: About Me

My life, in reverse order...

My wife and I live in Amarillo, Texas. We have one son who is 31 and living in Washington DC. He is a computer geek who works for a defense contractor. We are very proud of him.

I am a psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry at a regional medical school. Presently my duties include treating patients at nursing homes(depression, preparing for and accepting death, putting one's house in order so to speak), consulting in the Ob Gyn department (post partum depression, fertility issues, marriage and family issues), and teaching third and fourth year medical students (personality disorders). I also teach in our Alzheimer's Academy.
I have a clinical practice where I evaluate patients for psychological fitness for surgeries such as gastric by pass and organ transplants.

There are four of us in the department (2 masters and two PhD's). The other three are as busy as me with adult, child and adolescent work; they all teach and test in the same areas as me as well as in other areas. We have four support staff and an administrator. We are a very congenial work group.

I plan to retire next January and work part time, pursue my interests, including writing and generally enjoy life

Before coming to the medical school I was a correctional psychologist at the Texas prison system. I did this for about 10 years. I had the "pleasure" of working with some of the most violent people anywhere. I was the chief psychologist at the Program for Aggressive Mentally Ill Offenders, a 450 bed psychiatric facility.

I tried my hand at private practice for a few years. I imagined my self as a forensic psychologist. It took one or two high profile cases to convince me otherwise. I was hired to evaluate a defendant and testify in a case that got national attention -the case inspired two NYT best selling books, and an ABC television movie. This was easily the most stressful six months of my adult life. I did a couple of other murder cases, some assault cases and child custody cases. Had I not gotten out of this line of work I know that I would be dead of something stress related by now.

In my somewhat checkered career I have also worked in psychiatric hospitals and a rehabilitation center.

One of my most interesting jobs, though I was only involved for about one year, was neurological testing for the Air Force Health Study (Agent Orange Study). It is a forty year longitudinal study that is ongoing to this day. We tested a cohort of 2400 veterans. Half had been exposed to agent orange in Vietnam and half had not. Of course we did not know which group an individual represented.

School took a sizable chunk of my adult life. I earned a BS degree at Mississippi State,a master's degree at Auburn University and a PhD at University of Mississippi.

I am proud to have served my country in the US Army. I did a tour in Vietnam. Hue - Phu Bai and Saigon for those of you who are familiar with that country's geography. I was in the 101st Airborne Division. I was a specialist (E-5) in the finance corps.

An interesting duty was flying around the country with a sack full of money and pay vouchers and giving partial payments to soldiers who were TDY. General Abrams once sent his helicopter for me to make sure that wounded soldiers were paid before being shipped to hospitals in Japan,(OK so he did not request me by name. He told an aid to get somebody down here to take care of these guys and I was assigned by my C.O.). It was a fun ride, about an hour each way. I will never forget the pilot's excellent advice - "You can play the general's stereo but don't touch the general's liquor."

I was born in Mississippi but grew up in Wisconsin. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of Wisconsin. We lived on (read near) the shores of Lake Michigan. Back then lake front property was not as cherished as it is now. Anyway it was an easy walk to the lake where my friends and I spent many summer days swimming, climbing the lake bank and generally being kids. We also played a lot of baseball.

I returned to Mississippi for my last two years of high school. I played a little football, I would have played more but the coaches needed my advice on the sidelines.

My parents were hard working people. I was the youngest of four. I had a brother who died in infancy before I was born so I only knew two of my siblings, a brother, now deceased and a sister with whom I am very close.

My father was a very religious and highly principled man. My mother was more fun loving. They were married for 48 years. My dad died in 1982 and my mother a few years later.

My passion is ...

People

I know too much about ...

Nothing, So much to learn, so little time

My parents always told me ...

Treat everyone with respect

My childhood ambition ...

Professional baseball player

My favorite memory ...

Puppy dogs and kitty cats, fire place logs and baseball bats, the fun I had and the fun I missed, the boys I fought and the girls I kissed.(from a poem that I am working on)

Why I write ...

To have written (My appologies to Hemmigway who said it first)

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Political biographies, Steve Colbert, Praire Home Companion

My first job ...

Grocery store bag boy

My best moment ...

Is yet to come

My inspiration ...

My parents and their generation

Creative Writing > Poetry Poetry: Humorous

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(Descartes is pronounced like day cart) Descartes Chases His Tail Descartes was in discussion With the illuminati in the round. I need your help, he said to them, With a problem I have found. A question has vexed my brain With relentless persistence. How can I, or anyone, Prove his own existence? A rock is not an illusion, It exists, a priori. But proving my own existence Is quite another story. A rock is a rock Because it is, I suspect; But a rock is not accountable To the human intellect. Another thought arose and, In time, it gained favor. Could the proof of one's existence Be rooted in...

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