Thanks for Being Interested in My Interests
My Interests is kind of an ambiguous category, so I thought I'd break it up a little. Try one of the links below to a more defined section of my life.


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Sports

Tennis is my favorite sport to play. As a freshman and sophomore I played Junior Varsity at Neenah High School (NHS). I played Varsity as a junior and senior. Our team went to State my final year where our #1 Doubles team (Spencer Mai & Wes Butler) became state champions. I was presented with the Spirit Award for my work on the team, an award that I cherish since it is decided by players' votes. I also received the Simon Gullickson Spirit Award, which is given to only one athlete in the entire school. After I graduated, I went on to be a tennis instructor for the Neenah Park & Recreation Department . I taught kids of all ages how to play tennis and had the time of my life. Though the pay is abominable, I worked there again last summer. Tennis has provided some of the best times of my life. Thanks to all the guys and gals I have had the pleasure of playing, practicing, and teaching with. And thanks to my coaches over the years: Coach Berven, Coach Cepek, and the one and only, JR!
Golf is by far and away the sport my parents play the most, and it has become the sport I play most often. My family and I are members of Ridgeway Golf & Country Club in Neenah. It's basically a really nice golf course and a restaurant/pro shop. Right now, I'm about a 20-handicap, but I'm getting better. Though my short game leaves a little to be desired, I can out-drive my dad with a 3-wood! (And his handicap is nearing single digits.) I have yet to get a whole-in-one, though I have put it within an inch (#17 at Ridgeway).
Soccer was a huge part of my life as a child. From the age of six until I was a senior in high school, I played soccer. Soccer is big in my hometown, and I was pretty good. I played left fullback most of the time (I'm left-footed). I played one year of JV on the high school team as well as playing every summer outdoors and every winter indoors for Neenah Nemesis. We weren't the best team, but we certainly weren't the worst. As much as I like playing soccer, I liked coaching it so much more. I first coached as an assistant on my sister Brooke's indoor team. I went on to be head coach for a U-12 boy's team as well as assisting a U-16 girls team. I had a lot of fun and would definitely do it again if I had the opportunity.
I have always loved to play volleyball. I've just never had the chance to play it competitivly. There was no men's volleyball team at my high school, though there is one now. I played in intramural leagues in high school and I played intramural last year at UW-L. I haven't had the opportunity to play in a while, but, never the less, I never pass up a pick-up game.
I live on the lake, and so I do a lot of water activities. Swimming, canoeing, and boating are all fun. I don't fish, just never got into it. But I did get into waverunning. My family has a 3-person waverunner that is extremely powerful and mobile. I have a lot of fun driving and riding on it as well as waterskiing and tubing behind it. It is a never-ending source of fun for my friends and I in the summer.
At times when I'm feeling a little hefty, I have been known to go jogging. La Crosse offers many beautiful trails up the bluffs that provide both a challenge and a feeling of solitude.

These are the sports I do on a regular basis. I enjoy all kinds of other sports like bowling, football, ultimate frisbee, and the occasional game of kickball.

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Organization Affiliations

One of my favorite organizations is the Green Bay Packers. Watching games is often a family event. I live only about an hour from Green Bay, and usually get to go to one or two games a year. It is truly awe-inspiring inside the stadium. I bleed green and gold. And when the new stadium is built my family will likely have season tickets!

Recently I have been attending weekly meditation sessions held by a group of college students studying a form of Tibetan Buddhism. While slightly off the beaten path as far as forms of religion in Wisconsin, I find it quite rewarding. I have been told it is similar to yoga, without the sweating. To learn more you can go to www.diamondway.org.


Honors Program here at UW-La Crosse. Besides taking special classes, it also offers service activities and gatherings to meet people. I have become more involved in this, my second, year.
Of all the high school organizations I was involved in, Key Club was the most special. Key Club is service organization for high school students. It is a division of Kiwanis International. I was a member my last three years of high school, a chairperson my last two years, and vice-president my senior year. I did a lot of good deeds, raised a lot of money, and had a lot of fun doing it.
Besides Key Club, I was also in two other high school service organizations: National Honor Society and Planeteers. These provided me with many activities for the school year. Outside of service clubs I was also a member of Math Club, Mock Trial, and my Class Boards.

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Hobbies


Before Napster was dismantled and other file-sharing programs blocked by the University's firewall, I was able to download enormous quantities of music at an incredibly fast rate. While it has become much harder to download songs, I have accumulated a collection of almost 7,000 songs by hundreds of artists. With so much music, I have developed a great love for music. I use the program Sonique to play my music files.
I am not artistic; I think anyone would agree. Put I do enjoy photography and at time have produced some rather interesting works. I have displayed some photos in my Yahoo Photo Gallery. I encourage you to take a look for yourself. I took them with my digital camera, a Fuji MX1200. I love my digital camera and all the tricks I can do with it. I always loved taking pictures, but I hated the idea of wasting film, so I never took many. But with a digital camera, you can't waste film. I simply take the pictures and then put them on the computer. From there I can do anything I want to them using Adobe PhotoShop/PhotoDeluxe. I have hundreds of photos of friends and family, all seperated into neat little folders. It's like having a hundred photo albums. The photos are extremely clear and extremely large (all of the photos you see have been greatly reduced for faster loading). Digital cameras can be purchased for as little as $300; I encourage everyone to get themself one. In fact, I'll sell you mine! I'm hoping for a Fuji Finepix 4800 at Christmas.
In high school, three of my friends and I started a cd-creation business. We had accumulated over 2,000 mp3's (computer music files), and found we could convert these to regular audio files which could be played by any cd-player. So we started our company, which we called 3MP Productions, and sold cd mixes for $5. It was a great business, even if it slightly infringed on copyright laws. Though we're not running the business anymore, I still make cds for anyone who asks.
Not only is the internet good for downloading songs, but also it is great way to communicate with friends and family. I use aol instant messenger (aim) to chat with friends online (my aol name is "mdbrusty"). While many people are familiar with aim, not everyone has figured out the wonder that is free long-distance calling using a computer. I suggest Dialpad. I can call anywhere in the US for free. I talk into the microphone and listen with headphones while the other person is actually on the phone. It can be a little hard to hear at times, but the savings are well worth it.

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