Welcome to Richard Ferris's Home Page

I've tried to make this site as unobtrusive as possible by not adding any scripts or background music, and by keeping all graphics files as small as practical.

About myself:
I graduated from Northeastern University in 1970 with a B.S. degree in electrical engineering. Upon graduation I accepted a position with the Navy as an engineer, lifted my roots and moved from Boston, Massachusetts to a suburb in Maryland right outside of Washington, DC. Last February I left my job as a Program Manager with the Navy and accepted an engineering position with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) in Washington, DC. I would have liked to finished my government career with the Navy after working for them for 26 plus years, but a move by the Navy from Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia to Southern Maryland last August increased my daily commuting distance from 36 miles to 137 miles. A career change to the FAA to reduce that distance by 105 miles was an offer I couldn't refuse. However, one does experience a little bit of a culture shock when he leaves a military environment/structure of 26 years and then enters an environment of a civilian agency. When I was making that daily commute of 137 miles and asked what I thought about the job and the commute, I responded "I really don't feel as if I was working for the Navy any longer. I feel as if I'm working for Exxon since Exxon gets $8.00 every morning for gas, a newspaper, coffee and donuts ".
Links to Northeastern University where I graduated, Naval Air Systems Command where I was formally employed, and the Federal Aviation Administration where I am currently employed.

My interest:
Sports - Although I left Boston in 1970, I will forever be an avid fan of the Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins, and Celtics. When my twin brother and I grew up in East Boston in the 60's, we would religiously watch the Boston Patriots (now New England Patriots) practice at the stadium in East Boston - it was just up the street from our home. Sometimes we would run into a few of the Boston Celtics on the MTA (subway) since the team's dentist was located at Maverick Square in East Boston. The one thing we never got to see on the MTA was Charlie. He made ride forever `neath the streets of Boston. He's the man who never returned.
Music - Love nearly all forms of music from the 40's to the early 80's.
Radio - NPR's Car Talk with Tom and Ray Magliozzi. By far one of the most funniest shows on the radio.
Photography - Love to take pictures of everything (except myself) at an amateur level. The rest of this site will clearly illustrate there's nothing professional about the pictures I take!
Links to Boston where I grew up, the Boston Red Sox who haven't won a World Series since 1918, the New England Patriots who were beaten by the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl, the Boston Bruins who missed making the playoffs this year, the Boston Celtics who has a very dismal season, the Fleet Center home of the Bruins and Celts, and Car Talk my favorite radio show.

Pictures of my dog Sandy, a female 5 year old poodle. Sandy is the third poodle that I've owned but the first female. The other two poodles have since passed on but will always be remembered in my heart. Sandy has been the most affectionate of the three and even at 5 years old still acts like a puppy. I used two different cameras to take these pictures: an inexpensive APS camera and the HP Photo Smart Digital camera. The APS pictures were converted into JPG format with the use of a desktop scanner. I enhanced all the picture with a software imaging program by adjusting the brightness and contrast.
APS pictures of Sandy. HP Photo Smart Digital pictures of Sandy.

Pictures of Salt Lake City, UT. I had the fortunate opportunity to visit the two Air Traffic Control Towers at Salt Lake City International Airport in May. Some pictures were taken from the existing operational Air Traffic Control Tower at the airport and some were taken from the new tower now under construction and scheduled to open in October of 1998. I didn't expect to visit the towers on this trip so all I had with me was the inexpensive fixed focal length APS camera. It was loaded with general purpose film which resulted in the outdoor pictures coming out somewhat reddish. The colors would have been much better if it was loaded with the right type of outdoor film. I personally would like to thank all the FAA employees at Salt Lake City that took time out of their extremely busy schedule to show me and the other FAA visitors around their facilities. They made that trip a most rewarding and memorable experience for all of us.
Pictures of Salt Lake City.

Potpourri. Some recent and not so recent pictures of family, friends and other things.
Potpourri.

Feel free to email any comments about this site or too report any mispellings or grammar that ain't good to
[email protected]
This page was last updated on 06/15/97.