Drum Roll everyone......


I nominate Bill_D!!!

Don't know anything about you, man! Tell all. You are Mr. October

BC

quote:

Originally posted by Beacon Chris:
You are Mr. October

BC

Mr. October? I didn't know that this thread came with provocative photos!

Cool choice! A few questions for Mr. October:

1) How did it feel to hit all those home runs?

1) Tell us more about your piano interest--type of piano, what kind of music do you play, etc.?

2) How long have you been in Tucson? Do you like it?

3) I recall that you are/were some sort of technical engineering type...can you remind me?

Who me? Mr. October? Mr 97 lb weakling? (actually I'm running about 178 these days)

I'm flattered...

As for provocative photos...

quote:

Originally posted by Nina:
Cool choice! A few questions for Mr. October:

1) How did it feel to hit all those home runs?

1) Tell us more about your piano interest--type of piano, what kind of music do you play, etc.?

2) How long have you been in Tucson? Do you like it?

3) I recall that you are/were some sort of technical engineering type...can you remind me?

Home runs??? I have't played baseball in over 40 years.

Piano... I started as a young child, then gave it up, and restarted again 8 years ago, got frustrated, and am now trying again. Maybe this time I'll get through Claire de Lune.

It's not all that bad though... my primary instrument is guitar, with a taste of violin and piano. And of course, I'm the lead singer (now HOW did that happen?) in our little Scottish group (we will be onstage Saturday night at my favorite gig, Tucson Meet Yourself at 7:30. Come on down...)

As for a piano, my finances currently preclude the acquisition of an grand (current fave is a Mason & Hamlin AA) but I do have a inexpensive Yamaha keyboard (YDP-213) which works well, sounds good, stays in tune, has a good "pianoish" action with a working sostinudo pedal (important for Claire de Lune) and has provision for headphones (very important to keep the peace at night when practicing).

I've been in Tucson for about 40 years... I first came here in 1969. And it seems that our 5 month temperature trial of three-digit temperatures is over for now... until what probably seems like a couple of days when the heat clamps down again!

I am a licensed Professional Civil Engineer here in Arizona, Nina. I also have a second degree in Hydrology, both courtesy of the University of Arizona (just down the street from my home here). And, yes, that makes me almost just like Mary Anna Evans... without the published portfolio though. But some of my photos have been published (for money even! go figure!) so that may well count for something.

These days that and a 5 dollar bill will buy me a short coffee at Starbucks (not that I actually drink Starbucks coffee... we have some excellent independent coffee shops in our neighborhood). That and I tend to make most of my coffee here at home. The dearth of discernible activity in the construction business here are contributing to our current financial condition. But I've been doing some work on my own (well, I've hired some friends who are more experienced in this field do help...) and maybe I'll even get through this period intact...

Bill, if there's ever a local piano party (and there should be!), I think you would enjoy meeting my IvoryThumper.

I'd love to... I know I can thump the ivory up there with the best of them.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill_D:
Who me? Mr. October? Mr 97 lb weakling? (actually I'm running about 178 these days)

I'm flattered...

As for provocative photos...

Oh, you are a gem! You posted a photo. And it's great (and Connie ain't bad either). What a handsome guy, and how nice to be able to connect a mug to the name

Thanks, Kathyk. I showed your comment to Connie and she tells me that you're right on.

Hmmmm...

Anyways, the pic was taken at last year's Robert Burns dinner (and yes, I'm wearing a kilt...)

As for showing a mug you can connect with, well, why not?

You have a Sunday completely to yourself.

What do you do?

great photo! thanks for posting that. you two look like people we'd definitely like to meet. are you going to come to the wtf reunion in philadelphia next may?

conversely, may mr. pique and i look you up the next time we're in the vicinity of tucson?

how would you describe your political persuasion?

quote:

Originally posted by rustyfingers:
You have a Sunday completely to yourself.

What do you do?

Usually not too much... maybe I should start practicing again!

quote:

Originally posted by piqué:
great photo! thanks for posting that. you two look like people we'd definitely like to meet. are you going to come to the wtf reunion in philadelphia next may?

conversely, may mr. pique and i look you up the next time we're in the vicinity of tucson?

how would you describe your political persuasion?

Let's just it's the opposite of the gentleman who nominated me for this honor...

As for making a get-together in Philly next year, it would be oh-so-nice, but we probably won't be able to make it unless the economy turns around or I win the lottery (I had to take a probability (as opposed to statistics, for those of you that know the difference) course for my first degree and I know how to calculate the odds... let's just say it's way more than I have fingers and toes to count them!)

But it would be fun, and I've never been to Philly...

(edited to add) Of course you and Mr Pique would be welcome to visit anytime. But that's contingent on you autographing your book (I already have a copy).

Since we share a profession and an avocation, I'll ask a few related questions and then maybe a couple of more.

What project were you associated with that you found the most interesting/most satisfying (need not be the same)?

When/how did you decide to become a civil engineer?

If you were to go take photos within an hour or two of your house, where would you most likely go and what would the subject be?

What railroad sight do you wish you could have seen before it was gone?

What's the best book you've read this year?

What was the most recent music you played and what was the last you heard?

Big Al

Originally posted by big al:
Since we share a profession and an avocation, I'll ask a few related questions and then maybe a couple of more.

What project were you associated with that you found the most interesting/most satisfying (need not be the same)?

Most satisfying? It was one of the schools we did at the last firm I was with. Not a difficult job, but the school was a "special needs" school that was running for the previous 20 or so years out of several "temporary" (rodent and roach infected) buildings. The issue there was that the kids needed full-time control (if not, one was sure to run out into the street... not a good thing). The main design was done by the architect, using (of all things) prison design concepts to control the kids (think about it...). It's now completed, and fully functional. It probably is the one project that I was most gratified to be a part of.

When/how did you decide to become a civil engineer?

After being out of school for a while and attempting to get a job with a BS in Hydrology (one employer even got into a shouting match with me on the phone about how I "could not possibly" have a hydrology background with a BS degree... it's nice to be able to report that after a short while he called me again and apologized... guess he finally heard about the U of A's hydrology program. Of course, he didn't offer me a position...). In the early 90's the U of A underwent a restructuring... the School of Earth Sciences (which the hydrology department was a part of) was dissolved, and various departments went scurrying to find another school to be a part of. Hydrology became a part of the School of Engineering, and suddenly I discovered that I could go back and get a BS in Civil Engineering and finally find out how a truss bridge works. I went through the program, graduated, got another piece of paper, passed the FE exam (for the EIT) and eventually took (and passed) the PE exam. Of course, with my hydrology background, I specialized in drainage and hydraulic engineering.

If you were to go take photos within an hour or two of your house, where would you most likely go and what would the subject be?

Hey... this is Arizona. That's an unfair question! I've photographed Mt Lemmon (about an hour or so from the house)... my favorite subject there is autumn leaves, out in the desert west of town shooting the desert (and flowers in spring), east of town around Davidson Canyon (nice train photos there...) down in Bisbee (about 20 miles east of Tombstone) (think "San Francisco"), airplanes at the Pima Air Museum, I've shot the Space Shuttle riding piggyback on a NASA 747 (and one time it was the Challenger...),

What railroad sight do you wish you could have seen before it was gone?

That's not hard... the Rio Grande Southern. I do wish I had a chance to ride the California Zephyr, but I did ride the City of San Francisco back in the summer of 1966... saw GTELs on the Union Pacific, Alco PA's on the Espee going over Donner Pass, all sorts of neat stuff in Roseville, and of course, at the end of the ride, San Francisco. Two more would have been the Coast Daylight (from San Francisco to LA) during the steam era (behind the Espee's beautiful GS-4 4-8-4's) and I would have liked to have seen the Pennsylvania's Main Line operations on the Middle Division, as well as on Horseshoe Curve.

What's the best book you've read this year?

Well, with about 5 and a half bookcases jammed with books it would be more a case of "where do I start"? I've just picked up a copy of William Manchester's A WORLD LIT ONLY BY FIRE, but I haven't started it yet. I could say my 3 volume copy of Burnham's Celestial Handbook, but it's more of a reference than a read, A good choice might be Dr. Philip R. Hasting's A Pennsylvania Portrait (but it's mainly photos... albeit by one of the most talented railroad photographers of the mid-20th century (and I am pleased to say I had a chance to meet him shortly before his passing), or John Romer's PEOPLE OF THE NILE (a companion to the PBS series from the late 1980's)(I've read it years ago, but recently was able to acquire my own copy...) and Neil deGrasse Tyson's "The Pluto Chronicles". And, I've got to add the first two novels in our very own Mary Anna Evan's mystery series (yes, Mary Anna, I'm working my way up to the new one...)

Whew!

What was the most recent music you played and what was the last you heard?

Last played: Bach's Prelude in C (from the Well Tempered Clavier). Next music? Saturday night at the Tucson Meet Yourself festival (we will be doing two tunes, Mingule Boat Song (I do vocals on this one and Robert Burns's The Die'ls Awa (I'm play guitar on that one).

Listening? I currently have the new Simon and Garfunkel recording of their live performances in 1969 (I actually was in the audience for their Detroit concert...)

Bill "Mr October" Daniels