Who is Shannon Moon, anyway?
I am a Strategic Enterprise Architect and Computer Scientist. I am a major geek that grew up with a main frame in the garage and pre-TSR80 homebuilt computers. For a number of years I worked as a paramedic in EMS services in both rural and metro environments. I enjoy teaching, and have been a certified instructor for AHA Basic Life support and Advanced Cardiac Life Support Courses. In my (not so) copious spare time, I fly fixed wing aircraft (primarily my Searey), sailplanes (currently a Discus), and (previously) hangliders. I’m also a CMAS certified SCUBA diver. Books are a favorite pastime (I should own stock in amazon.com!) I have raised over a dozen wolves, so it should be no surprise that most of my friends have 4 legs and a tail. I was on the board of directors for the Florida Great Pyrenees Club Rescue, a 501c charitable organization that has rescued over 1200 Great Pyrnees and pyr-mix dogs. When not playing with my furry friends, I am often busy building mechanical (robotic) ones, tinkering with MAME cabinets, painting Sumi-e, or fiddling around with a half dozen different musical instruments. Jazz drumming is my current musical passion.I am a self professed “Steampunk Girl” and am an avid fan of steampunk engineering and subculture. I informally practice Taoism and Zen Buddhism.

What are some of your hobbies?

Flying! I live to fly! There’s nothing else like it. I most often fly my Searey (an amphibious single engine) and my sailplane (currently a Discus). I hope one day to be able to hanglide again. Leonardo da Vinci said it best; “For once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been, and there you will long to return.”

MMORPGs. Star Wars Galaxies was my favorite (I was a pre-patch 9 Jedi!). I also like Worlds of Warcraft (mostly on Lightbringer where I have one of the strongest pet collections, 720+ level 25 unique pets). I also play Star Wars the Old Republic, mostly on the Republic side. I still find myself missing Ultima Online at times…

Bonsai horticulture. I loved growing and training these beautiful little trees.

Sumi-e. I don’t profess to be a great artist, but I love the simple elegance of this Japanese style of ink painting. I’ve posted a few of my works in my online gallery.

Music. I love music! I love listening to it, and I love playing it on jazz drums, celtic harp, saxophone, classical guitar, electric bass, or synthesizer.

Robotics. I love building autonomous bots to do all sorts of weird things. My favorite platforms are Lejos (for Mindstorms) and IntelliBrain.

Classic Arcade Games. I love the old games like Gorf, Defender, Battlezone, or Tempest. I’ve built several custom MAME cabinets that harken back to the old cocktail tables and classic arcade cabinets.

Juggling. I love to juggle. I am totally fascinated by particles systems, particularly one I create myself. I love to juggle while riding (or maybe that should be crashing!) my unicycle.

Reading. I love books…mainly the Sci-Fi/fantasy genre, but I also love many of the old classics like Hemingway, or old poets like Poe and Frost.

You’re a geek…what’s your favorite anime?
Greatest anime ever…Sword Art Online
Other greatest anime ever: Avatar, the Legend of Korra
Other favorites: Fruits Basket, Ai Yori Aoshi, Noir, Stellvia, Elfen Lied, Last Airbender…and too many others to recall…

What kinds of pets do you have?
I don’t tend to think of the four-legged critters who share my household as “pets”. To quote Heinlein, I think of them as “junior citizens”. They’re my family, and my friends.
Currently furry family members include four dogs adopted from the Florida Great Pyrenees Club Rescue. In the past I have had friends who were domestic felines, ferrets, cougars, wolves, and wolf-hybrids,

What are some favorite books?
There are so many I don’t know where to begin.

Tolkien – not just Lord of the Rings, but all of his books, poems, stories, and unfinished tails.
CS Lewis – Chronicles of Narnia
Heinlein – almost all of his works, but Starship Troopers and Have Spacesuit Will Travel are my favorites

Theodore Sturgeon – most of his works; he was a real genius and ahead of his time
Hemingway – he appeals to the existential in me
Poe – his work has such great insight into the depths of the human soul
Glen Cook – The Black Company Series & the Garret Series
Douglas Adams – all of his stuff, not just the HitchHiker series
Warp Graphics/Pinis – Elfquest (graphic novels)
Neal Stevenson – everything, but particularly Diamond Age and Snow Crash

What are some favorite movies?

Star Wars. The original trilogy touched an entire generation. The prequels…well…at least Return of the Sith was better than the ‘Ewok Christmas Special’. We will not speak of Episode I & II.
Close Encounters
Lathe of Heaven (but the book was better)
Green Berets
The Great Train Robbery
Battle of Britain
Always
Princess Bride
High Road to China
Lawerence of Arabia
The King and I

What kind of music do you like?
I don’t restrict myself to one particular genre. From classical to alternative there is a lot that I like. I do tend towards “angstful” works such as Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata or Garbage’s #1 Crush. Don’t get me wrong though. I don’t only listen to woeful wailing. I’m also quite a fan of happy Rave, Jazz, Celtic music, and bagpipes. And weird stuff like Kate Bush or Mouse on Mars. Rumor has it that I like Dolly Parton’s music, but if you ask me, I’ll blatantly deny it.

What are some of your favorite poems?

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
Anabelle Lee by Edgar Allen Poe
The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
I Have a Rendezvous with Death by Alan Seeger

and of course High Flight by John Magee

What are some of your favorite television shows?

Myth Busters
Mail Call
Futurama
Adult Swim (does this count as a show?)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Xena
Witchblade
Bill Nuy the Science Guy
Dead Like Me

Well, I am actually watching t.v. actively again, so time for update. In addition to the above:

Pushing Daisies – fast paced and funny, I suspect it won’t last!
Heroes – Super Heroes! Super Villains! Comic Book Prophesy! WHEE!
Bionic Woman – not high art, but who didn’t like to run in slow motion like Steve Austin when we were little kids?
Battlestar Galactica – but there better be more space battles and less of this oogy soap opera self-aware artsiness in 2008!
Life – the nonsense Zen prattle of Detective Cruise amuses the heck out of me!
Saving Grace

Back to not watching much tv again, I just don’t have time time and there hasn’t been anything worth watching for years now. Still catch the occasional cool anime on Crunchyroll, though.

What’s your favorite color?
Blue! No, yellow! (If you’re not a Monty Python fan, don’t worry about it).

Seriously though, I guess black….although technically black is the absence of color… I kind of like earth tone in general, too.

Do you have geek code?
—–BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK————
Version: 3.1
GAT d- s-:- !a C++++ UI++++ P++ L++
W+++ E— N++ M– V– PS+ Y+ PGP+ t–
5++ X+ R* tv- b++++ D— G h++ r++ x?
——END GEEK CODE BLOCK————–

Why did you answer all these questions?
Why not, lol. Actually, I am not always comfortable talking about myself, and I find it easier to throw this stuff out into cyberspace where hardly anyone looks at it (although I do get a new question posted to me once in a blue moon).

Do you REALLY own a tank?
Ok, how did someone even know to ASK this question? Nope, not anymore.