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Me and my hobbies

Biographical

 

  • Residence: Beaufort, SC

  • Grew up: My parents are both from Morehead, KY, and though I never lived there myself, I think a lot has rubbed off on me. I was born in Ohio and moved to Columbia, SC, at age 6. I lived there through college.

  • Education: Bachelor of arts, University of South Carolina/South Carolina Honors College

  • Major: Journalism/News-editorial

  • Cognate: Political science

 

Favorites

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  • Books: The Prince of Tides; Cultural Literacy; Lord of the Flies; As I Lay Dying; Economics in One Lesson; NurtureShock

  • Writers: Pat Conroy, William Faulkner, George Will, Joe Posnanski, David Lauderdale, Ken Burger, Bob Gillespie, P.J. O’Rourke

  • Quote: “Dyin’ ain’t much of a livin‘, boy.” — The Outlaw Josey Wales

  • Food: I actually like veggies ... and chocolate, and bacon, and french fries. 

  • Favorite travel destinations: Greece, Italy, Costa Rica, China, Hawaii, Yemassee

  • Hobbies: Wildlife photography, videography, birding, flying drones, baseball, politics, kayaking, handguns, music, reading, dabbling in multimedia. I once herded ferrets, but our beloved pets have passed to that great graveyard in the ... er ... backyard. After a long life of abuse, my golf clubs have been retired.

  • Movies: Caddyshack, Fletch, Airplane, The Outlaw Josey Wales, South Park The Movie, The Kite Runner, Shawshank Redemption, Sling Blade, classic horror flicks, gangster movies.

  • Television: South Park, The Andy Griffith Show, lots of YouTube now that I've cut the cable.

  • Five albums I couldn't live without:

  • "Powerage," AC/DC

  • "Appetite for Destruction," Guns 'N' Roses

  • "Led Zeppelin I," Led Zeppelin

  • "Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys, Live Recordings: 1956-1969," Bill Monroe

  • "Nobody Said It Was Easy," The Four Horsemen

And about that nickname ...

“Bug” was bestowed upon me by the late Bobby Burns, who coached the Dentsville National Dixie Youth Majors all-star baseball team I played on when I was 12. The nickname stuck all the way through middle and high school — so well that I think some of my classmates didn’t know my real name. 

 

 

Seldom does anyone call me that anymore, except my sister and my old Pony League and American Legion coach, Jim Woodall, who you see above stretching me out before what I’m sure was an ill-fated pitching appearance in 1982. I still answer to the name, though.

Genealogy    

 

I've long had an interest in family history, but in the past year or so, I've devoted quite a bit of energy to fleshing out my family tree. I now have documented more than 1,800 people in my extended family dating to the 1600s. I have documented much of what I have found with the help of and on sites at MacFamilyTree.com, MyHeritage.com and Ancestry.com. You can also read my Tales From the Attic blog on this website.



In the summer and fall of 2012, I took on a more ambitious project, chronicling the history of the family farm where my mother grew up in a full-length DVD. It was rough around the edges, but I was so happy to record stories I've heard for years — and stories I've never head before — and preserve them for my family.

 

I followed up with a family cookbook, which can be downloaded in PDF or ebook format on this website.

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