Walter Hargis:  

Life US Navy, 70-76, got out early to go to NOVA for a quarter, traveled around for a while, went to Montgomery College for 3 years full time and part time, tutored math, worked in the electronics lab, and picked up a couple of AA's. That's where I became reaquainted with Patrick Shadoan. He came into the math lab for some help with his Calculus. We've been friends ever since. He has since passed away from lung cancer and I miss him dearly. Worked as an electronics technician at Weinschel Engineering in Gaithersburg from 78-80. Went to Colorado State University from 80-83, did some skiing and got a BSEE. Worked for Watkins Johnson Company in G'burg from 83-86; worked in Yugoslavia just after Tito died, testing Electronic Warfare systems that I helped design at WJ. Interesting time! Went back to Weinschel Engineering from 86-91. Got a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, 1990. Went to work for TTC in Germantown, 1992; it then became ACTERNA and now JDSU and I'm still there as a Senior Electrical Engineer. Bought a home with my future wife, Patty, in Nov. 93. Bicycled across Spain for a month from Dec 93 to Jan 94. My first daughter, Erin, was born in Dec 94. In July of 96, owning a townhouse, our new home, three cars, a kid, a dog, a pile of bicycles, a hot tub and a lawn mower, Patty and I got married! Kara was born in Feb 98. We're basically settled now. The girls go to Christ Episcopal School in Rockville. The Head Mistress, Jane Pontious, went to RMHS, in 65, I think. Small world. Patty has a Masters in accounting and works as a senior corporate accountant filing SEC reports for the WRIT in Rockville. Buy some shares! After family and work I spend my time reading on a wide range of subjects, mountain biking with my buddies in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Utah, and soon to be Washington State; I play basketball once a week, lift several times a week, and ski in Utah and sometimes Colorado every year, and drink lots of Single Malt Scotch. Did I miss anything? Erin won a state writing contest in 5th grade for the DAR. This kid writes better than most high school grads. She knocks out two to three books a week besides the load she gets from CES. I hope she doesn't fizzle like I did. Kara plays basketball, LaCrosse, walks the dog every morning and enjoys beating me up. She's a lot of fun. 2008 Was the best year of skiing I've ever had. Did 8 days at Snowbird, UT; steep(40 deg pitch off Silver Fox and the Cirque), deep (170" base), and cold enough(4 deg at the top) to keep the fair weather skiiers off the mountain. And another 4 days at Steamboat, CO. Thigh high champaign powder, cold and sunny. Dining on good wine, fresh elk, and The Glenlivet, 15yr, French Oak. Try it! I'd have done more but work and family... Update 9/09/011...My mother-in-law plied me with a bottle of Basil Hayden. I didn't know bourbon could taste that good. Now I've got another vice to support. Poured a new slab and wired up a new hot tub this summer just in time for fall mountainbiking. Still playing basketball a couple of times a week, lifting two or three times and mountainbiking as often as I can. Erin is a junior at St. John's in Frederick and doing very well. She's an excellent writer and avid reader and has had a number of accolades for her work. Kara is at St. Elizabeth's on Montrose. She's doing well and is in English honors and plays basketball. I hope she makes a high school basketball team. Patty is an AVP at WRIT, buying and selling properties and doing SEC filings. I'm not sure what that is but it sure sounds impressive. Still working at JDSU in Germantown designing instruments for the telecom market. Also developing a sidescan sonar system on the side with a business partner. I have been working on this for some time now with plenty left to do. I hope to have a marketable product at some point to see me through my retirement years. Going out to Big Bear Lake in WV this month to MTB for a few days. I sure hope it stops raining... My father died last year, Feb 27, 2011. He had a bad but not uncommon end. Advanced dimentia, the lungs didn't work anymore and the heart finally gave out. He was 89 and I miss him. I changed my life for the better. I started dabling in this Paleo diet. Mainly I stopped eating grains; no more pizza, pasta, bagels, doughnuts, breakfast cereal, etc. I didn't realize all these years I had a gluten intolerance, perpetual heartburn and indigestion as long as I can remember. Grew up drinking water and baking soda and then Rolaids and Tums and Prilosec by the crate for the last 20 years. I never touch it anymore and I lost 40 lbs in the process. I weigh now what I weighed coming out of bootcamp in 1970. Playing basketball twice a week with guys in their twenties, mountainbiking faster and stronger then ever, still lifting and skiing. If you have any of these problems you should give this serious consideration. I've talked a few people into it with nothing but positive results. Grains are poison, turn into sugar in your system and cause inflammation and make you fat. I eat plenty of good meat and fat and I stay thin. It aint the fat that makes you fat, it's the sugar! So much for my health advice. Started running again last year but not the conventional way. I run in Vibram five-fingers in the woods and then occasional barefoot running on paved surface. I stopped running years ago because of my lower back, disc problems, torn muscle, knee and ankle problems. None of these things bother me anymore because of how I run. Instead of heal strikes I land on the front of the foot and rotate backwards. It's greatly strengthened my ankles and calves and no trauma to the structure. Look up proprioception. Skied Utah for 4 days in early March this year, 2012. Snowbird was excellent with a 95 inch base; pretty good considering it was a very mediocre year for snow. Skied another 5 days in Colorado, Copper, Breck, Vail and Keystone twice and then went mountainbiking in Lyons for a day with an old friend from Colorado State. Killer ride; 1350 ft climb in 3.5 miles and and a high speed bunnyhopping downhill followed by a fast technical boulder field. I will be going back for more. Check the pics! Erin is now looking at colleges, all the expensive ones of course. I told her if she can get a 50% merit scholarship I'll pay the other half. Very few college grads can write as well as she does. Even her Honors English teacher says "Erin writes better than I do". I'm very proud of her. Friday nights when others of her age are out partying, she's at home until 2 in the morning cranking out a paper that's not due for another week. Kara is going to the same high school next year, St. John's in Frederick, and hopes to play basketball. She's a hardworking student and gets very good grades. I'm looking forward to the basketball games. Patty's still at WRIT and a manager and I'm still at JDSU and still working on my sonar system. That's about it for now for whomsoever is interested... August 12, 2012 Turned 60 today. Celebrated with a 1 hour lift, a 4 mile run on the beach and toppped it off with a perfect meal at my favorite Bethany Beach seafood restaurant, The Blue Coast. Erin's applying to St. Joseph's University. I hope she gets in but I'll probably have to put off retirement for awhile. Saturday Sept 8, 2012. Beautiful day, had a great ride up to Damascus and back on my local trail. Dumped it on the way back and had to make my annual visit to Secure Medical to get stitched up. I think I was there twice last year. I love this mountainbiking and I'm actually pretty good at it but sometimes I ride too agressively. Over the years I think I've put Secure Medical in a higher tax bracket. Sunday, Sept 9, 2012. Another perfect day up at the Frederick watershed. Killer ride but I had to wear a pad on my left knee. Sept 22, 2012 just got back from moutainbiking around Ohiopyle with my 3 buddies. 1800 ft climb in about 2.5 hours. Helluva workout followed by a screaming rocky decent. Killer weekend. Got hammered in the local pub. I'm 60; not supposed to do that stuff anymore. It...Expand for more