| Personal Info: Aaron Owen Morris | |
| Origin | |
| Born in Chicago, Illinois on July 20, 1985. | |
| Childhood | |
| Raised in Wheeling, Illinois until c. 1990. Moved to Vernon Hills, Illinois. | |
| Education | |
| Preschool – Buffalo Grove Jewish Community Center
(1988-1990) Kindergarten – Diamond Lake Elementary, District 76 (1990-1991) Grades 1-5 – Diamond Lake Elementary, District 76 (1991-1996) Grade 6 – West Oak Middle School, District 76 (1996-1997) Grade 8 – West Oak Middle School, District 76 (1997-1998) High School – Adali E. Stevenson High School, District 125 (1998-2002) College (B.A.) – Union College (2002-2006) B.A. Astronomy, B.S. OT: Human Geography Graduate School (M.A.) – University of Cincinnati (2006-2008) M.A.–A.B.T. Geography Graduate School (M.S.) – Northern Illinois University (2009-2011) M.S. Physics Graduate School (Ph.D.) – University of Oklahoma (2011-Present) Ph.D. Physics |
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| Religion | |
| Atheist (technically Multiversist), though I recognize an ethnic heritage as a Jew (i.e. Secular Jew). | |
| Ethnicity | |
| From West to East: Welsh, English, German, Polish, Russian. In other words, Caucasian. | |
| Politics | |
| Registered voter in Lake County, Illinois: Vernon Precinct 263. | |
| Athletics | |
| Certified P.A.D.I. Open Water Diver (trained in the Yasawas,
Fiji in 2005 and re-certified in Illinois in 2008) with diving experience in Fiji, Mexico, the
Bahamas, St. Maarten, Bonaire, Aruba, St. Lucia, and St. Thomas.
Hopefully I’ll eventually dive in the continental US (I’d like to dive the Great Lakes and the Florida Keys) and the Cayman Islands (I’ve tried but weather prevented the ship from tendering). |
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| Travel | |
| U.S. Passport holder Have had additional immunizations for travel in developing countries. Domestic: [[Arkansas]]1, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, [Texas]2, U.S. Virgin Islands, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin Visited 27 states (54%) Create your own visited map of the USA
International: Antigua, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Denmark, Dominica, England, Fiji, France, Grenada, Holy See, Israel (Israel, Golan Heights, West Bank), Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Morocco, Norway, Saint-Martin, Sint Maarten, Spain, St. Lucia, Sweden
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| Professional Organizations | |
| Association of American Anthropologists (AAA) Member as of 2005. Association of American Geographers (AAG) Member as of 2005. American Astronomical Society (AAS) Junior Member as of 2002. American Chemical Society (ACS) Full member (somehow) as of 20074, Student Affiliate 2002-2006. American Physical Society Member of the Division of Physics of Beams Iota Sigma Pi Honorary member as of 2004. Sigma Xi Associate member as of 2006. Society of Physics Students Member as of 2002/2003. |
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| Hobbies (other than intellectual pursuits) | |
| Cooking Gardening – I grow (hydroponically (via an AeroGarden) and in soil) herbs and and peppers. Puzzles – Both 2D and 3D. Photography – Over 50,000 digital photographs and counting... Art collecting – My collection includes original works of art from all over the world (bought while traveling). Several pieces are on permanent loan to my family’s collection in Illinois (including a watercolor from Cuba). |
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| Favorites | |
| Vegetable – onion (it’s used in just about anything!) Fruit – lemon (though I’ve got a thing for key limes...) Herb – oregano Spice – ginger European country – Sweden Artist – Monet Airport – Orlando (though Nadi, Arlanda, and O’Hare (if one can ignore the stupidity of common tourists) are up there) Musical – Evita Ancient Greek Writer – Herodotus (and yes, I have actually read him whilst in college) Ancient Roman Writer – Livy Ancient Philosopher – Thales Gemstone – Ruby Programming language – TI-BASIC (what the TI-86 uses) Element – Americium (Am) Intoxicant (legal) – Yaqona (Fijian: kava, Piper methysticum) Alcohol – Kahlua Halo Legends Track – “Truth and Reconciliation Suite” Gaming Platform – Xbox360 Red vs. Blue Character – Private Michael J. Caboose, the “Vehicle Destroyer” Cell Phone – Motorola Droid (running Android 2.2 Froyo) Halo Game – Halo 3: ODST |
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| Preferences | |
| Coke (vs. Pepsi) Tea (vs. Coffee) (though I should note that I drink coffee for the caffeine when it is there, I respect tea too much to just drink it commonly) Metric dive tables (vs. Imperial) Two spaces after a sentence Comma before or/and in a list of more than three items Artificial dry creamer (vs. liquid creamers in coffee) TI-86 (vs. TI-83 or TI-89) Sony PRS-505 (vs. Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook) Binary prefixes (vs. SI prefixes) for hard drives |
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| Online Avatars (for boards or forums) | |
 Not a picture of me in any sense or even a picture by me in any sense. (I have been using this one for years when I needed an avatar for some Vampires! boards.)
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| Online Quotes (for boards or forums) | |
| “We are fleeting creatures, we humans!” - S
Baxter Most that are profound would choose to narrate tales of living men with nouns like sorrow, verbs like lose, and action scenes, and love – but then there are now some, and brave they be, that speak of Lunar cities raised and silver spheres and purple seas, leaving us who listen dazed. -- Irena Foygel
I use both at the Escape Artists forums and use the second on Scott Sigler’s forums (where I am inordinately pleased to be user number 1234). |
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| Supported (not monetarily) Online Projects (Alphabetically) | |
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