Who Is this Jim Loy Person?

© Copyright 1997, Jim Loy

Well, for one thing, I'm not just any idiot. By, the way, this picture of me is from the Great Falls Tribune, several years ago.

Mail: 1104 S. Montana, H7, Bozeman, MT 59715: I live in Bozeman, a town of 23,000 or so people, in a corner of the Gallatin Valley, in Southern Montana. Bozeman is the home of Montana State University, or vice versa. It has a road which will probably be under construction for generations to come. We've got disgusting traffic problems. It has a family of beavers which builds a dam whenever the city isn't looking (beavers work on weekends, the city does not). Currently (Aug. 1996), there is a lot of smoke, from forest fires, in the air. Lewis & Clark passed to the West of here (I missed them that day). Custer died a ways East of here. Yellowstone Park is a ways to the South of Bozeman. There is a mountain range, near here, which apparently is called the Beartooths, according to bumper stickers. I'm originally from Columbia Falls, MT, just West of Glacier National Park.

Family: I'm single. My mother, father, and grandmother live at Lake Blaine, near Kalispell, Montana. My mother is a housewife. My father is a retired saw-filer and machinist. My grandmother is 103 years old, so far. She's a retired housewife. My brother is a mathematics teacher and basketball coach and tennis coach at Lincoln County High School, in Eureka, Montana.

Checkers: I am currently the District 9 Checkers-by-mail Champ. I am currently playing in the Inter-District Checkers-by-mail Tournament. I am writing a book on how to play checkers. You can read many of the chapters, in the checkers portion of my WWW pages. The book will not be completed for a long time (a year or so). I'm a member of the American Checker Federation.

Art: I paint pictures (mostly water colors), and design petit point (a kind of needle point) pictures. Some of my work is in a few galleries, and I have won a few prizes. I'm finding it difficult to do this for a living.

Chess: I used to play a lot of chess, I was Montana Chess Champ 4 times (sharing it once). Two of my games were published in Chess Life, one in Chess Review, and two in the L. A. Times. I sometimes contribute articles to the Montana Chess News. I'm a life member of the U. S. Chess Federation. I collect postage stamps, with chess as the main subject.

Bridge: I am a (relatively strong) novice bridge player, who has gained some fame reviewing bridge software on the Internet. See my latest review in the bridge portion of my WWW pages.

Pool (pocket billiards): I am a member of two pool leagues, and sometimes do well in tournaments. But I can't handle all of the cigarette smoke.

Tennis: I am sometimes a member of the U. S. Tennis Association (not currently), and sometimes play in doubles events in tournaments. I once won a bronze medal in the Big Sky State Games.

Bowling: I'm currently struggling with my bowling. I once had a 185 average, and took second place in my division in the Montana State Tournament.

Computers: I am a part-time computer programmer, mostly programming in dBase. I am currently trying to learn Java.

Music: I listen to "Classical" music, mostly Romantic era and 20th Century (Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Debussy, & Messiaen especially). I was a member of my high school "Band Hall of Fame" as a trombone player. I no longer perform music.

Education: I've got a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics, from Montana State University, in Bozeman. I majored in Computer Science for a while. I have been a fairly successful tutor of algebra and geometry.

Army: I served in the U. S. Army in Vietnam, as a radio-teletype operator in a headquarters artillery battery, first in Phu Bai (near Hue), and later in Da Nang.

My car: My car has been run into 3 times in the last 4 years. I have to keep moving the bulls-eye. But it still gets 30 miles per gallon.