Forty-something father of three, unapologetic Southerner long since transplanted - first to Miami (wife and I both hated), then Houston (wife and I both liked), then Kansas City (I liked wife didn't), then Denver (both loved it), then Memphis (gotta tell ya, don't care for it).

In my short life so far, I have... ...met Jesus Christ at the age of 9, and hope I'm not too big a diasappointment to Him... ...been the victim of discrimination as a white student in a predominantly black high school - which ultimately caused me to quit the baseball team my junior year and move to a different high school... ...married my pregnant girlfriend at 19, father at 20, divorced at 21... ...been a college athlete, in spite of all that... ...and earned a BS in Mathematics, to boot... ...been accepted for US Navy Aviation Officer Candidate School, but walked away - opting for marriage and dry land over planes on a boat and calling Bill Clinton "honorable"... ...gotten married again and stayed that way to the most wonderful creature to ever grace the planet with her footprint - it helps when your spouse is your best friend... ...sired two more great kids... ...had a career as a number-crunching finance and strategy guy in the telecommunications industry... ...earned an MBA while I was doing that... ...earned a black belt in the Korean Martial Arts system Hapkido also while I was doing that... ...worked in equity research for four different brokerage firms - telecom, no less - through the worst cyclical downturn in that industry's history... ...been laid off - THRICE... ...earned the CFA designation... ...learned to make my own beer... ...was "brought home" to the Holy Orthodox Church at the age of 40...

All this has led me to the following conclusions:

The United States of America is the greatest nation in the history of this planet... ...our production justifies our consumption... ...our strength maintains peace... ..."The idea that violence never solves anything is a historically untrue and thoroughly immoral doctrine. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor; and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. People that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and their freedoms." - Robert Heinlein... ...Nothing, and I mean NOTHING projects power like a fully armed carrier battle group underway... ...bunting is a lost art... ...kids should be required to take six hours of calculus to earn any bachelor's degree... ...you can't make cornbread without a cast iron skillet - Yankees don't GET that... ...black-eyed peas REQUIRE a dollop of bacon grease to taste right... ...the securities industry, generally, is run by pathetic - PATHETIC - excuses for managers... ...the Korean approach to Martial Arts is generally superior to Chinese or Japanese... ...hand-crafted ale is ART... ...mass-produced lager is for simmering bratwurst... ...Orthodox Christian worship is Christian Worship in its purest, most unfiltered form: "Proclaiming the truth since 33 AD"... ...when a child looks you in the eye and tells you that he/she loves you, your life is only as complete as it feels in that moment...if your heart is truly worthy of the child's love.