Sandy Herring's Home Page - Peck of Pickled Pisces

You were expecting maybe a recipe? Try the right fish!

Trifles go to make perfection,
And perfection is no trifle.

Michaelangelo

Take our current survey: When is next <insert day of week> (e.g., next Saturday)?

Okay, I admit it, I'm a perfectionist. In fact, when I lived in California, my license plate was PRFXNST. But I try not to let my high standards be an obsession that drives my friends and loved ones - and me - crazy.

I grew up in Philadelphia (love dem Tastycakes!, alas I'm 452.91 miles from the closest store, leaving mail order as the only way to satisfy my Kandykakes jones) and lived in the Washington, D.C. area and Boston & environs (mainly Marblehead) before migrating to Orange County, CA in 1984 to work for Microdata. That's where I met and made friends with Garrett Hildebrand, John Denney, Robert Murray, and others too numerous to mention. I pulled up stakes and moved to Portland, Oregon in July of 1995 to work for ADP Dealer Services after the company for which I had been working changed names, got bought out twice and ended up in the bit bucket. My wife (Liz) and I are happy to be Oregon transplants, but we miss our friends and family more than words can convey. We stay in touch with them via email. I used to send them a monthly "Postcard from Portland" to keep them up-to-date, but haven't managed to find time to do so for many years. I miss writing the PfP's and haven't given up on the notion of resuming them.

I am a systems programmer with expertise in the Pick® Operating System, Linux/Unix (RHCE), PHP, Javascript, Perl, various shells and Windows (want to see my résumé?). I have a varied past, including stints as a musician, delivery driver, postal clerk (not to worry - I have no firearms ) and free-lance photographer (photojournalism and commercial/industrial).

I enjoy surfing the Web (as evidenced by my obligatory list of links ) and now have SRFWWW for plates. I also enjoy playing guitar & fife, photography, geocaching, dogs (our daughter is hoping we got a Golden Retriever soon), hiking (which is how Liz and I met), and have tried my hand(s and feet) at rock climbing - something my wife has been doing for many years.

We used to study Krav Maga in Orange County, but unfortunately, when we moved to Oregon we discovered there were no qualified instructors here. It took eight years for that to change. I'm now delighted to report that Krav Maga has come to Portland! I enrolled two weeks after they opened. Mark Blake is an excellent instructor. With his help and guidance, I look forward to getting back into fighting shape.

Liz is a Speech Language Pathologist who now works in the Molalla River school district. She switched to working with children several years ago after having spent the first dozen or so years of her career treating geriatric patients. She is a constant source of love in my life and I thank my lucky stars that we met. We live in Tigard (on the outskirts of Portland). You can check out the construction photos I took when our house was being built in 1996-7. We may eventually get one or two dogs. I've owned Akitas in the past - Dusty & Saisho, both of whom filled my life with joy - and left a gaping hole when they passed on. Liz prefers Golden Retrievers - and I'm extremely fond of them, too. As Liz says, "They just LOVE you." Plus, they're good with children, which is something else that is vitally important to us since we have a precious princess!!!

So, you may be asking yourself, what has all of this to do with "Peck of Pickled Pisces" - and just what the deuce does that mean? Well, for one thing, my astrological sign is Pisces. The "pickled" goes along with herring, and at herring.org you'll find a bushel of this and a peck of that. Hopefully, a little nosh to please most palates. Of course, not everyone finds what they were looking for here :-)

Thanks for stopping by our home-away-from-home. We hope you enjoyed your visit - in spite of the fact that we didn't have a fresh pot of coffee ready. Come back and see us again and we'll try to have some new treats for you. And before you leave, be sure to sign our Guest Book!

Cheers,
Sandy & Liz