I live in Madison, Alabama USA
Click here to see a regional map (North Alabama)
Click here to see a street-level map (City of Madison)
This page has been accessed 
times
-- Obligatory "Under 
Construction" disclaimer --
This page is still very much under developement. I plan to add some original
stuff relating to my interests:
- kayaking and hiking. I've been flatwater kayaking/canoeing since about 1995. I love kayaking at night! When I first started kayaking, I learned that
our local creeks and small rivers are teaming with beaver, and they don't usually come out until twilight. At first I liked to kayak all during the year, but after a few years I cut back on wintertime kayaking in favor of hiking. I like to hike at night, too, but I
found that you need to be careful that you don't blunder into the personal space of any skunks you might encounter.
- Steam Trains (don't look here for diesel trains). I hope to have photos and videos I've made and sounds I've recorded.
I've also done some RR logos in CorelDraw. Click here for samples in CorelDraw and GIF format.
I also have numerous photos and videos of miniature (7-1/2" Gauge) live steam railroading.
- Cartography (maps) and GPS. I enjoy using GPS with my kayaking and hiking activities, as well as with an amateur radio mode called APRS (Automatic Position Reporting Service). I now have several
GPS receivers. I have written some simple software to manipulate data I've downloaded from my GPSes.
- Home Automation. I have reverse engineered a number of X-10 devices (schematics and PC board drawings) and may add those to my website.
- Astronomy. I have had a Celestron 8 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope (SCT) since the mid 80's. I also like writing and using astronomy software. In the late 70's
I wrote a loooong program on a Texas Instruments TI-59 magnetic card programmable calculator to calculate the positions of all the planets. Fortunately much better software is
available for many platforms, including my PDA. In the late 90's I helped beta test the Windows version of the program HyperSky by Brian Cuthbertson which uses the Hubble Space Telescope Guide Star Catalog.
- Amateur Radio. My callsign is N4MSJ, and I've been a ham since 1985. I'm mostly interested in ATV (Amateur Television) and digital modes (APRS and packet) on the VHF/UHF bands.
- Satellite TV. I have had a B.U.D. (Big Ugly Dish) since about 1984, and a little dish since about 2001.
- Computers. I've used computers since the early 60's in college and finally got my first personal computers in the early 80's (a couple of heavily modified Sinclair
ZX-81s, a Homebrew Z-80 CP/M with two double-sided, double density 8" floppy drives, and various upgraded Amiga computers. I finally succumbed to convention and bought my
first MS-DOS/Windows box in 1993. Boring but so much more practical.
- Reading. I like to read a lot. I've occasionally bought books I've already read, so I started keeping a paper record of
books I've read from sometime in the 1960's. In the mid 80's I got all the data entered into a dBase database on my CP/M computer. I've kept it up-to-date, but now it is
on my Windows machines and my PalmOS PDA. I still use dBase IV on my Windows machines (in a MS-DOS window)!
- Burma-Shave. I remember the roadside verses from my childhood and teens and have always enjoyed them. I recently found
a little book about the Burma-Shave advertising classic which included all 600 known verses. I plan to have the ones relating to
railroad safety. Click here for a sample.
- and anything else that comes to mind...
The following photos are included to keep the page from looking so plain
until I can get around to doing some of the other things I want to do.
This is me, around 1994-1995
This is me kayaking on Short Creek, probably around 2001-2002
This is me kicking back into NAP mode on the lower Flint River, probably 2002
This is me examining a Geocache near one of the Landtrust trails on Monte Sano, late 2001
This is N&W Class J Locomotive No. 611 in Chattanooga, TN
Send me e-mail at BarryL@HiWAAY.NOSPAM.net, but remove the NOSPAM first
This was last updated (very slightly) in 2004