Your Aces High call sign? It's significance? My call sign is "Stat". This is a truncated term use commonly today in the practice of medicine. It is derived from the Latin word “Statim” which means “Right away” or “Do it now!” In the context of the everyday practice of medicine, it is use exclusively in life threatening situations when either a life saving measure or critical information is required immediately. “If this doesn’t happen now, the patient is going to be harmed or die.” I felt it quite appropriate for this particular game which we all find so addicting and challenging. Many of our actions are performed quickly and without delay or we end up damaged or dead.
Your Aces High squad? Currently, JG54 Grunherz in the CT. Hell Angels in the MA.
Your name? Joseph T. Alvarez. Call me Joe
Your age? One half of a century. I was quite relieved to see some old farts in here over 40 like TwoDogs5 and Oldman. I know for a fact Storch is pushing 50, if he is not there already! (I’m not sure he has admitted it yet in this post).
Your Email? joetalvarez@yahoo.com Where do you live? Bellaire, Texas which is a small city with the confines of Houston. We decided not to get swallowed up by the City of Houston. We kept our own Mayor, Police Force and Fire Department!
Where else have you lived? Starting as child: Puerto Rico, Cuba, Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York (City), and finally, The Great State of TEXAS.
What do you do for a living? I am a physician (anesthesiologist) specializing in the practice of Pain Medicine.
What is your marital/family status? Good grief, what else? A middle aged divorced doctor! I have two wonderful children who make me proud. My daughter just graduated from The University of Texas this past May. Woo Woo! Hook ‘em Horns!!! My 19 year old son is diligently trying to extract his head from his posterior but to his credit attends a local community college in Houston. My ex lives a comfortable distance from me in Sugarland, Texas.
What schools have you attended? Antilles High School, San Juan, Puerto Rico. B.A., Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota. M.D., Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Anesthesiology/Pain Medicine, Baylor Medical School, Houston, Texas.
What degrees do you have? Bachelor of Arts, Doctor of Medicine.
What are your hobbies? Quasi-Computer Geek (build my own boxes, constantly upgrading, sigh…). Road and mountain bicycling. Most recently completed the MS 150 from Houston to Austin, 182 miles in 2 days. Last month went on a 7 day mountain bike trip with 4 other guys in Colorado. I ended up breaking 2 ribs after a crash on the third day…end of trip. I’ll never do that watermelon again. Weight training is another passion. Women, particularly Blond Anglos and Latinas, are more of a pitfall than a hobby but they certainly are of interested to me.
What other flight sims have you been involved in? Your call sign and squad in that sim? Boy, too numerous to remember! But I will always remember my first experience….sniff, sniff…”Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat”. Shortly thereafter it was “Out of the Sun” followed by a bunch more, F-18 Hornet, EAW, Saber Ace, etc., etc. My on-line call sign has always been Stat. First on-line sim was Air Warrior followed by the initial beta and subsequent versions of Warbirds. After Warbirds self destructed into more Warbirds, WW2 On-line and Aces High, I gravitated to AH because it was obviously better. Over the past year and a half I have enjoyed IL-2, IL-2 FB and the new Ace Expansion Pack. Personally, I feel the IL-2 series is by far the best all around WW2 air combat simulator. Its glaring weakness is the on-line play. With respect to AH on line, CT is by far the most enjoyable. MA is just one big furball.
Do you have any other connection to aviation or WWII? My father was a U.S. Navy veteran of both WW2 and Korea. He served for over 20 years. My only connection to aviation is I gave up a spot to go to Navy flight school and become a RIO (Radio Intercept Officer) flying F-14 Tomcats in 1978. I did this in order to accept a place in med school. To this day I wonder if I made the right decision.
Other interesting things about yourself. Jeeeezusss, haven’t I prattled on enough?
