From: dbriggs@zia.aoc.nrao.edu (Daniel Briggs)
Subject: Re: who are these folks?
Organization: National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro NM
Distribution: alt
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 05:34:17 GMT

Dan'l decides to join the fray and tender a description, since it appears
to be 'the' thing to do.  He's been hanging around the place for quite a
while, though he's not a prolific poster.  Probably close to two years now,
though unlike some patrons here he has no idea exactly when he started.

"What do I look like?  Well, I've never been horribly comfortable with role
playing.  Since it doesn't serve much a purpose for me, I'm me here as well
as everywhere else.  If I feel like it, I indulge myself in a slightly more
flamboyant dress than my usual RL fare.  Think of me in shades of brown.  I
do well in earth tones, it matches my brown hair and eyes.  I've always
liked peasant shirts with flowing sleeves.  My hair has been down to mid
back before, though at the moment it's comparatively respectable.  The beard
is full but neatly trimmed, and the glasses rectangular.  I guess I don't
quite have the Renaissance rogue look that I've so enjoyed in the past.

Dan'l strokes his beard with a thoughtful expression.  "I must admit, that
my taste in active wear does run to blues and white.  I skydive, and all my
gear follows that color scheme.  I loathe the neon pink and green that some
of compatriots favor, so by comparison I guess that sky blue is an earth
tone.  I've got an old Yamaha XS850 and eventually I'd like to get some
nice riding leathers, (or possible an Aerostitch suit).  This will surely
be blue & white.  In the fond fantasy department, I'd like to get a nice
zoomy sportbike, and you can guess the colors!

"I was chuckling a while back at some of the similarities between Stephen
and myself.  I'm only a little shorter than he, and scaled proportionally.
(Near 6'6" and about 190 lbs.)  Also along the same lines, I'm a student of
Astrophysics and dance the Morris on occasion.  Living out in the boonies
as I do, the nearest actual Morris side is maybe 300 miles away.  Sometimes
we put something together in Albuquerque, but it isn't very often.  Even
that is 75 miles for me.  I love traditional music and dance, with a
particular slant towards the culture of the British Isles.  I sing well,
and play a few simple folk instruments.  I'm working on getting serious
about the classical flute, though I've a long way to go!

"I'm a graduate student at NMT, and work for the NRAO which runs the VLA.
(See the .sig for acronym expansion.)  Actually, the VLA isn't in there.
It's the Very Large Array, which is a darned big radio telescope.  I'm an
instrumentation sort, and really only an astrophysicist by convention.
What I study is the techniques of interferometry.  With a bit of luck,
I'll finish up the PhD in about a year.  I've got quite the yen to travel
for a while, and with postdocs coming up I'm entering the phase of life
where I can probably indulge it.

"Oh, since I spend more time with computers than is healthy for anyone, I
picked up the bad habit of MUDding nearly two years ago.  By and large, I
tend to stick to FurryMUCK, but I show up on Holo and a few others now and
then.  Look for Daniel or Gazer.

Dan'l is still working on his beer, and hasn't a decent toast anyway, so
the chalk line goes unused.

-- 
| Daniel Briggs  (dbriggs@nrao.edu)                      |        USPA B-14993
| New Mexico Tech / National Radio Astronomy Observatory |            DoD #387
| P.O. Box O / Socorro, NM 87801   (505) 835-7391        |
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