Hi Robin Let's see here. Apparently you know about the stint as a board member of the National NARGS, during what can only be described as tumultuous times. If I thought that PBS was like that, I wouldn't apply for the position. Jan Jeddeloh was on the board just before me, and can confirm the chaos. Besides the board, I was also head of the By-laws committee, which was quite an active committee, as much of the controversy involved structural changes to the organization that necessitated changes to the By-laws. On a more local note, I was/am quite active in the local NARGS chapter, being on the board and taking a 2 year term as president. I was also a member of the Willamette Chapter of NARGS (I need to renew). Beyond NARGS, I'm a member of the Alpine Garden Club of British Columbia, and of course the PBS. I'm not sure of the year without going into the files, but the first BX I participated in was number 69 (I saw a tag on a plant just today from that offering. A Cyclamen coum.) As to other qualifications, I was an audio-visual specialist while at the Univ. of WA, as well as a commercial projectionist. Also in my youth I worked in prefab concrete, was a die maker in a swizzle stick factory (we made other things as well), did quality control in an electrical switch factory, did electronics assembly, crewed a yacht for a family for two summers, worked maintenance at a resort in Aspen, CO, and did some roofing and painting. During all the above, I was periodically taking classes at the various universities in the area. Then I decided to return to school full time, and earned a computer programming and systems analysis degree. This lead to employment at the National Marine Fisheries Service (part of NOAA), where I worked for nine years (and consulted for another). While there I was lead programmer on a number of projects, involving millions of dollars and a lot of fish. About a year after leaving NOAA, I enrolled in The Evergreen State College, intending to study restoration ecology, and botany in general. In the second year, I met a young lady. After a couple years we got married, had a child, and because she had an incredible learning opportunity to be part of the creation and launching of a major database system for the state's Dept. of Social and Health Services, I became the stay at home dad. The arrival of a second child four years after the first cemented the roll. We were/are active in community events, especially the Procession of the Species, an area wide celebration of the natural world through art, music and dance, and culminating in a many thousand procession through the streets of Olympia, watched by many more thousands. It empowered a vast number of people with the awareness that they /could/ be creative and /could/ do art. I also tutored math in the local elementary and junior high schools, something I had started doing at the colleges earlier. More recently, I've slowed down some (being 76 will do that to you), and worked around the house more; tending plants, putting off putting a new roof on the house, and helping the kids with houses and cars. Of course, we /have/ been studying Ukrainian for the last nine months, and plan to go on an archeological dig in Greece in July (and look at plants, of course). I hope this give you a better picture of who I am and what I can bring to the PBS. I have great admiration of the organization, and would enjoy being able to contribute to its continued well being. Thanks, Dave Brastow, Tumwater, Washington. P.S. Robin, we've met and chatted many times at various meetings and events. I was the one with the long, long (now grey) beard. _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> PBS Forum https://…