Some Nonmathematical Interests
I am a fanatical sports fan. In compliance with Lawrence city
ordinances, I am addicted to KU basketball. One of
these days they'll win it all again. There are some great (and not-so-great) discussions of KU hoops at phog.net. We pass the time in Lawrence
until the start of basketball practice by getting frustrated with the
KU football team. Soccer is one of my
favorite sports; I follow the US national teams closely,
and I'm also a fan of the Kansas City Wizards. In addition, I have been a devoted
Kansas City Royals fan since birth, and I also follow the
Chiefs, Bears,
Blackhawks, and Bulls. I spent
some of my best evenings in college cheering on the
Illini hockey team. Finally, as a Midwesterner, I can't stand any major sports teams from New York (except
maybe the Islanders), which is a constant source of TV frustration for me here.
To prevent myself from doing nothing but math and watching sports, I took up running seriously
a few years ago and now participate in road races frequently. I like racing
distances longer than 5K, and the
Finger Lakes Runners Club has
some great races in this area. I ran my first
marathon at the Wineglass
Marathon in October of 2001 in a bit more than three hours. After swearing
from mile 21 on that I'd never run a marathon again, I ran just under three
hours at Wineglass in 2002 and am retired from
marathons, at least for a while.
I'm also an avid reader, and lately I've been interested in books on personal finance and constitutional law (particularly civil liberties) and anything by Nick Hornby.