| On a leave of absence because I have better things to do. Just list me under those Wikipedia editors who have had their fill of the arbitrary and capricious behavior of other editors |
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| Home | Talk | About me | Contributions | Images | Notebook | Subpages | Todo | Toolbox | Sandbox | Userboxes |
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Archive 1, Archive 2 |
Interests
I was perched on the bottom rung of a career as a journalist during the summer of Watergate in 1972 as a copy clerk at a the Monterey Peninsula Herald. I collected the reams of paper produced by the teletype machines, separated them into stories, and gave them to the editors. When Ralph Nader visited a nearby town, the publisher decreed that the paper would not cover his presence because the publisher didn't like Ralph Nader. That kicked me out of journalism and I became a technical writer, web content developer, and business owner. I have friends who are and were journalists and many are fleeing a sinking ship.
I have a narrow interest in WWII history, specifically the 106th Cavalry Regiment, in which my cousin Myron K. Rickett served in, and the U.S. 32nd Division, which a friend of my mother's, John Francis Sullivan, served in during World War II. He wrote that he didn't take off his boots or socks for a month when the 2nd Battalion, 126th Infantry trekked 130 miles for nearly a month across the extremely rugged Kapa Kapa Trail and the Owen Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea. They went on to fight the Japanese in the Philippines, fighting longer than any other unit in WWII.
I am devoted to my wife and five sons. I am a life-long on-again, off-again Scouter with a passion for hands-on learning, youth leadership development and the White Stag Leadership Development Program, which I am co-director of. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the program's founder, Béla H. Bánáthy, and added quite a bit of information about him. I have updated other articles relating to Béla and White Stag, including Wood Badge in the U.S., the 4th World Scout Jamboree, Hungary's Prime Minister and Chief Scout Pál Teleki, and Hungary during World War II. I am amazed that Béla survived the Battle of Stalingrad, during which the Hungarian Second Army in which he served suffered an 84% casualty rate.
I am a square peg in a round hole, and that suits me just fine.
Family history
American colonists
I am also a bit of a family history nut. My ancestor William Phelps first arrived in Windsor, Connecticut in 1630. Little known to many is the individual, Maj. Gen. Noah Phelps, who was actually responsible for the bloodless Capture of Fort Ticonderoga during the American Revolutionary War. All the history books give the credit to Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys.
Other ancestors include colonist William Phelps, businessman Anson Phelps Stokes, land speculator Oliver Phelps, Yale educator William Lyon Phelps, diplomat William Walter Phelps and Latter-day Saint W. W. Phelps. Coincidentally, W.W. Phelps wrote many of the original hymns for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which I am a convert. He is my fifth-cousin five times removed.
Inventor of the bra
The fairer sex owe their uplifted bustlines—at least those women who wear a bra—to my seventh cousin three times removed, Mary Phelps Jacob, credited with the first U.S. patent for a modern bra. She was also a notable expatriate and patron of the arts. With her husband Harry Crosby, they published many avant-garde writers and poets during the 1920s in Paris via the Black Sun Press. Then he shot his lover and himself in a suicide pact. In the 1940s she published again via Portfolio: An Intercontinental Quarterly.
Royal connections
Robert Bruce I King of Scotland is my 21st great grandfather and his arch enemy Edward 'Longshanks' Plantagenet King of England is my 22nd great grandfather. (They are themselves 4th cousins once removed.) I found that once you are related to one European royal family, you are related to them all. My family includes Henry Charles Albert Windsor and William Arthur Philip Windsor, my 17th cousins. You might know them as the sons of Princess Diana and Charles, Prince of Wales. I'm still waiting for my invitation to visit. On the rebellious side of the family, one of my ancestors John Phelps played a key role as Clerk of the Court in the trial and beheading of Charles I of England.
On my maternal side, Bishop of Maryland, Right Reverand Thomas John Claggett is my fourth great grand uncle. Our common ancestors are Sir John Stuart and Eleanor Sinclair.
Temporary occupational life
I help businesses grow online. I am a web writer for PayPal developer's site and an online business developer. My real joy is helping others to mentor others and help them develop their leadership skills. Some say I am a nerd, but that's not really accurate. I am a certified OmniPotentGrandPoobah, aka Chief TechnoTwit. Though when things go wrong on my home network, and the error messages says to see the Network Administrator, I wish I could. Some day I will.
Books I've written
- Follow the White Stag—about the White Stag Leadership Development Program
- Resources for Leadership—describing how to teach eleven all-encompassing leadership competencies using hands-on activities and experiences. (Currently under revision for a sixth edition.)
Favorite Quotes
"A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position." —John Maxwell
"Outstanding people have one thing in common: an absolute sense of mission." —Zig Ziglar
"The happiest people are those who think the most interesting thoughts. Those who decide to use leisure as a means of mental development, who love good music, good books, good pictures, good company, good conversation, are the happiest people in the world. And they are not only happy in themselves, they are the cause of happiness in others.”." —William Lyon Phelps
"Nothing stops the man who desires to achieve. Every obstacle is simply a course to develop his achievement muscle. It's a strengthening of his powers of accomplishment." —Eric Butterworth
Places I've visited
Although I was born in Germany 
, and having briefly ventured into Canada 
and Mexico 
, I am much too provincial in my worldly experience and am very desirous of experiencing other countries first hand. In May 2009, I made a hurried visit to Shanghai, China 
to assist my father who had fallen ill while visiting. Not the best way to see China.
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