Photography

Most recently I have been spending a lot of time taking pictures with my Canon Digital SLR camera. As a member of various on-line photography groups, I often take photographs for various competitions, challenges and assignments.

The beginning of my collection of photographs is viewable at http://www.pbase.com/dbell154. Some of the most recent photos are of the cats at UTHCT. The Campus Cat Coalition on that campus is involved in building a feral cat colony, where stray cats are trapped, neutered and released.

Scrabble

Scrabble® is now my most favorite board game. Although being able to play competitive Scrabble is limited in east Texas, I occasionally travel to compete in regional Scrabble tournaments in Texas. In tournament play, competitors use a time clock and are allowed 25 minutes per player in each game. Most tournaments consists of 11-12 games for a two-day event. Divisions are created based on player ratings. I am usually in the bottom of three major divisions.

I also play on-line on ISC (Internet Scrabble Club) where I am a supporting member. I am also a certified Scrabble tournament director.

Disc Golf

While I do not play much now, the last few years I've been very active with disc golf. I assisted in the development of the Lindsey Park disc golf course and have run numerous tournaments over the past decade. I have directed local weekly and special events as well as organize and direct the Paul Giles Memorial in Athens for three years, each year with more than full fields.

Bulletin Board System Operator

In the late 80's and 90's, I operated two local computer bulletin board system, Baby Blue, with networked message bases and file echoes. At that time, getting on line meant calling a BBS system. While a SysOp, I developed and managed local ETNet. Baby Blue was also the East Texas network host for FamilyNet International. During and after that time, I also wrote software for the BBS community, including a BBS program, SwiftBBS and an echomail conference listing program, Echobase.

Chess

Although I can beat anyone in my family at Chess, I'm rated near the bottom when compared with tournament players. It's such a time-consuming game with little local competition, I rarely play or study now. Still, it's a great game.