I ask fwooshmembers questions.
They answer them.
TSR " – it’s quite magical – in my head."
Where do you work?
I just recently accepted a position at a Consulting company in Herndon, VA as one of their Network Administrators. They already have a guy who is well versed in UNIX; so I was hired as their Microsoft guy.
Are you posting less and less?
Yep, but it’s nothing against the Fwoosh or Fwooshers. Okay, wait. Maybe it’s Ray’s fault. We don’t talk all night until the sun comes up anymore. . .
Is it because of the new job?
Most definitely. Plus, since my job is all about computers, jumping on a computer when I get home isn’t the most thrilling thing in the world.
Who is in you family?
Back in Virginia Beach, VA are my mother and father, as well as my older sister. Here in Northern VA is my wife.
You have a hole in your heart?
Ha! I thought at first you were messing with me and trying to get me to respond with lyrics: There’s a hole in my heart, that can only be filled by you. And this hole in my heart, can’t be filled with the things I do.
Actually it’s very different than that. I have two extra passageways off the AV Node of the heart. The birth defect is called AV Node Super Ventricular Tachycardia (or AVN SVT). The short of it is, the AV Node controls electrical pulses in and out of the heart. But due to the defect, I have two extra passageways that are dead ends, so if a pulse accidentally gets into one of these dead ends, they become trapped and circle, thus causing palpitations in excess of 200 bpm.
Odd thing is, until a procedure was performed on my heart to correct the problem, doctors thought I only had one extra passageway (occurs about 1 in every 1 million people) but they found the second passageway which occurs in only 1 out of every 13 million people. So they said that since they had not planned for that, they were only 90% certain of “curing” me. I don’t have palpitations very often anymore, but I did have a pretty bad “attack” at SDCC this past summer and caused me to be hospitalized and miss the Fwooshering.
What are the chances the hole in your heart will kill you?
Directly? Very, very little. The highest heart rate I’ve had was 347 bpm back when I was 18 and I’ve never had a heart rate that close since. I think the next highest was around 250. After the procedure I have barely broken 200.
Indirectly? Unlikely, but possible. The whole reason I had the procedure in the first place was because I was worried I could kill someone else. I was driving my car home one day when I had an episode of it over 200 and I blacked out behind the wheel. Luckily, I was coming to a stop because of a red light and I was only out for a second. Doctor said that the oxygen to my brain was cut off and thus the temporary lights out. I had honestly never thought of having an episode while driving before, so I had the procedure setup shortly after. My doctor had told me of the reasons others had the procedure done – he had a patient who was a construction worker who had an episode while on the job and fell three stories and broke a fair amount of bones.
Any pets?
Two cats. Our black cat is named Thumper and our grey cat is named Blue.
What are your future plans?
Professionally – I hope to do well at my new job and meet their expectations. I’m really excited for the opportunity but nervous at the same time due to the change in responsibilities.
In my personal life – more traveling, pay off some debt (hopefully), and try to make all of my toy purchases 100% online by the end of the year.
Do you customize?
Most definitely not. I’ve commissioned multiple Fwooshers to make customs for me, but I do not have steady hands. To be blunt, I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler. So when I see people say, “Oh, anyone can do this. It’s an easy custom job” – I look at what they’re talking about, decide if I like that, and then send out an email to add that to a pending custom list.
Do you cook?
I used to cook much more in college, but I was also a bachelor then. These days, the only cooking going on in this house is in the much more capable hands of my wife.
How much time do you spend online?
Old job: probably 6 hours or so a day – I had all the systems so streamlined, I could basically Fwoosh all day.
New job: 30-60 minutes a day. My new boss admits the IT department is not very organized and wants me to make some major changes. So between that and just being new, I don’t feel comfortable Fwooshing. There’s so much to do, I could probably fit in some Fwooshing, it just doesn’t feel right.
What is in your collection? It is very organized.
Thank you. I look at the collection as crowded though, so many figures in such a cramp space. My favorite line is Kubricks, I’ve been collecting those since they started back in 2000. I own at least one of every Toy Biz Marvel Legends figure and have extras of all of the chase pieces from Series 1-11 carded. While I don’t wish the death of the line on those who still enjoy the Hasbro figures, I’ve personally become less and less interested as time goes on.
I did jump on the DC bandwagon back when the 4 Horsemen started making Batman figures, so I’m actively collecting DCUC, but have decided not to be a completist (which I was for ML back in the Toy Biz days). There are some other miscellaneous lines in the room, a Gundam Wing shelf, a Street Fighter shelf, etc.
Why so much love for those little Kubrick guys?
Childhood. Many of the simple joys of childhood are still with me today. As a child, I played with GI Joe, Star Wars and Transformers primarily, but from each line, I tended to spend the most time with the smaller characters. So Yoda and R2-D2 for example I would play with the most from Star Wars.
As an adult, Kubricks are highly detailed, but very small recreations of a variety of characters from many forms of popular media that I like. Steve McQueen from The Great Escape can hang out with Old Bob from The Black Hole and Spider-Ham. Boba Fett can chase down Big Bird, who is hiding out with EVA-01, etc.
What is the most money you have spent on a figure?
Not sure. The knee jerk reaction is too much. I know some of my Kubricks have been mighty expensive and the logical side of me says that’s just silly for something so little. But collector toys in general are just getting more expensive these days. If we were to buy a bigger home, and thus I ended up having a bigger toy room, I’d probably start a bookcase for Hot Toys. Between Predator and Dark Knight Joker, those guys are outstanding, but you’re looking at $150 a pop or so. Jeez.
You spend alot of time surfing the internet?
I’m from the VA Beach area and as my friends and I started moving away from home, my friend, Cork, started a web site for all of us to stay in contact with each other. So take 30 or so guys and girls, who all have strong computer backgrounds (and thus are probably on the web all day), spread them all over the world, so we find weird stuff that might be more unique to that locale, and we have this one really nice site to stay in contact with each other; we end up sharing quite a few videos with each other. Plus, at every job I’ve ever had, I was always one of the more “social” people – always trying to joke with people, so people from current and past jobs send me videos they think I’d like. I like sharing them on places like Fwoosh and the favor seems to get returned quite a bit.
You consume massive amounts of data from the internet. Did you consciously
teach your self to speed read through scrolling or something?
Haha. I think I’m going to have an ego by the time this interview is over!
I wouldn’t say it was conscious, but I knew I could read faster than others as a child. So the more you read, the better that skill becomes. Actually, I don’t know if it’s a skill. It’s a burden if it’s not something that is enjoyable to me – say a technical manual. I find I didn’t retain it as well, where as if it’s a fictional book, I can burn through it and tell you everything about it in great detail. On the job last week, I found myself rereading passages of a book over and over again because I was shooting through it too fast and I was very bored with it. So it’s frustrating in that sense.
What do you spend your money?
Do you mean what else do I spend my money on? I have a decent sized t-shirt collection. I’m most comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt; early fall is my favorite weather. So I just started amassing a t-shirt collection. A design has to be pretty cool for me to buy it if it’s on a black or white shirt – I’ve just owned too many of those colors through out the years.
The rest of my money goes to a small, but nagging amount of debt that I owe. We got married four years ago, and due to those expenses, I took on debt for the first time. I don’t look at a home or a car as debt – just monthly expenses. So add on at least one major trip a year, I have a few thousand dollars in debt that seems to stick around and never get paid off fully.
What are your non fwooshlike hobbies?
Does Home Entertainment count? I really enjoy the system I’ve setup at home. There’s a decent chunk of change put in it, but at the same time, I have always looked at it as spending more money up front to have components that will last for years.
So whenever I can, I’m trying to catch up on all the movies I’m interested in. I’ve been a Netflix member since 2001 and I’ve rated close to 2000 movies there (but that’s not just the movies I’ve watched since I joined). I wish I lived closer to an art house theater, as there are so many small release films I’m interested in every year.
How do you choose what movie to Netflix?
It’s always an odd mix. For starters, let me recommend The Ultimate
Trailer Show to anyone who has the HDNET channel. It comes on Wednesday
nights at 8pm and gets repeated tons of times until the next episode.
There’s usually at least one movie a week I’ve never heard of that gets
added to my saved list. I think my other ways are pretty obvious
though. I try to get out to an art theater at least once a month, and
thus I see the trailers that are playing there. And obviously watching
the trailers on whatever weird DVD I’ve just rented. While watching the
trailers in front of Feast 2 (which is a must for anyone who enjoys
their horror with completely shameless black humor in it) I came across
Hell Ride – it looks pretty bad, but I’m going to check it out. It’s
supposed to look like a grindhouse 70s biker movie, with Vinny Jones
and Dennis Hopper in it.
Lastly, there’s my friends and all the Fwooshers who bring stuff up in
the Multiplex. I try to share my ideas too and see where we agree.
What type of music do you like?
I did not personally own any records as a child; I just listened to whatever records my sister played, so I listened to quite a bit of disco and 80s then. There were some artists that really caught my ear: Elvis, Talking Heads, and Weird Al, but I didn’t personally own any of their records or tapes. I actually didn’t start to build a music collection until high school and I can remember my first CDs: Van Halen’s OU812, Queensryche’s Empire, and the soundtrack to Shaft.
These days, it seems my musical tastes haven’t left the 90s. I had never been to a concert until high school as well; my first show was Helmet and Faith No More. I still listen to both bands today, as well as Nine Inch Nails, Primus, Beastie Boys, Tool, and White/Rob Zombie. One of my favorite modern artists is Girl Talk.
Do you sing along with the car radio or dance infrontof a mirror?
I absolutely sing in the car and in the shower. Thing is, my singing is horrible. I’ve always wanted to be a singer and in my own head, I sound fine, but play Rock Band with your friends, and you see them cringing in terror, man, I must sound horrible. I also enjoy making songs I dislike (and sometimes even like) sound worse by singing as poorly as I can. Or sometimes I try to sing like a chicken. Eddie Vedder’s voice lends itself well to chicken mockery. Seriously. Alive is a song that often gets blurted out in a chicken voice. The song of the chicken – it’s quite magical – in my head.
Where do you vacation? Where would you like to vacation?
My wife and I try to go on two trips a year, but guarantee ourselves at least one trip every year. For our anniversary, we plan a two week getaway out of the US. We’ve visited Italy, France, Holland, Australia and Japan thus far. In the future, we have Scotland, Ireland, and Kenya on the list so far.
When funds allow it, we’ll plan a second, smaller trip to actually vacation (my wife plans excursions when we go abroad; lots and lots of walking). When we can do a smaller trip, I make sure we go off to a beach and have a few days of true relaxation.
What other sites do you visit?
ToysREvil: http://toysrevil.blogspot.com/ – I like this site because he covers toys I don’t regularly collect: 12” and Urban Vinyl. I find it neat to keep up on what else is out there.
Veidt: http://www.veidt.com/ – a blog about movies, TV shows and comics written by a fangirl who sometimes reads like a guy with breasts. Her tastes don’t fit in the norm of “standard” (please don’t crucify me for that ladies, I’m just talking about the women I work with who are all about gossip and reality shows) women’s tastes and she’ll even compliment the female form (she likes to talk about Jessica Biel for example) but never drifts off into gossip/celebrity/fashion.
Kubrick Nation: http://www.kubricknation.com/forum/index.php – ‘nuff said.
What is wrong with you?
Always been a Momma’s boy. Always been an introvert. People who know me in real life (other than my wife and family) don’t see it, but it’s most definitely there. I’m happy keeping to myself and sitting at home and watching DVDs. And in public, on the job, or just out and about, I tend to want to be a people pleaser. Yet I do enjoy getting inside peoples heads, figuring out how they think, and then messing with them a bit. I tend to all too often push people too far. 99% of the time, I’m not trying to hurt any ones feelings, and even the people I do mean to irritate, I still want them to like me for some reason. Stupid Momma’s boy!
Thanks TSR!
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