Just wondering what some of your interests are outside of the forum?

We moved to Austin, TX a year ago this past August from San Diego, CA, and are loving it here!

I'm a systems/network engineer, with a focus on UNIX/Linux systems, LAN administration and security. I also have a web server of my own that I have at a local co-location facility that I use for web hosting and web design.

Outside of work, I play ice hockey (have been playing since I was about 8), keep/breed/chase snakes (have 20 in my office with me), love to deep sea fish, wakeboard, scuba dive, free dive, play ping pong and mountain bike.

I have 3 awesome kids (4 year old boy, 7 year old girl and 16 year old girl), a wonderful wife, 2 dogs (chocolate lab and boston terrier) and I drive a Nissan Murano.

Looking forward to my j-pouch reversal scheduled for 3/11/08 in a BIG way so I can begin living again without pain, meds and catch up on some VERY LONG overdue sleep!

//Todd

I am a Police Detective in PA. I have been a Police Officer since 1998. Prior to that I was a Correctional Officer.

Outside of work I am a sports junkie..MMA, Football (The Philadelphia Eagles are my life...lol) I also enjoy beer pong, ESPN and anything adventurous (skydiving, etc)

My wife and I have a two year old daughter and a 1 1/2 year old Boston Terrier

Step 1 surgery is scheduled for January 23rd, 2008

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Arty,

My interest is obvious. I love to ride my ATV with my husband and stepson. We enjoy traveling to Maine because their trails are awesome. We love it so much that we recently purchased some land in Maine right off of the ATV trail. We hope to build a camp on it soon.

Hey, So I am a student at MSU in montana. I am in my third year but I am just now a sophmore. Being sick sure slows things down. I am getting my bachelors degree in human services and then maybe in the future getting a degree in interior design. But to do that I would have to move out of my home town.
I am 21 and going to be marrying my highschool sweet heart. We have gone to school together since 1st grade but started dating our senior year. We have been together for 3 years now and it will be about 3 to 4 more years before we get married. But we still go to all the wedding fairs there are in town to just get ideas. Its so much fun.....But anyway I lave camping and fourwheeling and bowling and just having fun. Oh and I work at curves for women. The people there are amazing and most of them know about all this jpouch stuff and they are always asking how i am feeling and when I need to go to the doctor or anything they seem to push me out the door to go... Well there you a short version of my life right now.
Angela

My true love is snowboarding. It's great because tahoe is just a couple hours away. It stinks that i can't go right now because of the surgeries though. Maybe i can catch the end of the season.

I love doing or attemptng crafty stuff, spending time with family, hubby, 2yr old cattle blue cattle dog C'Mere, son 10 and daughter 8 and watching her play Rugby League (tackle football) representing our town and school.

Volunteer for our local emergency Service, getting the knowledge to attend Road accidents soon after revesal

This message has been edited. Last edited by: KamJ,

We just moved to San Antonio from California in July. My wife is from a place called Grass Valley, its up near Tahoe, and I am from Sacramento. we have 4 kids (13 yr old boy, 9 yr old boy, 6 yr old girl, & 4 yr old boy) and have been married for 15 years.
I love playing hockey, watching hockey, and wishing I could play hockey better. Kind of tough living in a state where Football and religion are the same thing. Everything else is considered a distraction at best.
I work for a pharmaceutical company in their vaccine and infectious diseases division (so the acronym is VID. good thing I just dont work in the vaccine division-the acronym for that would have been un-fun).
I was dx with UC in 1994 and I had my colon stolen in 2003, and dx with primary sclerosing cholangitis in 2007.

Good question to ask Todd! You are so incredible, even with all you've been through and still dealing with you, you have such a lust for life. We met in college 13 years ago. We have an awesome dog that is too smart for the suburbs, a Kelpie named Katie. she is a retired ranch dog, she has a small problem, she is obsessive compulsive and it got her fired. If it happens, we would like to have kid(s) now that Mark is feeling better. Mark is just now getting back into snowboarding which he loved and he is going to be a volunteer for snowboarding trips with a wheelchair sports team in town.

We are big fans of NetFlix, you never have to see a bad movie again. Tv shows we both watch Project Runway, Entourage, 30 Rock, The Office and Weeds. I don't think Nancy Grace should be on TV. Most played CD in the house lately has been Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins. I love XM radio. We are close to our families. We have friends but don't really have many friends in the area any longer. We try to eat mostly organic, though we don't cook enough. We are really good at recycling, here you can put everything into the recycle bin and they separate. Our house is usually messy but not dirty. We killed our back lawn this year on accident. My favorite magazine is Vanity Fair, and Mark loves Woodworker Magazine, we both read Rolling Stone. We are family members of CCFA. I love reading www.perezhilton.com and Other than that we just work WAY TOO MUCH!

And we highly recommend this sound therapy machine for anyone who has trouble sleeping. This thing is the real deal:

http://www.brookstone.com/store/product.asp?pid=448597

Interesting thread. My husband and I met in high school in 1969, were high school sweethearts, and have been married 31 years. So, we are best buds. When we were young, we liked to play tennis, go on long cycling trips, and camp. Arthritis has put a damper on the tennis and cycling, but we still walk a lot and try to car camp occasionally. Driving is also an outlet for us, scoping out California and the west coast on day trips and longer vacations. Sometimes we hop on a plane and travel a little further. We like movies and fine foods.

When I am not goofing off, I am working out of my home as a paralegal for my husband's firm. I used to be a hospital nurse, mostly in SICU, but stopped that when I had my kids- two boys who are in their 20s and still at home.

Jan

I've been attending drum circles regularly the last year and recently got a djembe (African hand drum) for Christmas. So I've been playing in the drum circles the last few weeks. Its great being able to play 3 hours and not have to worry about going to the bathroom. I enjoy going to concerts (going to a 3 day festival this March in the Everglades with 80 bands!) and going to see Willie Nelson this Wednesday!!!
I also enjoy photography, spending time on "the ranch", camping, state parks, and sunsets. Beer Friday with coworkers. Grilling and enjoying dinner on my porch. Tons of FOOD!!! especially pizza since getting my great end ileo and gaining 23 pounds in less than 3 months.

Scott

Great thread! You always hear the good and bad with the UC stuff that you forget that everyone still has a life.

I met my husband at art school. We are both artist who studied different aspects of the arts. I'm a graphic artist at an advertising and graphic design agency. I also hand-make wedding invitations, birth announcements and every day cards. I'll have a website up and ready by the end of the year. I have this idea to create event cards; like birthday, mother's day, father's day, happy way to poo day (just kidding); I want to start a website and sell them online and my goal is to give all the profits to Crohns and Colitis research. I had lots of time to get things together during my recovery time. Hopefully I'll have it up and running soon. Forget Hallmark, buy cards that could do some good some day! My husband on the other hand studied illustration and then went to grad school to become an art teacher. He's doing a thesis on making a "green" art room. It's pretty interesting. If anyone has any green advice, I would love to hear it.

I enjoy numerous things other than art. I love to hike, camp, knit (I knitted a baby blanket for a friend during recovery time) and just hanging out with friends.

It's nice to take a break from the UC life. Thanks again for the post!
Heather

During the winter, and surgery rest periods, I play a lot of video games. Mostly MMORPGs like World of Warcraft. When it warms up, I work on my cars. This summer, assuming I am healthy, one of my buddies and I are planning to build a dirt track car for the local track. That should be a lot of fun.

My wife and I like to try to travel too. Taking two or three vacations a year. Last years we spent 2 weeks in Florida and the Caribbean, which was a nice break before the surgery. This year it looks like we'll be going to North Carolina in the summer and Florida / the Bahamas in early winter. We have a time share, so that makes the travel much more affordable.

Love the topic--so fun to learn about the non-medical side of people. I have been married almost 15 years and have a 7 year old son and 6 year old daughter. I work in an elementary school with special needs children. We love to camp, travel, and scuba dive (all interesting with my bathroom issues--but I accommodate). My at-home getaway is reading. Of course I spend a lot of time attending sports and activities that my children are involved in. My favorite hobby is scrapbooking. It helps me focus on the blessings and good times in my life.

As a career I am the director of a large program and manage a staff of 350+.

When I let my hair down I love to hike. International hikes in the range of 100-200 miles are my favorite. I also like to geocache, backpack, and am an avid reader.

Sue

Great question...

I play and coach a woman's soccer league. My goal is to quit working when I'm in my early 50's and just coach kids.

I would also love to coach my kid one day as well... when my husband and I get lucky enough to have one.

Nicole