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We're a couple of neophyte seniors wending our way through the brave new world of frequent doctor visits and revised dining (low salt and low carb) who got used to pioneering by getting into fandom in the 1970s, back in the day of printed (and sometimes mimeographed) fanzines, Star Trek conventions, and correspondence by snail mail. We saw Trek (and a bunch of other classics) first run, spent our childhoods pretending to be our favorite television characters (and, in Linda's case, incorporating them into stories), and came into computers via VIC20s and Commodore 64s. In the 1990s we were on GEnie (what was then called an "electronic bulletin board"), and went live with this site in September of 1996 (yeah, in digital terms it's an antique). We live just northwest of Atlanta in a house we call "Autumn Hollow" because our motto is "Fall forever; summer...never!" and except at Christmas it's autumn here all the time. Our mutual interests include reading, bookstores, old-time radio, science fiction, science fiction conventions, watching dog obedience and agility competitions, hobbies and crafts, history and technology museums, dogs, budgies, and travel (when fiscally possible!). We are peripherally involved with the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, have become senselessly addicted to our smartphones, tablets, e-books, and collecting DVDs, not to mention the increasingly higher piles of sundoku, and have yet to figure out where the time all goes...

Stats About Linda

Biographical Stuff

Of Italian descent (her mom was from Federal Hill, her dad from Silver Lake, which tells any Rhode Islander everything they need to know), she was born in Cranston, RI; moved to Georgia in 1984, where she met her husband; she gratefully owes her involvement in SF fandom to the late Mary Bloemker. She proudly sports a "World's No. 1 Lassie Fan" button, is a budgie lover, and wanted a dog from the time she could utter the word. Favorite foods include dark chocolate, chicken caccitore, chicken soup with rice, wine biscuits, and of course Del's Lemonade and coffee milk (the RI State Drink). Her favorite city is Boston and she remains forever loyal to the World Book Encyclopedia and Hood's Milk.

How She "Earns Her Bread"

Linda retired on January 31, 2018, after 32 1/2 years with the Federal government, having worked for nearly thirty years the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, twenty of them as a purchasing agent. (Frankly, she's exhausted after thirty End of Fiscal Year antics.)

Her Interests

Reading (selected science fiction/fantasy, mysteries, classic children's books, media nonfiction, Christmas customs and history); creating web pages; desktop publishing; counted cross stitch; craft painting and occasional jewelry-making forays; sketching and watercolor painting; photography; collecting stuffed collies and collie figurines (there are also sheep and foxes all over the house), classic children's books, and St. Nicholas magazines; doing "crosspatch" puzzles; reading and writing fan fiction; attending SF cons; visiting historical museums (favorite periods of history are Victorian-Edwardian America and England, and homefront World War II) and science museums, and Christmas always.

Favorite Author(s)

Madeleine L'Engle, James Thurber, Gladys Taber, Dorothy L. Sayers

Favorite Musician/Musical Group

Rupert Holmes, George Winston, John Denver, Big Band music, instrumental Christmas music

Favorite Magazines

The Simple Things, Best of British, Reminisce, Country Living (British edition), Yankee

Favorite Movies

See "My Favorite Movies"

Favorite TV Series (Present)

Doctor Who, Young Sheldon, Alaska: the Last Frontier, Masterchef Junior, Call the Midwife, Victoria, Murdoch Mysteries

Favorite TV Series (Past)

Lassie, From the Earth to the Moon, Doctor Simon Locke, Castle, (except for that dreadful final season), Remember WENN, Alistair Cooke's America, Blake's 7, Brooklyn Bridge, Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ellery Queen, The Wild Wild West, M*A*S*H, Animal Precinct, Emergency Vets, Faraday and Company, Flambards, Get Smart, Mad About You, My World and Welcome to It, NYPD Blue, Our World, Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, Quantum Leap, Elementary, Sherlock, The Big Bang Theory, Star Blazers, Star Trek (classic), The Waltons, Voyagers!, Monk
(Visit the one and only Ask the Manager fan site.)

Favorite Podcasts

Leo Laporte's "The Tech Guy," "Travels with Rick Steves," "A Way With Words," "Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me!," "Happier with Gretchen Rubin," "The Baker Street Babes," "Colonial Williamsburg History Podcasts"

Other Cool Things She Likes

Thanksgiving, birdwatching, Netflix, Amazon Prime, TechTV, Britbox, TuneIn Radio, Acorn

Stats About James

Biographical Stuff

An "Air Force brat," he was born in Tokyo, Japan and has also lived in Hawaii, Florida, Texas, and Alabama, but eventually his family settled in Warner Robins, GA. His greatest dream, to become an aviator, was precluded by nearsightedness; his interest in aviation and the space program continues in his plastic modelling and model rocketry hobbies and he'd still like to have a pilot's license. He spent four years in the United States Navy as a naval aerographer (that's a weather forecaster for you civilians). James is a lifelong dog lover and recent budgie convert, plus he also enjoys cooking; his specialties include stir-fry chicken and beef. His comfort foods are chicken and dumplings, fried chicken (sadly a no-no these days), meatloaf, and chili with cornbread.

How He "Earns His Bread"

IBM Server Systems technical support agent for CTG, Inc.

His Interests

Reading (science fiction, aviation/military/naval/space program fiction and nonfiction); plastic modeling (chiefly aircraft, spacecraft, and model rockets) also other military machines, launching low-power model rockets; target shooting; attending SF cons; visiting aviation museums

Favorite Authors

Robert A. Heinlein, Tom Clancy, P. J. O'Rourke, David Weber, Eric Flint, John Ringo

Favorite Musician/Musical Group

The Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, Steeleye Span

Favorite Magazines

Scale Aircraft Modelling, Sport Rocketry, Backwoods Home, Cook's Illustrated, Cook's Country, Armchair General

Favorite Movies

Strategic Air Command, The Battle of Britain, A Christmas Story, Twelve O'Clock High, The Right Stuff, The Blues Brothers, Star Wars trilogy, Evil Roy Slade, Star Trek films, Airplane!

Favorite TV Series (Present)

Forged in Fire, Alaska: the Last Frontier, Young Sheldon, Masterchef Junior, Guy's Grocery Games

Favorite TV Series (Past)

Mythbusters, House, Castle (except for that last dreadful season), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 12 O'Clock High, George of the Jungle, Remember WENN, NYPD Blue, Our World, Quark, Space: 1999, Space: Above and Beyond, Star Blazers, Star Trek (classic), U.F.O., Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Wings (Discovery Channel series, not the sitcom), Junkyard Wars, Futurama, Conquest, Mail Call, Survivorman, Dogfights

Favorite Podcasts

"The Splendid Table," "A Way With Words," "Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me!"

Other Cool Things He Likes

Netflix, Amazon Prime, 3D printers, Damascus steel, the Instant Pot

They Who Really Run the Household <g>

Tucker Malcolm Young

Tucker is a 14-pound ball of energy in a shaggy terrier package. Marked like a tricolor collie, he's either part Jack Russell (per the vet) or part feist (per the rescue group we got him from in June 2012), plus a soupçon of chihuahua and, I think, Yorkshire terrier, and all attitude. He loves people, especially those who get on his level, but once out in the street he thinks he's Edward G. Robinson and the whole street is "his waterfront." He is happiest when eating a dog cookie (just the word sends him into paroxyms of spinning), chasing the cats next door, playing fetch with his rubber bone, or shredding the latest soft dog toy we have been foolish enough to buy him. Oh, yes, and climbing in Linda's lap and staring at her in an effort to get her to take him outside to...natch! chase cats (or crows; he's not picky). He and the German Shepherd down the street have developed a strong abhorrence to each other and much canine swearing goes on if the two are outside together. His other favorite thing to do is go out on the deck and patrol his "terrier-tory," which he can do for hours...and hours and hours. His middle name is Malcolm, because, like Mal Reynolds of Firefly, he's always in trouble.

Snowdrift Stormy Young

Snowy is our mostly white budgeriar (he's a stormcloud-colored grey near his feet and around his vent, and a blue-grey between his wings, hence the "Stormy" in his name). We bought/rescued him from a neglectful breeder at a bird show; the birds were kept in such crowded conditioned that he was bullied and had no tail feathers when we brought him home, and his right foot in particular is misshapen due to overcrowding. Nevertheless, he's a happy little bird of strong opinions—read "he's a biter" (and boy, does he have a sharp beak which he keeps honed on his cuttlebone)—and loud songs. He's also quite a talker and says things like "Bad boy!" "Good bird!" "Bad dog!" "Can I ask you something?" "I love you," "Hi!" and other random chatterings. Want to make Snowy happy? Turn on the television. Want to make Snowy supremely happy? Turn on "The Tech Guy" with Leo Laporte; he's positively besotted with Leo's voice. He has a multicolor toy that he makes love to, and over the past few months has finally allowed me to scratch him (but only on the right side) under the chin.

Website contents courtesy the combined efforts of Threshold Press and Collie Press. Initial text composed mainly in WordPerfect 5.1+ (all hail WP5.1!); subsequent material produced in HTML Assistant Pro 3/2000, with help from Paul McFedries' Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating an HTML Web Page, Elizabeth Castro's HTML 4 for the World Wide Web (fifth edition), Que's Using HTML (sixth edition), SamsNet's HTML 4 Unleashed, Lynda Weinman's Preparing Web Graphics, Osborne's The Complete Reference to Web Design,, Joe Burns' HTML Goodies and JavaScript Goodies, and HTML Writer and Windows95 WordPad. Graphics manipulation over the years courtesy LView Pro, Paint Shop Pro 5, X3, X9 and 2018, Adobe PhotoDeluxe, PhotoImpact 6 and 7, and Adobe Photoshop Elements.

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© 2023 by Linda M. Young