I tell people that I know everything, and if I should not know something, I know where to look it up. I am a firm believer that one's knowledge should emulate those of the Renaissance -- a wide breadth of knowledge on all subjects with specialization in many. It can be done through reading and knowing how to use reference works.

One thing reading and knowledge has granted me is wisdom and the ability to be confident in everything I do even when something or some idea fails, for it is the ability to recover from failure that lends respect.

Baseball. There is only one team and that is the New York Mets. When they are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs (which historically is sometime in June,) baseball season is effectively over. I am a minor League baseball junkie as well. Though I always follow Mets franchise teams from the New Orleans Zephyrs (AAA), Binghamton Mets (AA), St. Lucie Mets (A), Savannah Sand Gnats (A), Brooklyn Cyclones (A), and Kingsport Mets (R), I also like going to the Durham Bulls, Jacksonville Suns, and Carolina Mudcats games.

I read at least on book per day and am a genuine news junkie. Almost all non-fiction, mostly political and current events. I can't remember the last time I read a novel, but any Robert Heinlein is amazing. Non- fiction subjects include politics, medicine, religion, and current events. I also read six newspapers per day plus the AP wire all the time. I also enjoy the humor genre with authors like P.J. O'Rouke, Douglas Adams, and Patrick McManus.

Crossword puzzles. Especially the Sunday ones. I like to do at least three per day and five or six on Sundays. The harder, the better.

I am also facinated by disasters, natural and manmade. There is nothing like listening to the police/fire scanners on a warm summer night and going to the scene of the action. As long as you know the rules governing crime and accident scenes, you don't get in the way and you can easily co-exist with the police as they do their thing. I am facinated by watching CCBI work. And one of my dreams is to start a disaster channel on satallite TV that does nothing but show unedited film of the worst of the worst disasters known to mankind.

And my heroes:

Ronald Reagan, Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Fred Thompson, Celia Rivenbark, John MacWhorter, Charles Stanley, Dinesh D'souza, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ann Coulter, Walter Williams, Chuck Swindoll, P.J. O'Rouke, Lou Rawls. Those are the external ones. Then there is Val.

Val is my wife. She is my life. She is the one who feeds me. She is the one who takes care of me when I am sick. She is the one who makes sure that I do not bleed to death when I make a mistake with the table saw. She keeps me in clean clothes, expecially underwear. Were it not for her, I would be a disheveled, starving, half-naked blob sitting on a fungus-encrusted couch drooling while watching a plant die from neglect. Oh, and she's got great hooters.

And if anyone wants to write me directly, use wral@pageplanet.com

favorite music: generally 70s and 80s funk like con funk shun, cameo, and parliament, but i also do a wide range of tunes from beach music, classical, country, classic rock, metal, r&b, hip hop, and whatever sounds hot. and yes, disco rules!

favorite movies: things that blow up and comedy. probably the best movie combining both is "true lies". then there's monty python and the holy grail, blazing saddles, the die hard series, armageddon, baseketball, independence day, 48 hours, and a host of others.

favorite hobbies: reading, baseball -- collecting cards and the game itself, organizing stuff

favorite tv shows: house, american idol, and monk are the only three commercial shows that i watch regularly. the sopranos - rip. history channel, bonanza, mash, and i live on fox news. i have a tv in my office dedicated to it exclusively

favorite restaurants: two guys, casa carbone, schiano's and fuddruckers in raleigh; tom sarris' orleans house and phillips seafood in washington dc; 4th street seafood and el cap in st. pete fl

favorite web sites: ihos.com

favorite vacation spots: washington dc, new orleans, birmingham al, st. petersburg fl, charleston sc