, it will open up your eyes beyond Bud, Miller and Coors. Flavor exists, that's why I like craft!
Now, I feel every beer has it's place and time, even the aforementioned (I try to avoid AB products out of principle), and I never turn down a beer when offered, I feel that such a thing is offensive and snobish. However, when spending my own money, I will often go for the craft or ale variety.

4. I thoroughly enjoy exploring large cities and urban areas. I have not been to NYC, that and it's outer boroughs would be awsome to check out for a few days. I looovvveee Chicago, and I am fascinated with the "ruins" of poor Detroit. I am also fascinated with Los Angeles, even though it's a very poorly designed urban area in terms of sustainability, it's sheer size and "density" IS fascinating.
Now to the opinion side of things. I support density, mass transit and smart, environmental, long-term urban planning. I really dislike ex-urbs, I feel they just don't have any fore-thought into their planning. I mean, in most cases, they even bull-doze all the trees!! They have no sidewalks which limits the safety and accessibility of walkers, runners, bikers, everyone who wants to venture outside of their subdivision without a car. They are car-centric, meaning that to get groceries or go to work you need to drive. They are very racially bland...all white people. Sometimes I analyze the setup and it eerily seems like they were designed that way...wait, what's that you say?? White-flight?? Noooo....enough said. I think this is a socio-economic statement of exclusion and segregation, sickening actually.

Anyway, these are just several of my interests. I think most people are dorkier than they admit. You just need to accept your fascination and embrace the world!

Until next time, keep your stick on the ice!