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Other biographical information,
religious & political views, etc.: I was born
in Columbus, Ohio in 1966 in the hospital at Ohio State University (which was my
father's college). But since I went to Michigan
State (i.e., my mother's school) for most of my college
education, I'm a Buckeye by birth, but a Spartan by
choice! My father was a computer programmer while
my mother had worked in retail and had also been a cooking
demonstrator for a natural gas company in Ohio. She
didn't work much outside the home (such as part-time
work as a sewing teacher for a fabric store) after
me, my brother, and sister were born until after my
father died in 1981.
I have a brother, Brian,
who was born in 1967, and a sister, born Thanksgiving
of 1968. My family moved to near Denver,
Colorado when I was very young, and then soon moved
again to near LA (Thousand Oaks, later Gardena) in
California. My family after living there for only
about three and a half years moved again when I was
in first grade to near Philadelphia, where
my father went to work for Sperry Univac in 1973. (My
mother, I, my brother, and my sister did stay in Jackson
with my grandmother and grandfather for about one month,
however, during this process.
I went to school in Horsham, Pennsylvania, for
second and third grades while living in a rather defective
brand new house in the Hidden Meadows subdivision.
We then moved yet again to a suburb of Norristown,
where I went to school to Burnside Elementary (fourth
grade) and then (shudders!) Rittenhouse Middle
School (fifth to eighth grades). The bullies in
my life in school and the neighborhood (the Betzwood
area subdivision along Trooper Road near Valley
Forge) made life miserable
for me! Gym class was an especially bad experience
for someone like me so lacking in natural athletic
talent and hand-eye coordination.
My family, minus my father, moved
yet again when I was in ninth grade to near, later into, Jackson,
Michigan, my mother's hometown. My father was
still living in the old family house in Pennsylvania
when he died. When I graduated from Jackson High
School in 1984, my mother said that was the last place
she ever expected me to graduate from (because that
was from where she had graduated from!)
I went to Jackson Community College
for two years, and then when to Michigan State for the
next two years, graduating in 1988. I majored
in both philosophy (because of the influence of Ayn
Rand largely) and marketing. After not having
much success in finding a job suited to my education
and skills, I went back to MSU to become a teacher in
1991. I did get teacher certification and a history
B.A. by 1993. I finished the M.A. in history
in 1997. I worked as a substitute teacher 1994
to 1998, having a rather checkered career in the process.
I concluded I wasn't going to get a job as a teacher
by 1998, so I became a medical biller for Universal
Diagnostics in 1998. After getting laid off from
there in the wake of its merger with Labcorp only a
few months later, I got temporary work that (with only
a two-week spell of miserable unemployment during it
between assignments) that led to my present position
with Lafarge North America Inc. I worked in accounts
receivable for about two years, and now have been in
office facilities for about two and a half years.
I was raised in the Unitarian Universalist
Church, a very liberal outfit, to the extent I had any
religious training as a child. And that effectively
only lasted about two years (in second and third grades).
I clearly remember being taught evolution in Sunday
school, and not believing in Adam and Eve as literal
historical people. (It took Henry Morris' book,
"The Incredible Birth of Planet Earth" to
pound that out of me when I was (I believe) 17. Although
I was influenced some by a tract put out by my grandmother's
church after picking it up during a county fair in Jackson
(in 1977 I think) when my family visited there, my real
self-chosen spiritual experience came after reading
the Plain Truth magazine of the old Worldwide Church
of God in 1982 and onwards when I was still in high
school. I attended the Seventh-day Adventist Church
in Jackson in 1985 to 1986, and later attended the Worldwide
Church of God from 1986 to 1995. I was baptized
in the latter organization in 1987. Since I objected
to many of the major changes that organization
made in doctrine under Mr. Joseph Tkach Sr., I joined the United
Church of God in 1995, and have been there since. I
do speak in the local church, but I am not an ordained
person nor any kind of official spokesman for the UCG-IA.
(That is, none of my essays should be cited as
official statements of my church's doctrines, although
I believe most of them most of the time are in conformity
with its beliefs or a substantial minority within that
organization).
Although I was raised to be a good
Democrat by my father, he was always a somewhat cranky
one, and didn't have much use for the Kennedys. He
was liberal enough (out of opposition to the Vietnam
War) to contribute money to McGovern's campaign
in 1972 because he hated Nixon. (He's perhaps
one of the few people in the length and breadth of the
United States who voted for both Wallace (in 1968, for
he opposed Vietnam then, and didn't want HHH either) and
McGovern!) My human politics were decisively shaped
by a sadly battered copy of Barry Goldwater's "Conscience
of a Conservative" I bought for (I think) 2 1/2
cents at a Goodwill store. I later cruised the
used paperback books donated to, or being discarded
by, the Jackson Public Library's store ran by its friends,
looking for various right-wing books when I was in high
school. John Stormer's "None Dare Call It
Treason" was decisive in forming my views of communism,
although the Blue Book of the John Birch Society (borrowed
from the library) was another factor. I accepted
the "Insider" conspiracy theory of Gary Allen's
"None Dare Call It Conspiracy" until the collapse
of communism in eastern Europe in 1989, which refuted
it as far as I was concerned. I reluctantly (I
sympathize with Zell Miller's attitude, despite being
a Northerner born & raised) became a Republican
some time before 1982 election, for I remember favoring
Jimmy Carter in 1980, but I had decisively changed by
election night of 1982, when I was pulling for the Republicans. I
first encountered Ayn Rand's work through (to me then)
the curiously titled, "The New Left: The
Anti-Industrial Revolution," which I thought about
when picking it up, "Well, if this is left-wing,
I can just return it and get back my ten cents,"
since the library's used bookstore didn't aim to make
a profit on every book sold at that time. This
book had a decisive influence on how I saw the world,
since I saw (among other things) the essay "The
Comprachicos" as being a convincing explanation
of my social situation in school, especially in middle
school, among other things. Despite being a Christian
and thus rejecting a good chunk of the core of Objectivism
(her philosophy, as proclaimed in such novels as "Atlas
Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead"), I
still have a certain authentic respect for much of what
she did, since when she rebelled, she at least
rebelled in the name of reason, individual rights, and
capitalism, not irrationalism, collectivism, and
socialism. Her moral argument for capitalism,
if the anti-altruism, anti-self-sacrifice core of her
ethics be rejected, can easily be trimmed down to a
means/ends argument that (if enough years remained for American society
before Christ's return) could eventually
destroy the welfare state.
The problem I realized here with
being involved in politics, as essays posted on this
Web site explain (click here: Should
Christians Vote.htm and Should
Christians Vote Reply to Critics.htm), was that
voting
is ultimately futile if God is really in control of
everything after all. If He is going to intervene,
and take over the world's governments (as per Daniel
2:44; 7:26-27), and is going to do so not very long
from now, should we get so exercised over (say) whether
George W. gets reelected or not? I actually declared
a major in political science back in 1984 when I first
went to college, but I decisively changed my mind after
reading an article in the old Worldwide Church of God
magazine, the "Good News," by Herbert W. Armstrong
entitled something like, "How Would Jesus vote?"
I soon then accepted (after initially totally
rejecting it, the only WCG doctrine I did that with)
pacifism. This meant I effectively no longer had a
foreign policy, since the willingness of nations to
use force or threaten its use remains decisive in
that realm. If we Christians are going to be kings
and priests in God's kingdom forever (Rev. 5:10; 20:6),
why should we get so caught up in such temporary and
trivial issues as the next presidential campaign?
Our time as Christians could be much better spent
elsewhere, such as in preaching the Gospel or caring
for the poor or needy voluntarily. (You may wish
to read Cal Thomas and Ed Dobson's "Blinded by
Might: Can the Religious Right Save America?,"
if you want a disillusioned and skeptical if less rejecting view
of Christian involvement in politics than my own).
So although my sympathies still
lie with the Republican Party and my own brand
of conservative libertarianism, I'm well aware that
God's economic system in the millennium will be neither
strictly socialist/welfare statist nor laissez-faire
capitalist. (For example, debts will be cancelled
every seven years, the land redistributed every fifty,
and a third-tithe system will exist, for example, even
though each family will have its own separate plot
of land instead of collective farms). I merely
see that on this side of the millennium it seems to
be better to give everyone freedom, even if people will
abuse it, since other bad things happen when it is denied.
The case of Prohibition is my guiding lodestar
in this regard, since although it roughly halved American
consumption of alcohol and cirrhosis of the liver by
1933, it produced so much organized crime, street violence,
and governmental corruption, it wasn't worth it. There
is no utopia here, only trade-offs between two "bad"
outcomes (i.e, choosing between the lesser of two evils),
so policy makers might as well as manage our collective
evil human natures the best they can be on a stop-gap
basis. And if we were going to start imposing
Christian laws on society, how well do you think a strict
enforcement of the Fourth Commandment, a Friday to Saturday
sunset Sabbath, would go over with 99% of the American
population? If nobody could get that done
before Jesus' return, it seems rather futile deal with
imposing the lesser laws of the Old Testament.
(How well would executing gays or (merely) all
adulterers go over today, for example? How
much blood would there be in the streets?) So
I admit I may be inconsistent in my human politics (i.e.,
making a distinction between what can be imposed on
this side of the millennium and afterwards), but at
least I see how soon they aren't going matter,
thanks be to the power of God!
This picture was taken of me
in 2009.
For those who want
more details than I'm supplied above, in 1991 I
wrote a general intellectual autobiography for one
class at Michigan State University, which is attached
below:
Intellectual
Autobiography 1991.pdf
I wish to announce my engagement to Yndira Judith Alvarado Velazco, of Chorrillos
(a suburb of Lima), Peru. Yndirita
happily accepted my marriage proposal
on Friday, October 9, 2009 on the beach at Huanchaco (near Trujillo), Peru,
during my church's annual convention, the Feast
of Tabernacles. God be willing, we plan to marry next year, perhaps
during the Feast of Tabernacles. Most likely she would move to the USA, and
live in Redford (near Detroit), Michigan. Here are some
photos I took of her while I was in Peru. The
first photo below I took shortly after we got engaged:
Yndira here is wearing the
ring I gave her when I proposed to her on the beach
in Huanchaco, Peru.
This photo was taken at
Machu Picchu, the famous archeological site in Peru.
This photo was taken near
Machu Picchu, on the mountain that forms the back
drop in the photo taken above. The mountain
scenery there is truly splendid, spectacular, and magnificent.
This picture was taken close
to where I proposed to Yndira, on the beach in Huanchaco,
Peru.
Here we are together at Machu
Pichu, which is roughly a 3 hour train ride away
from Cuzco, Peru. (Typically, you'll need
to take at least one taxi ride and a bus ride also
in order to get there).
Yndira and I got married in
Lima, Peru, on Sunday, May 30, 2010, in a religious
onlyl ceremony. We then got married again,
in a combined religious and legal ceremony, in Flint,
Michigan, on Sunday, June 13, 2010.
We now have a son, Thomasito,
who is nine years old (in 2022).
TO
THE LOVING MEMORY OF SHEBA, MY PET CAT. (Born,
perhaps 2004; Died, Sunday, December 10, 2006):
SHE WAS SUDDENLY KILLED AS A RESULT OF A FREAK
ACCIDENT DURING WHICH ONE OF HER REAR PAWS GOT CAUGHT
IN AN OFFICE CHAIR BETWEEN THE BACK AND ARMREST.
THE CHAIR THAT KILLED HER LOOKS REMARKABLY
IN HER PICTURE ABOVE, BUT HAS ROUGHLY SIX INCH HIGH,
3/4 INCH WIDE SLOTS BETWEEN THE CHAIR'S BACK AND
THE ARM RESTS. SHE PANICKED, BROKE A
LEG, AND SUFFERED FROM SHOCK AND INTERNAL INJURIES
THAT CAUSED HER DEATH AT THE VET'S. SHE WASN'T
PUT TO SLEEP, BUT SIMPLY DIED ON HER OWN. SHE
WAS AN AFFECTIONATE CAT, AND WAS WILLING TO SIT
IN MY LAP AND PURR, AND LAY IN BED ON ME, AND PURR
AS WELL. ADMITTEDLY, SHE LIKED TO STAGE "FOOT
ATTACKS," EVEN "LEG ATTACKS" ON HER
(OFTEN BARE FOOT) MASTER. SHE ALSO LIKED
TO SCRATCH UP FURNITURE WITH HER (LONG) CLAWS, WHICH
SCRATCHING POSTS, STICKY TAPE, AND THE "DON'T
SCATCH" SPRAY LARGELY ELIMINATED. SHE
ESPECIALLY LIKED CHASING AFTER ROLLED AND THROWN
BALLS, BUT WAS NORMALLY, BUT NOT ALWAYS, SOMEWHAT
BORED BY RIBBONS ON WANDS AND A LASER POINTER I
HAD. SHE WAS A "BOSS CAT,"
AS SHOWN BY HER ABILITY TO DOMINATE MY MOTHER'S
GERMAN SPITZ DOG (WEIGHS ABOUT 14 LBS., IS LIKE
A POMERANIAN BUT SOMEWHAT BIGGER) DURING THE NEARLY
THREE WEEKS SHE STAYED WITH HER IN JACKSON. LINKS
TO A LENGTHY EMAILED LETTER (SLIGHTLY EDITED) DESCRIBING
HER SAD DEMISE IS FOUND BELOW.
Sheba's
Death letter 1206.rtf
Sheba's
Death letter 1206.wpd
SHE
WILL BE MISSED!
Since Sheba's death, I got two new cats (November
2007): Maggie, a calico/Maine Coon mix, and
Gracie, who seems to be mostly Angoran.
They sometimes have their little "fights,"
but they also get along with each other normally.
Alas! Poor Maggie had to be given
away (October 2010) and later Gracie also because Yndira was somewhat
allergic to them!
Taco Sald Recipe: Many
have liked the taco salads that I have brought to
church potlucks over the years. Here is the
recipe for those interested:
Taco
Salad Recipe.htm
Taco
Salad Recipe.doc
Taco
Salad Recipe.rtf
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