You're probably wondering where the picture above was taken. I could probably tell you many things, but the truth is that I'm sitting on a rock on the north shore of Oahu (Hawaii). Because of my incessant travel, I had a few frequent flier miles to burn and the Jayhawks were on the islands. How could I resist? For those of you who are Magnum PI fans, this shot was taken very near the house where Magnum lived on the show.
In 1999, I joined the Active 20-30 Club of Phoenix. It is a group of men in their 20s and 30s whose main goal is to raise money for children's charities. Since I am the biggest computer nerd in the group, I'm also the Webmaster for the club's Web site. I have served as the International Relations Officer and am finished up my term as VP of Events.
One of the neatest events since I joined the club was something called Child Spree. Each member of the club was paired up with a local child from the Boys & Girls Club. Then we went shopping for back to school clothes for our child with $100 provided. It was very gratifying to help make sure that our kids got a good start to the school year and I enjoyed the time I spent with Gonzalo.
At right is a picture taken when we took a group of children to an Arizona Diamondbacks game. Alberto is the one with the red licorice mustache.
My work has taken me on a lot of trips and I take a few for my own fun. Overall, I've been to 48 states (still waiting on Montana and Idaho) and 19 countries (not counting the US). In 2001/2002 I got to visit Las Vegas, Kansas City, Park City, Provo, Minneapolis, Detroit, Boston, Newark, Raleigh, Houston, Dallas, Maui, Frankfort, Rome, Florence, Klagenfurt, Belize City, Cozumel, Georgetown, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Johor Bahru and many more. Not every year is this busy, but there have been years that are much worse. With any luck I'll be able to do more of the trips for pleasure and less for work!
Many of you are aware that I teach people how to doctor photos. So I'm sure you are thinking there was some trickery involved in the photo at right. There wasn't. It is a scan straight off of the print. I'll leave it to you to figure out exactly how it was created.
One benefit of my travels is that I get back to Kansas City fairly often to see my family. A special trip in 1999 was a surprise birthday party for my mom. Let's just say that it was a round number kind of birthday and she truly enjoyed an evening with family and friends. That was after she got over the shock of seeing us all there.
If you know me, you know how much I love to watch my alma mater play college basketball. I am so proud of my Kansas Jayhawks. Just four seasons ago they celebrated the 100th year of basketball. The highlight of the season were the retirement of Wilt Chamberlain's jersey and a reunion of past players and coaches such as Dean Smith, Dick Harp, Ted Owens, Larry Brown, Clyde Lovellette, BH Born, Bud Stallworth, Calvin Thompson, Ron Kellogg, Greg Dreiling, Milt Newton, Danny Manning, Rex Walters, Greg Ostertag, Jacque Vaughn and Scott Pollard.
Sadly we lost Wilt Chamberlain in 2000. I know I'm biased, but he was the greatest player to ever play basketball. Even today he holds 57 NBA records, many more than any other player. There will never be another player like Wilt, but today's players can learn a lot from his talent on the court and his kindness off of it.
The 2002 season was a fantastic season that brought the Jayhawks to the Final Four for the first time since 1993. Unfortunately they came up a couple of games short of winning it all. In 2003 they got one game closer and lost in the Championship game. Guess 2004 will be our year!
I built a new house north of Phoenix and moved in May 1996. Next door is a golf course. No, I don't play that often, but I try and get over there as much as possible. Much of the area around me is not developed, but building is quite active. Luckily I'm surrounded by areas that will not be heavily developed so it should always be somewhat of a rural area.
I've been so busy with work that I haven't found the time to do many things that I would like around the house. There isn't too much around me except desert and the yard is very full of wildlife. Notice the landscaping (there isn't any). I've already had some run-ins with scorpions and a rattlesnake. Coyotes are frequently my alarm clock. Rabbits and quail run through the yard just begging to become my next dinner...
Last Updated Thursday March 22 2007. Copyright © 1999-2003 Foster D. Coburn III, All Rights Reserved.