billbahai's profile

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Relationship

Single

Hometown

Pendleton, OR

Places I've been

San Francisco, New York City, Saudi Arabia, Baltimore, Boston, Portland, OR, Richland, WA, Boise, ID, Honduras, Nicaragua

Education

• Columbia College, Psychology & History - 1971 to 1976
• University of Phoenix Online, MBA - Human Resources - 1989 to 2005
• Society for Human Resource Management, Senior Professional - Human Resources - 2006 to 2006
• American Compensation Association, Certified Compensation Professional - 1990 to 1990

More about me

I am a 55 year old Baha’i divorced custodial father of two smart and compassionate young men, both of whom are about to leave home for college.  My values are Baha’i which naturally includes deep respect for other faiths, and especially admire LDS family values. 

 

After my divorce 9 years ago, I left my corporate job and started a small business so that I could become a resident father to my sons.  The business makes me a virtual employee for global organizations, which occasionally makes my work hours long and strange.  My professional and personal life are starting a large redefinition as my youngest plans to leave in 2010.

 

My Ivy undergraduate degree is liberal arts and my MBA is recent; my reading passion is still Robert Parker novels, British poetry and movie reviews by Pauline Kael (keep finding these in strange places).  Baha'i texts are slow going for me mainly because they are sacred and demand profound attention; much of the best of me is a result of what I have been able to grasp from these Writings.  Weightlifting and running help me rage against the dying of the light.  Bad movies make me laugh and are my guilty pleasure; hopefully the worst trait I have instilled in my boys is raucous laughter at bad horror movies (recently switched to DVDs out of guilt from disturbing moviegoers who enjoy their horror seriously).

 

The family genealogist has recently identified the largest number, perhaps the majority of my ancestors as Scot and more precisely, from the population that made up Clan MacFie.  Not sure why piques my interest but my sons and I have made a loose pact to visit the Inner Hebrides in 2010 wearing kilts, and I recently had a great time attending Caledonian Games in Oregon - very friendly, artistic, well-read, athletic people who made me feel at home very quickly.  Surprising to me to finding another "home" at my age.

 

Activities

Baha'i activities; Working for Social Change/Better World; Weightlifting; recently, Running distance; Browsing bookstores for new ideas about life, spirituality, financial security, weightlifting, and running. Reading ideas on EONS and elsewhere about dating and loving relationships. Reading for pleasure; Part time news reader on tribal radio station; British Romantic Poetry; Running my virtual business, providing dumb labor for my sister, the real gardener.

Favorite Charities

Save Darfur; Red Cross Blood Bank.

Favorite Music

Almost anything by Keith Jarrett, Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts, almost anytime. When I'm working, Beethoven, Pictures at an Exhibition, Bolero. Weightlifting: George Thorogood (sp?), Strokes; happy or mad (not melancholy) Bruce Springsteen, Strokes, Squirrel Nut Zippers. Happy stuff: Vivaldi, Beach Boys. Long drive thinking: Koln Concert, Bach, Neil Young. Romance: almost anything from Elvira Madigan, L'Amoroso, Andrea Bocelli; Running: Supremes, Tusk, LaGrange

Favorite TV Shows

TV? Saw "Burn Notice last summer and liked it a little, thought Dexter was funny and weird. Cancelled cable last year, don't watch much and like it this way.

Favorite Movies

Bad ones entertain me best - but "Last of the Mohicans (Michael Mann version), " "Lorenzo's Oil, " "Carnival, " "Blazing Saddles, " "The Matrix" series and "Lord of The Ring" series are good movies I can watch again. Bad movies? You probably won't recognize the titles (see "Black Mask 2?)- better, probably, that this is a solitary pleasure.

Favorite Books

Catskill Eagle, by Robert Parker. Oxford Anthology of British Poetry, Vol 2. Raintree County by Ross Lockridge, Jr. The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys, by Baha'u'llah; Regeneration Through Violence, Richard Slotkin; Ten Stupid Things Men do to Mess Up Their Lives - Dr. Laura Schlessinger

Favorite Quotes

"I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." - Lou Gehrig "Except as a fellow handled an ax They had no way of knowing a fool." - Robert Frost "Be kind, be kind, be kind." - My Mom

Favorite People

Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Elie Weisel; Kurt Vonnegut; Earl Boykins; my family.

Favorite Places

San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Calistoga, CA, Portland, OR, Olympia, WA and the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area in Oregon. Love wandering early am urban street, watching the city wake; one of the best vantage points is a diner/donut shop window. English is OK, but speak enough Spanish and Tagalog to ask/help people with what they're working on, i.e., loading trucks, stacking vegetables and find out more about them. Cities are great! Also think I'd like sleeping in my car or tent in the mountains taking my overly-communicative dog; already know the fishing the wilderness areas is a good time.

Favorite Animals

My 4 year old Golden Retriever/Golden Lab bitch.

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