[at-l] Wizard Bio

[tschamp@tiac.net (The Wizard)]

All the other lister bios are making me feel left out, so here goes:

Name: Tom Schamp

Trail Name: The Wizard, sort of carried over from work.

Home: Reading, MA, since 1976

Born: the middle of Iowa, in February, 1950.  Lived near Chicagoland for a 
few years and then in central Kansas from 5th grade on through HS.

Age: 39, same as several other born-again hikers...

Married: Oh, god, my black hole.... formerly married for 20-some years and 
appears my focus on hiking may not have helped things endure during the 
latter years.  Presently (last few years), Sw/GF (Single with GirlFriend)

Children: Two, half-time, one in college, one in HS.  A disappointing 
situation as it turns out.

Occupation: Wizard, as I say on my Form 1040.  "Engineer" to the unamused 
(Aeronautical/Electrical/Software).

Hobbies:  too many and getting worse: tennis (30 yrs), bicycling, 
scuba-diving/Caribbean-wandering, house-building/repairing, woodworking, 
downhill skiing (3 yrs), karaoke (5 yrs), volleyball (just a couple yrs), 
logging (3-4 cords/year), (retired Red Sox fan)

Books read: non-fiction stuff, including The New Yorker.

First time on AT: October, 1968 (Columbus weekend?) college outing club 
day-trip to Mt Jefferson in the Presidentials, first time I was ever in NH, 
too.

Portions of AT covered:  fair amount, mostly in the 70's and 
80's.  Continuous span, in sections, from Bear Mtn to Maine border.  (All 
of the LT, as well, in sections.)  Prolly 2/3 of the miles between Front 
Royal and the Nantahalas, in week-long section hikes.  In last 10 years, AT 
hiking has been minimal, due to what we shall term "socio-political" reasons...

Favorite soft beverage: would have to be coffee, based on gross quantity 
consumed in the practice of wizardry.

Favorite hard beverage: well, now, I may have to pour myself a gin gimlet 
on the rocks (Beefeater, please!) while I ponder this one...

AT Goal: I can't say that a thru is or has been a firm goal at any time in 
the past 30 yrs.  I want to do a 3-4 week walk first and see what my frame 
of mind is after that.

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The Wizard!  A gleam in his eye, a bounce in his step!