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Work hard, play hard, that's my motto. Over time I've played many different things but a few have remained constant. Gliding So isn't it dangerous? Nope. What's a 747 without it's engines running - just a bloody great big glider. Gliding is one of the safest airsports. If you ever get into a slightly sticky situation, just let go of everything and the glider will pull itself out of it (well, that's a little over-exageration, but close enough!). I have just over 350hrs flying time. During this time I've amassed a basic instructor rating, aerobatics endorsement and test pilot. I was one of the few people in the club capable of doing test flights on aircraft. Test flights are done after a major repair or having the annual service (the aircraft has been completely dismantled). If anything is to go wrong, this is normally when it will happen. There's nothing quite like the being in the middle of nowhere, paddocks as far as the eye can see cranked over pulling 3G in a tight, rough thermal only to see a wedgetail eagle come screaming out of the clouds and roll into the thermal just below you. Quickly he turns in tighter than you through the core and soon he's level. As he progresses around the turn he migrates onto your wingtip and then comes slowly further inboard until his wingtip feathers are almost brushing the canopy just inches from your face. These suckers are big. We're talking 3 metre wingspans on a full grown one. As you're climbing up the thermal you look out towards the inside of the turn and the eagle turns its head, eyeballs you and then looks back out. Seconds later he rolls off the inside of the turn and is gone - in search of the next thermal or an unsuspecting bit of prey, who knows. But it has to be one of the best feelings every seeing nature up this close and personal. Writing Ah yes, the books. My current sigs say "Author, Java Hacker". I love writing. It's a challenge to try to get your really heavy knowledge out to some clueless, or semi-clueful person. How do you explain the intricacies of an multi-threaded event model of a 3D rendering engine to someone who only really knows 3D graphics from Jurassic Park. Anybody can write, but not everyone can write well. That's hard to do, sometimes extremely frustrating but in the end very rewarding. Fitness Mainly cycling (of the treadlie kind, not motorised). I also do a lot of dancing too. 3-4 hours 3 times a week club dancing really sorts you out. Now I'm not talking about the wiggle your hips and hands type dancing, but real high energy jumping and spinning type stuff. Sweat pouring off etc. I'm fairly well known in the local clubbing community and get quite a bit of space to myself on the dance floor. Usually right at the front with quite a few onlookers. I don't like podium stuff because usually the area is too small and normally they are on speakers that tend to rock around a lot. Stability is a good thing when it comes to my dancing style :) Toys Anything! I'd give anything a shot. A keen joker and I don't really care about the consequences of looking silly in public. It's all part of the fun.