User:Duane Phillips

Quote: "Be!"

Primary Interests

family
people
purpose of life
finding new ways to keep dating my wife
being a part of the solution
the art of communication

Other Interests

in-person games
history
efficient and understandable data storage and retrieval systems
singing

Travel

I've been many places, but there is no place like home. Home is where ever my family is.

I've set foot in:

Every U.S. State except Alaska (something I intend to rectify) - and lived in 8 of them
Spain
Germany
South Korea
Mexico
Canada
Guam
Bermuda

I have driven (non-commercially, my dime) at least a million miles around the U.S.

Life Experience

Born in the U.S. in the last half of the 20th century.

I have come within an "inch" of my life at least a dozen times, not limited to (by age):

0 - being born 6 weeks early (early riser) - esophogus was not fully developed and was spitting up blood
1.5 - ingesting shards of glass when I somehow busted open my baby food against a Coca-Cola bottle - xray techs saw a nickel and wad of string too (iron gutt)
3 - a two-story fall onto cement (no harm done, bouncing baby)
5 - having my throat cut by a shaky old doctor who was removing my tonsils (vocal improvements) - heavily sedated, a breathing tube and gauze packs were stuffed into my throat
5 - being thrown from moving car in a turn (what does this handle do?)
6 to 12 - saving pack-lunch sandwiches for later - had a whole drawer full of them... until Mom found them (early scientistic/food critic tendencies)
10 - flipping end over end on a down-hill bound ten-speed with my toe caught in the spokes (extreme sports)
10 - Surfing in the back of a pick-up truck going down the road... until the brakes were hit... my, look at the pretty rosy-red cab windows... oh wait, that's blood on my face (more extreme sports)
12 - deeply sliced open hand carving a pinewood derby car (base paint coat applied!)
12 - playing with fireworks behind Grandpa's sheep pen... took off for a bit... came back to sheep pen and barn on fire... (GULP...)
17 - long slice up my arm with a box cutter while thowing stock out for a food chain (bake sale anyone?)
17 - caught in the middle of a 4 car pile-up where the rear axle was folded into the middle of the car (fear factor test)
19 - nearly went over the wall of a New Orleands raised express way in a 14 foot rental truck... tire marks on the top bar THREE times (eh, yeah, it was the er... truck... dunno what happened)
20 - zapped by electricity while working under an old truck in a Louisiana storm - lightning hit the truck while my arms were wrapped around the axel holding a starter... (GZZzzzzzt!)
20 - picked up an old bicycle innertube in the Louisiana bayou that suddenly turned out to be a 5 to 6 foot cotton mouth snake - very much alive and disturbed (snake experienced the immediate joy of air travel)

The first 20 years are sufficient to the point. There are yet many other later incidents. I feel blessed to be alive and enjoying the family and life I now have.

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