Dear SDMB community:
I never did an introduction thread and I am doing one belatedly. I guess I hve been getting my moneys worth as I seem to be addicted. My Join Date was 06-08-2005. I post in all the forums and I especially like the IMHO, MPSIMS & Café. I post in the GQ, GD, ATMB & Pit often.
… If you have run into me you’ll find I am passionate about Middle-Earth, Heinlein, Geek stuff, Computers, Wood Working, The Yankees, environmental issues, being a disenfranchise republican & politics.
I am proud of my time in the Navy, pro-USA, but I hate the Bush administration.
… I love Scotland and Britain. I want to go explore more of the US & Canada. I try to take a week long driving trip each year and discover small museums and attractions.
… I can be Sarcastic and Snarky but I am trying to curb these tendencies. I am poor at grammar and spelling skills. I probably won’t stop posting at my high rate as I have way too many opinions and like to share them too much. I am a bit of a JOT & an eclectic. I have a weight problem as I am 230lbs and only 5’8”.
… My wonderful wife who doesn’t post but lurks is also a computer programmer and loves knitting and pottery among other things. She is also a train Mechanical Engineer. She has put up with me for 13+ years now. I have a beautiful daughter Guenivere who loves animals and is 8. I have a funny son Kevin who is 5 and might grow up to be a comedian but currently loves trains more than anything. We have 2 cats and a hermit crab. The cats are Velcro age 13 and Beauty age 5. The hermit Crab is Kansas and we have had her for less than a month. My wife and I both come from close loving families and my best friends include my sisters and brother.
… I was born in the Bronx but grew up in Tinton Falls. I have lived in Great Lakes (Navy Training center/boot camp), San Diego, Matawan, Howell & now Holmdel. I am a programmer analyst on the IBM AS400/Iseries mid Range computer. I also provide support on servers and PCs, including building PCs from scratch. (This is also one of my hobbies). I still occasionally Ref a D&D game and have played since 1976 with the original box set. I am definately a Geek. I crew on a wooden sail boat that belongs to the environmental group Monmouth County Friends of Clearwater. I have a good wood shop in my basement and I love building toys. I built 30 Brio compatible trains for my son and many long tracks. I built a wind up miniature Carousel with my daughter’s help. A just completed a 10’ long See-saw for the kids. It as 3 coats of Polyurethane on it and came through 8 straight days of rain in good shape. I built a pair of Barbie racks for that hold a dozen each. (Think giant spice rack). Etc. I have also built lots of shelves, small tables, spice racks, flatware organizers, my workbenches and a large sturdy train table that is easy to move. I have done a lot of repair work on the wooden sailboat the “Adam Hyler”. I recycle an reuse as much as possible, The see-saw was made with materials on hand.
… My choice for next President or VP would be Rudy Giuliani, I would settle for McCain/Giuliani.
Teddy Roosevelt was to me the perfect president, a hawk and a diplomat, a trustbuster and an early environmentalist.
IMHO: Ben Franklin was the Greatest American and Patton our greatest field general.
… I respect the opinions of many other Dopers I have met and conversed with here and learned much from many of them. I look forward to meeting some of you in the real world. I am amazed by **Qadgop the Mercotan’s ** knowledge, **Campion ** help me expelled some mental poison, **Hal Briston ** for the best thread in my stay here and a fellow Giant Fan, **anyrose ** for a lot of laughs already, Johnny L.A. for many great café threads. **Bricker ** from whom I learned some excellent knowledge and who challenged me to pull together research from all over the web and by phone calls to prove a hypothetical point. The **Mods and Admins ** showed some early patience and helped me along. I am here to learn and hopefully share some knowledge.
… It is probably too late for the Goat Felching? I already know not to ask what happen once for 20 minutes in 1960, but otherwise I am still learning. … Just thought I would share Too Much Information. 
Nice to have met everyone.
Jim Franchi
What happened in the 1960’s, for 20 minutes
I for one have enjoyed reading your posts. Nice to meet you!
Welcome to the SDMB!
Go ahead and hop in line, grab a squid from the bin on the left, and try to relax once the goat gets a hold of ya - it’ll go quicker. Don’t arouse the predator instinct.
Thank you and thank you for the link. I will read it immediately.
Did so and I printed it out so I will not forget.
Welcome back and all that jazz. Watch out for Skip and his iron jackboots of doom snogs
I have a Wizard’s Jackhat of Doom, thank you very much.
Now that sounds interesting, can you describe its functions?
Thanks again for the excellent compromise.
I’ve been called an Asshat before, is that the same thing?
Ooooops. :o
Am I going to be smited by the Hat now?
Well, no wonder, if his mom is the Engineer… 
Welcome jrfranchi. With you on Ben Franklin and environmental protection, not so much on the Giuliani thing. (Lifelong Dem, but I *do * like McCain, so perhaps there is still room for discussion here.) Perhaps we should start a woodworking thread, if only to give the knitters a bit of competition.
plynck
OK…it may just be because I am sick with the flu and just imagined it, but wasn’t this thread originally titled *2000th post * or something like that? I could’ve sworn I read that about 9:30am and replied to it, but now I can’t find that thread anywhere. Or is it a fever dream?
This just sounds so scary! I can stop wincing everytime I say it.
Jackhat of Doom
Jackhat of Doom
Jackhat of Doom
Okay, now it just sounds dirty.
Is that anything like the Doomhat of Jack? 'cuz that thing is damn scary.
I had posted a no no and the compromise was to repost with the offending mention of posts. I carefully struck them all and re-tagged the post and still left train Mechanical Engineer in instead of trained Mechanical Engineer.
I did mention I am bad at this English language thingy. thanks Plynck.
Catchy lyrics or a darn fine Band Name.
Ah. Much better. I didn’t think I was that sick. 
But Jackson was a much better field commander than Patton was.
No, the goat felching is what people do in their free time. What the goat does to you, against your wishes is what happens in an initiation…
I just don’t know enough about Jackson to properly comment.
What I do know: He was the only President to be a POW until McCain gets elected. I think he was the last President to be a Revolutionary war vet.
…He won a great victory in the battle that shouldn’t have happened and massacred a lot of Native Americans as an act of terror to break their resistance in the Indian War.
Scott Plaid: Strangely enough we are thinking about raising a pair of goats. My wife had many as a kid in 4H.
I think that’s Stonewall, not Andy.
BTW, nice work on the Brio thing. I’d always had that in the back of my mind as something I ought to try. The Brio gauge is so large, it seems like it would be fairly easy, at least until you turn on the lights in the shop.
Okay, sure, we had a little brouhaha in our first encounter on the boards , but your perspective on issues always is appreciated. I enjoy your posts, and I’m glad you like being here if it means you’re planning to stay a while.
Plus you love your wife and kids, and that’s maybe the best quality anyone could have.
Welcome! Bienvenue! Bonvenon!
And thanks for the excellent and charming introduction.
Don’t worry about the goats, squids, etc. Thay are all products of various fevered imaginations around here. You are Perfectly Safe.
And the kid in me is jealous of your Brio accomplishments.