Who R U?

Well, I am a relative newcomer to Audiogon, but here it goes anyway. I am 36 years old (for a few more weeks!), and was born in Havana, Cuba. I moved from Cuba to Spain in 1976,and came to the US in 1978. After a few years in (where else?) Miami, I went off to college in Atlanta (B. S. Chemical Engineering), then on to grad school in balmy Wisconsin (M. S. Chemical Engineering). I have worked for Procter&Gamble ever since graduation in 1989, spending 5 years in Cincinnati, followed by 3 years in Rome, Italy and close to 3 years in Brussels, Belgium. I am now back in Cincinnati and am an Associate Director of R&D. Work has allowed me to travel to many countries, with some memorable stints in Russia, Poland, Egypt, Morocco and South Africa. I got into the hobby almost by mistake when I was transferred to Italy. I wanted to buy a decent stereo that would work overseas AND eventually in the US when I returned - and all I could find in Cincinnati to fit the bill was Linn. If I had only known about the "upgrade bug" back then, I would have waited till I got to Rome and gone straight for Unison Research!. Well, at least I had the good sense to eventually buy Sonus Faber speakers. I am married (to another P&G employee) and have 3 Siamese cats i.o. kids (they'll never ask for a car when they turn 16 or want to go to college and, when properly positioned, do a pretty good job on those first order reflections). Besides hi-fi, I love convertibles (had to leave the Alfa Romeo behind, but consoled myself w/ a BMW M Roadster), karaoke singing, single malt scotch (goes well w/ the karaoke!) and gourmet cooking. I am a moderately serious wine collector as well with a modest (500 bottles or so) but carefully selected cellar, and I am an avid reader. BTW, I sold all my Linn gear (except the LP12!) when I moved back to the states, and made my first foray into vacuum tubes (BAT, Aronov). Musical tastes range from opera to jazz to latin music, and I spend a least an hour listening to music every night (preceded by 45 minutes of amp warm-up and, usually, LP cleaning duty!)

Fpeel, you are right. I have over 200 military free fall jumps, and, after enough of them to reduce the adrenaline rush to a level where one can really feel it.....you can try to become Johnathon L. Seagull. A truly awesome experience. And to you, David99, you are my new hero, you lucky SOB [:)] Best of luck. Charlie

Thanks Charles!! This thread is coming real well.Not a single fight yet!! Maybe getting to know one another better will finally help us to all get along better.My girlfriend is getting a kick out of this also.She likes the hardware part of this hobby too and we went to a shop yesterday and looked at some cool tube gear and some B+W Naultilus speakers.We just wish we could afford some!!

Alexc, Man it sounds like you need to retire early and write a book - I bet you have stories to tell! Enjoy! Tony