please tell us more about your fascination with the arctic. what inspired it?

Do you consider yourself a liberal, a conservative, or an independent? Or none of the above? What do you think about the political topics here? I know some of us here don't like to talk about politics, and I hope you'll forgive me, but I don't have any clear sense of whether you have strong political views, or whether you enjoy political threads. I'm sorry if this question is too personal. Thanks.

pique:

I want to see the Arctic before it all melts away and its “Waterworld” here we come. Just kidding. I’d like to make the trip because it would be so completely different than any of the other places that I’ve been to. There are plenty of activities to do there such as dog sledding, kayaking, and snowmobiling.

Daniel:

I voted for Obama.

Daniel:

Sometimes I respond to political discussions. Because I don’t currently own a PC, I can’t always check in regularly. At the moment, I’m using a PC at work. Political discussions are move conversational in nature. If it takes a long time for me to return to the forum every time a question is posed to me, then it looks like I prefer to post and run.

Because of this forum’s rules, the political discussions are more civil here than you know where. Think it’s rough and tumble over on TNCR? I belong to some automotive forums. Some of the nastiest exchanges you’ll ever read in your life occur there. The flame wars on TNCR pale in comparison to them.

ql, that was another question i wanted to ask you:

you mention you are a member at several forums... how many, and what are the various topics?

also, how is it working out not owning a pc and going to the library to get online? (this is a fantasy of mine, though i'm afraid i can't do it because of the nature of my work).

pique:

I usually use either a PC at work or one at a library which is right down the block from me. Libraries limit you to a time length of usually 1-2 hours. My last PC was a Toshiba lap top with AOL. It’s too slow for the internet although it’s good enough for word processing.

I belong to a few special interest forums. One is automotive. It’s for owners of the 1984-89 Nissan 300ZX model. I bought the car new right when I graduated from college in 1984 and still have it.

All internet forums including automotive ones are basically the same as I’m sure you know having frequented this forum and Piano World. Only the people and topics of interest are different. I think the people here on WTF have much more depth than the other forums I belong to.

Each auto forum is dedicated to the owners of a particular car model. There’s one dedicated to virtually every car model out there now. The demographics are all ages and mostly male although there are some women. There are the regulars and there are the ones who are just passing through. The regulars dispense the advice and the people passing through don’t come back until the next time they experience a problem.

They’re invaluable. You can’t ask anything that no one can answer. They also aggregate links to other web sites where you can obtain even more info.

What kind of work do you do?

rustyfingers:

I manage IT projects for a unit of government.

Have you always worked in the IT field? If you were to choose a different profession, what might it be?

What are the "don't miss" sights in the Chicago area, IYHO?

Since you haven't gotten to Qaanaaq yet, what was your best/most memorable (not necessarily the same) vacation so far?

Do you cook much? What are your favorite foods/recipes?

You mentioned other specialty interest forums. Are there any of these interests that you'd share with us?

What is the thing that people are most surprised by when they meet you?

That should do for the moment.

Big Al

big al:

Yes, I’ve always been in IT. A different profession? I took some electrical engineering and film making courses while in college. I liked them both but for different reasons, of course. Besides IT, I could see myself working in either ee or film in some capacity.

I don’t know what your interests are or what you’d like to see and do in Chicago. I’ll list a few that have high common appeal factors:

See the Shedd aquarium, Adler Planetarium, Navy Pier, and Millenium Park. Rent a bike and tour the lake front, see the Holography museum (I think it’s closed now), go to a Lyric opera (dark during summer), take a Chicago Architectural Foundation tour (they have many different kinds), and take a Frank Lloyd Wright house tour in the suburb of Oak Park.

One event I do NOT recommend is “The Taste Of Chicago” food and music festival. Instead, drive on up to Milwaukee and attend their “Summerfest”. The two events coincide at the same time in late June/early July . Milwaukee’s Summerfest is infinitely better than Chicago’s.

Roatan, Honduras. We went there for scuba diving in 1990. The Contra War was still going on. I thought things would be tense there but it was pretty laid back. The trip was great.

Brownie baking: I prefer to bake my own. Someone over on Piano World’s old coffee room, I think it was Penney, recommended a certain brownie cook book. I’ve tried quite a few of the recipes and experiment with my own.

A scuba diving forum although I’ve been kind out of it for awhile now.

Still thinking…

may we see a RL photo of you? would you post one, pretty please?

OMG QL! It's the end of the month - almost. You sort of promised you'd post a pic.

So, what are you latest piano endeavors?

And, tomorrow, you need to crown someone anew.

January 2007 - Bongwater Q. Liberalstein
February 2007 - Cindysphinx
March 2007 - Doug
April 2007 rontuner
May 2007 - SAS
June 2007 - kluurs
July 2007 - Frycek
August 2007 - OperaTenor
September 2007 - Daniel
October 2007 - Pianolicious (USAPT)
November 2007 - CHAS
December 2007 - rustyfingers
January 2008 - Steve Miller
February 2008 - Matt G.
March 2008 - BeeLady
April 2008 - Muffin's sister
May 2008 - Nina
June 2008 - jodi
July 2008 - Copper
August 2008 - apple
September 2008 - Kenny
October 2008 - Bernard
November 2008 - big al
December 2008 - pianojuggler
January 2009 - Jeffrey
February 2009 - Rick Zimmer
March 2009 - Jack Frost and kathyk
April 2009 - RealPlayer
May 2009 - EHpianist
June 2009 - piqué
July 2009 - Qaanaaq-Liaaq

It was a pleasure having served as forum member of the month. Today is July 31st and it's time to pass the baton to another lucky forum member.

Stay tuned to this channel. Tomorrow morning I'll announce who the August forum member of the month is.

kathyk:

No musical accomplishments this summer. Summer is too short and I don't play much.