So the hell is this Vernard guy anyway?

[vernard]

I usually consider myself an open book. What you see is pretty much what you get for the most part. That being said, a lot of folks that know me in real life haven't had a chance to spend any time with me due to my obscenely busy schedule. So here is an opportunity to ask me a question about me that you would like an answer. It can be be frivolous or serious based on whatever frenchs your fries. I'll do my best to answer it fully. This way you get to know a bit more about me.

And no, I'm not asking you to do the same thing in your journal. If you want to then that's fine. But intentionally creating a meme seems more egotistical then I can handle. AndI think that creating your own religion is a neat idea.

Comments

[unwiredben.livejournal.com]

So, is there any part of your body that women rub for good luck? :)

[zorathenne.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm just waiting to hear the answer to this one.. *grin*

[vernard.livejournal.com]

My ego :-)

[teague.livejournal.com]

Just where is that located? Have I brushed up against it by accident?

[vernard.livejournal.com]

My ego is so large that it usually precedes me entering a room by at least a good 15 seconds. You might not have brushed into it too many times though as it tends to exist on an "astral plane" parallel but invisible to our own :-)

more egotistical then I can handle

[dankamongmen.livejournal.com]

It is rumored that you grepped the git news spool for your name (all capital V's? mmm, a fine NLP project). Ever find anything interesting / unexpected?

Re: more egotistical then I can handle

[vernard.livejournal.com]

Nope. But it was useful for finding out when people mentioned me and wanted to chat with me. I didn't read those groups but it was nice having a butler to let me know when my presence was requested.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

"Why?"

[vernard.livejournal.com]

"Because."

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Which is, of COURSE, the correct reply. :)

[dragonbride.livejournal.com]

How many siblings, if any, do you have and where were you born?

[vernard.livejournal.com]

I have 3 other siblings.

Vardis Tyrone. Ex-Army Airborne Ranger. 8 years older than me.
Vickye Lynn. Ex-cop and ex-DFACS worker. 7 years older than me.
Vincent Frank. Blind paralympic Athlete. 4 years older than me and shares my birthday of Nov. 22nd

I was born in Franklin County Hospital in Georgia and have lived here all my life. A typical Georgia country boy.

[dragonbride.livejournal.com]

What leisure activites do you enjoy (hobbies, passions, pastimes, etc)?

[vernard.livejournal.com]

Lessee.

Watching TV on my ReplayTV (its like Tivo). Current fav shows are Battlestar Galactica, Stargate Atlantis, The West Wing, Static Shock, Justice League Unlimited, Drawn Together, and just about anything on the History Channel or The Weather Channel.

Roleplaying games. I'm the GM for one of the longest running Dungeons and Dragons campaigns in Atlanta (although I cannot honestly verify if that is true). I also do online gaming such as Everquest. I've tried the others for comparison but I decided that EQ version 1 is good enough for me.

Theater. I love to go see a good play. Movies are nice but there is something about seeing live-action people performing roles that really thrills me ina way that no other medium can.

Reading. I used to be a voracious reader. Now I just don't seem to make the time. But I like good books. I do'nt care what genre it is as long as its good. Trite and hackneyed stuff annoys me. My favorite author right now is R.A. Salvatore. My favorite of all time is Isaac Asimov.

Computers. I like fiddlign around with computers to get them to do stuff that I consider useful. Before TIVO was hot, building your own unit was cool. Before LAN gaming was hot, building your own custom small machine for carrying was cool. I like to design and work on the next thing. Even if its not the next BIG thing. I do it for sake of the hack and potential bragging rights.

Philosophy. I love to sit down and chew the fat about the world and how people fit in it (or don't as the case may be). I think that religion is a very interesting and useful thing but I think that approaching it with any sort of logic means that you don't enough out of it. So I like to blend logic and faith in such a way that they don't contradict each other as much or rather the point where you switch from one to the other is very clear and not all over the place like it is in most religions.

Dancing. Believe it or not, I do like to dance. I just haven't been in the mood to do it in a very long time. I'm sure its due to some of my issues that I'm dealing with regarding creating a new life after my divorce. I just haven't gotten to this part yet. All in time as I like to say.

Music. I used to play the Baritone in high school. Got moderatley good as well. Did marching band and such. Got the bug and started composing using computer software. I love to write music and to write lyrics. I just can't sing to save my soul. My mother has perfect pitch and I have imperfect pitch *sigh*. Strangely enough, my favorite type of music with lyrics is Country.

Alcoholic Beverages. I love a tasty beverage. And if its got alcohol in it then even better. Several years of an allergy to alcohol gave me time to get better at mixing drinks for others and being the designated driver from hell. It was fun but I like being on the other side of the drink induced haze now.

Women. What I can say, I love women. The way they think, they way they talk, the way they look, etc. I am one of those stupid men that is still trying to understand women. Well, at least as much as its possible to do that. I've been tilting at windmills for years and I see no reason to stop now.

People. I love to meet new people. For me, one of the main joys in life is experiencing new things be they bad or good. And the most intricate thing on the planet is a person. Nothing beats staying up all night with a new person wrapped up in a particular scintialling conversation over hot cups of coffee or tea.

Those are the ones that come to mind right now. I'm sure that I have left out some too.

[vernard.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, forgot a big one.

Writing. I always wanted to be an author. Someone that writes books in his spare time but has another full time job. I almost majored in Journalism in college instead of Computer Science but decided that they can teach me to be a good CompSci Guy but they hvae no way to teach me to be an Author. I think I chose wisely.

I've written tons of stuff. I'd like to say at least 100 dungeons and dragons modules, a few chapters in a textbooks, two journal papers, a half dozen academic conference papers and a handful of humorous livejournal entries. You really should find the one on "Understand Men". It seemed to really go over well with women for some reason....

I've got a half dozen unfinished articles sitting around on my computer. The latest of which is entitled "On Beauty..." and disucsses the nature of attraction with respect to relationship in modern day society. I might post it soon just to get some conversation going.

the other stuff is fiction in an Everquest inspired world. Some of my best work actually. You'd be surprised how good you can write if you are going through a separation/divorce.

[mieper.livejournal.com]

what's your favorite kind of cookie? :)

[vernard.livejournal.com]

My favorite kind is oatmeal raison.

My favorite cookie is the ones that you make for me. YUM!

[mieper.livejournal.com]

what if i make you oatmeal raisin? :)

[vernard.livejournal.com]

Then I'd be one very very very happy boy :-)

*bounce bounce*

[10dimensions.livejournal.com]

Will we ever see you again?

[vernard.livejournal.com]

Yes. Although I can't honestly say if it'll be before Februrary 16th when my paper is due.

[10dimensions.livejournal.com]

As long as there is hope! ;)

[gladstone.livejournal.com]

What up, G?

[vernard.livejournal.com]

Nothing much. Madly working on a 5 page research paper. Which is much harder to write than a longer one unfortunately. If I get this paper accepted than I'm golden. If not, life will really suck.

Also teaching 7 classes at Clayton college. Only 5 of them are real though. The other two are dual sections that meet at the same times as the other classes.

Oh yeah, and trying to keep my lovely girlfriend from forgetting who I am since she doesn't see me that often :)

Thesis?

[rjhatl.livejournal.com]

What's the latest with your dissertation?

Re: Thesis?

[vernard.livejournal.com]

Well, I knew someone would ask this. They always due. Its kinda like people asking Shaq "How's the air up their?".

The dissertation itself is on hold. After numerous discussions with my advisor we decided that I need to get a paper published on my current work. Why? Because they pretty much think I've done enough work over the years to be a dissertation but its been so long since I published (1998 to be exact) that there is question as to whether or not my work is relevant anymore and as to whether I have what it takes to be considered part of the current academic research community. that is a requirement to graduate.

So I'm submitting a paper to a conference in Las Vegas. The deadline for the paper is Feb 16th. Its just a 5 page paper and I've got 3 already. Believe it or not its harder to write a small paper than a large one. Mainly becuase every word counts so much that you have no room for mistakes. And since this is make it or break it on the paper, its even more important. If this paper isn't good enough for my advisor to think that it'll get accepted then I'm done and its no phd for me. If he thinks that its good enough (even if it doesn't get accepted) I can try for another confererence with it and still have a shot to get out.

And there you have it.

[debina.livejournal.com]

Do you remember your dreams? If so, what's the last one you had that stuck with you? :)

[vernard.livejournal.com]

I usually don't remember my dreams. At least not long. If I don't write them down immediately then they fade in a few minutes. THere are a few recurring dreams that happen and those I can remember fairly vividly. Otherwise how would I know that I had had them before?

I do however remember my nightmares quite vividly. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. And lately all I seem to be having is nightmares. *sigh* Such is life. This too shalll pass. Currently, the one that really is bothering me is the one where for some reason I seem to finally reconcile with my ex-wife and we get re-married only to have the exact same thing that happened last time happen again. But this time I end up obtaining a gun and bullets and....lets just say that things get a bit unpleasant from that point.

[irtluhc.livejournal.com]

AndI think that creating your own religion is a neat idea.

What would be the premises of your religion? Seeing all the harm that organized religion has done to this world, does it really seems such a neat idea to create another excuse not to get along? (This is a serious question, not flamebait.)

[vernard.livejournal.com]

People will always either get along or not get along regardless of whether they have a religion or not. Hell, Atheists can't even agree on what they don't believe in :-)

For me, Religion is simply a set of constraints and rules describing how you fit in the universe. In particular it describes the origins of man and why things work at the most basic level. The only single thing that is in common with all religions is that at some point, they have to believe in something that there is absolutely no concrete objective evidence to explain it. The difference between this and science is that science is more than willing to say that "we don't know why" and leave it at that. But for religion, you have to have an answer. Why do bad things happen to good people? Becuase God allows it. Why does God allow it? Because God wants it to happen. Why does God want it to happen? It is impossible to understand the wisdom of God. And it stops there. Science says "we don't understand the nature of God *yet* but it might be possible to do so if the right things can be understood. Anything is possible until you show for certain that it is impossible."

My religion will be one that stresses that encourages a logical train of thought that continues until you reach a point where the information will not give you a logical answer. So you must choose an illogical one (i.e. one based on faith). My religion would stress that if you have something based on faith that you cannot expect anyone else to put any trust in it because by definition it has no objective way to be repeatable. It would stress that decisions base on faith are no better than any other deicision based on faith and therefore should most likely not be used anytime it affects someone other than yourself. And lastly, my religion is something uses logic and the scientific method to "advance" itself. No holy book. No rituals. Only lively discussions from folks that have gotten together and used logic to deduce answer. All things are subject to debate and review. And when evidence presents itself to revoke an existing premise then we accept it.

For instance, my religion says quite simply that it is unknown as to whether or not there is "life after death". There is no repeatable evidence to suggest it but there are many instances that occur that suggest it. I don't rule it out. But I don't accept it as fact. Its a theory at the moment.

Anyone know what this type of "religion" is already called? I'm sure it exists already.

[irtluhc.livejournal.com]

Sounds pretty common-sense and innocuous to me. Then again, the cynical side of me keeps saying that people will still find a way to subvert such a religion and use it for nefarious porpoises. And purposes, too.

[trincula.livejournal.com]

What is the move that scared you the most? (I already know the the theatre production that scared you the most - the one you were in!)

I assume you meant movie

[vernard.livejournal.com]

The movie that scared me the most is kinda tricky.

Hands down the one that still scares me the most is "The Shining". I saw that as a child and the mere mention of the phrase "redrum" would send a shiver down my spine and make me get nervous and start looking around the room and behind me.

As a general point I don't pay people to scare me. I don't like scarier movies and I do'nt like haunted houses. So I don't get to see a lot of them. The one that really did scare me a lot was "Aliens". That movie is in the category of "The Shining". The sequels were action flicks so they don't count.

Re: I assume you meant movie

[trincula.livejournal.com]

Movie, yes. Can spell just can't type!