The Homepage of James G. Surles

Well, I thought that having a homepage for more than two years composed of the single-word phrase "Howdy!" was too little for too long. Although describing me as a "minimalist webpage author" would be pretty accurate, just having one word was a bit much (or little).

Before getting started, a friend invited me to take part in a group blogging experiment, which we irreverently called The Dead Parrot Society. Feel free to check it out.

Here you will find a basic personal homepage. There is nothing exciting or important here. In fact, you won't even find my vitae or a list of recent publications. You will find some basic information about myself and my family with accompanying photographs, a link to my son's webcam page, a link to the homepage of the fantasy football league I'm in, and I'm sure you'll find a few other tidbits. There's no fancy menu for you to select from, no java, no frames. If you click on the fantasy football link, however, you will see a running moose. Enjoy.

Professional

I am currently an Assistant Professor (although my promotion to Associate becomes official in September '05) in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Texas Tech University. I attended undergraduate school at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana. I majored in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics. I graduated in 1995 with degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science. I proceeded to the University of South Carolina where I received a Master's degree in Statistics in 1997 and a PhD in Statistics in 1999 from the Department of Statistics, both under the direction of Carolina Professor William J. Padgett.

My current research centers around the Burr type X (pronounced "Burr type ten") distribution and its use in modeling strength; especially the strength of carbon fibers and composites. I also have various other research interests which are not concerned with reliability that I will not list here.

Personal

I was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana in April, 1972. I remember quite clearly that it was a hot and humid day. Okay, so I don't remember, but it's always hot and humid in South Louisiana, even in the Spring, so it's a good guess. I grew up in a small suburb north of Lake Charles called Moss Bluff. I graduated from Sam Houston High School in 1990. I was a typical geek loser, but I had plenty of friends and had a good time in high school. I attended Louisiana State University for a year, and decided that LSU wasn't the school for me, and I went back to Lake Charles and attended McNeese State University. But, you knew that already.

While at McNeese, I ran a BBS (that's a Bulletin Board System, for you youngsters) called Lost in Time. I miss those days. Anyway, it was through Lost in Time that I met my wife Regina. We would chat from time to time, and that led to frequent chat sessions, which led to phone calls, which led to a first date, which led to more dates, which led to a serious relationship, which led to us getting married. Of course, I've glossed over the details, such as her remaining in Louisiana while I attended school in South Carolina for four years. We were married on July 10, 1999, shortly before receiving my PhD. Our son, Jonathon, was conceived during the honeymoon, and he arrived April 7, 2000. (I know what you're thinking. Do the math, punk.) I have one sister, Jackie, who is two years younger than me.

I am a rabid Saints, LSU, McNeese, and Astros fan, and I root for the Devils and Lakers when the playoffs roll around. (Devils because that's the team that Home Sports Network used to show, and Lakers because of Shaq.) In case you haven't noticed, LSU won the 2002 Sugar Bowl! WOO HOO!

All of the hobbies that I once had sort of disappeared after moving to Lubbock and the birth of our son. I used to collect Nolan Ryan baseball cards, and still have quite a large collection. I guess my current hobbies are watching sports and griping about the politicos who run the country. I have recently started playing Dungeons and Dragons again now that I've found a group here in Lubbock.

So that's it. That's the short version of my life. The remainder of this homepage is just composed of links to various other things.

Jonathon's webcam page
Yeah, I know, everyone's got one. It keeps the grandparents happy.

The link to the obligatory page of photos will be put here when I get around to it. Maybe in another two years?

The Blind Moose League of Fantasy Football
The BMLFF is a fantasy football league which we formed while still in high school. It's been about 15-16 years (started circa 1986 and skipped one year), and it's still going strong.