They say you can tell a lot about a person by the company that they keep. So, by looking at my friends, what can you tell about me?

I suppose the friend that I've had for the longest time is a fellow Navy retiree, currently working in a state veterans affairs office, who also happens to be bisexual. Another very good friend is a member of my county's Board of Supervisors. Another is a mechanic for the DC subway system. Then I have one who is an Archbishop in the Episcopalian church, and we have a mutual friend who is a Wiccan Priestess (or is it High Priestess? I lose track). Being a geek myself, I've got oodles of geek friends, one of whom calls himself "CodeWookie" in certain circumstances. And let's not forget the electrician, nor should we overlook the several medium-haul truck drivers, either.

Another friend is a co-worker from India. Then there's the VP of a major financial firm, who's a geek at heart (if not at skill...you know who you are).

There's no shortage of military friends, either. One's in the National Guard, deployed to Iraq. Another is a retired Marine who now sells real estate, and serves with me on a county advisory committee. Another had the same job as me (more or less) in the Navy, and we ended up working for the same company (but he went and moved to Seattle...or more precisely, Redmond, Washington, so my fellow geeks will understand why). Then we have the recently retired Navy Captain, who is also an author of military novels. Oh yeah, let's not forget the Navy retiree who wanders around the world aboard his yacht. And another shipmate who left the Navy before retirement and pursued civilian geekdom, living a few short miles from me here in Virginia (and has been an Amateur Radio operator (Ham) for many years).

My friends tend to fall into at least one of three categories: military, geek, Amateur Radio (with a lot of crossover between categories). And this doesn't even begin to touch the blogosphere, where I have many more friends, too. But being the blogosphere, you all could be lying and I'd never know. :)

So if you want to know me by my friends, there you go. Good luck figuring it out.