Cool fresh start

[Norman Watts <Norman_Watts@zzzzzzz>]

Whether all this information is really wanted by anyone (for posterity)
is certainly a question, but it seems we have touched upon a real
desire of several members of this list to at least reacquaint
themselves. I must say, I have a serious inferiority complex going when
I see wonderfully circuitous, multifaceted, walks in life such as for
example, Bob Hackett's,  and your all's extensive stone experience. But
you can't change what you've done, and so here are my 1.5 cents worth:

Norman Watts, Bethesda, Maryland USA (though I think of myself from New
Brunswick, Canada)
BSc, and PhD in Structural Biology, 1989. I'm a biochemist and electron
microscopist 60 hrs a week. My research has spanned bacterial viruses,
crop pathogens, and recently human viruses (HIV and Hepatitis B). I've
worked for both the Canadian and US governments.

http://www.irp.niams.nih.gov/NIAMS2/LabsBranches_branch.jsp?branchId=70

http://www.irp.niams.nih.gov/NIAMS2/LabsBranches_member.jsp?
branchId=70&groupId=-1&memberId=378

I'm a mountaineer 2-3 months of the year, of as many years as I can
possibly manage. Over the past 15 years I've been to most of the Great
Ranges several times, including three trips to the Himalayas (and
co-leader of two Canadian expeditions there). I've been over 6000
meters several times, over 7000 m once. When not mountaineering, I rock
climb and hike (including some 50 and 60 milers), and somewhere in
there I try to carve -about 5-10 hrs a week for the past few months.
I've been carving for 4 yrs; on soapstone, limestone, slate, and now
I'm playing with granite. I love carving because it is so different
 from my day job: it involves emotion, aesthetics, its big, and I can
hit something hard. My sculptural aspirations are to, somewhere down
the road, make a few large-than-myself pieces in stone that I really
and truly like, and that hopefully someone else likes too.

n

Norman Watts, Ph. D.
National Institutes of Health
50 South Drive, Rm. 1509
Bethesda, MD 20892-8025
Phone: (301) 402-3418
Fax: (301) 480-7629