Date single man from United States. I live on a small ranch in the mountains north of L.A. The elevation of my ranch is about 5300 feet, Spring, Summer and Fall are very nice, but the winter is cold, sometimes the temperature drops into the single digits. About a year ago I finished rebuilding my house, attaching the house to the foundation, taking off the old siding put on a new special cement siding. I also put in all new windows and doors, a new mud room, a new closet and a new laundry room, plus lots of good insulation.
I am quite spiritual. I have been reading a variety of spiritual stuff, e.g., The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, by Sogyal Rinpoche; Bagawad Gita; Tao te Ching, by Lao Tsu. The Gita is the hardest to muddle through, but I think that is dependent on the translator.
I am the first person in my family to go to college and this was the result of encouragement from my brother. He started college, but then got married, had children shortly later, and had to start to work to support his family.
After working for an oil company, and for the Dept. of Defense, I went back to get a Ph.D. I interviewed several places and decided the best place for me was back to Berkeley. My university research work was partly in the Geology Dept. and partly in the Chemistry Dept. I was fortunate to get a fellowship in both the Geology Dept. and in the Chemistry Dept. to work under a Nobel laureate, Melvin Calvin. Thus my Ph.D. thesis "Biogeochemistry of Mono Lake …………” crossed the line between Geology and Chemistry, i.e., Geochemistry.
After a Post-Doc at the U.C. (Berkeley) Space Sciences Lab and teaching for a year and a half in the Geology Department filling courses left by faculty on sabbatical leave, I accepted an appointment in the Geology Dept. at UCLA. There I taught and did research for 28 years before retirement.
Just now I am suffering through a rough period, I lost my beloved dog and best friend ( Diego) about a month ago to cancer. I know he is in his next life, and that I will never lose the love that he gave me, but it is hard to think he is gone.
At least this gives you a fair idea of what I have done with a part of my life. My best to you, Ted