Personal Interests of Al Davis
Volunteering -- International Travel -- Domestic Travel -- Family -- Eating -- Poker -- Writing -- Teaching -- Reading -- Music -- Movies -- Quilt Watching -- Triking -- Puzzles -- Wildlife Photography -- Cars -- Deck Building
Volunteering
- Coach, IGNITE Community Accelerator, Albuquerque, NM, 2018-2019
- Volunteer, Lutheran Family Services, Refugee & Asylee Programs, Economic Development, Albuquerque, NM, 2018-2019
- One of 14 volunteers in 2018 to build a solar-powered electrical system for the SECMOL School in the Himalayas, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India. See great video of what we did here.
- Mentor, many aspiring entrepreneurs
- Reading Assistant, 5th grade, Algodones Elementary School, Algodones, NM, 2014-2015
- High Altitude Investors Angel Network, Colorado Springs, CO
- Member, 2008-2015
- Member, Selection Committee, 2008-2015
- Colorado Springs Technology Incubator
- Member, Board of Advisors, 2001-2006
- Member (ad hoc), Selection Committee, 2008-2009
- Mentor, 2008-2015
- Judge, Colorado College Entrepreneurship Competition (CCEC), "The Big Idea," $50,000 First Prize, March 2013
- Member, Board of Directors, Puchowitzer Society, 2004-2008
- Volunteer, Southern Colorado AIDS Project, 1996-1998
- Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra
- Member, Board of Directors, 1992-1997
- Member, Executive Committee, 1994-1995
- Chair, Marketing Committee, 1994-1995
- Member, Marketing Committee, 1995-1996
- Member, Artistic Affairs Committee, 1992-1994
- Member, Financial Committee, 1993-1994
- Member, Colorado Springs Strategic Planning Oversight Committee, 1992-1993
- Member, Fairfax County (Virginia) Chamber of Commerce, High Technology Council, Education Committee, 1989
- Member, Arizona Task Force on Engineering Excellence in CAD/CAM, 1983-1984
International Travel
"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all."
. . . Helen Keller
"Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have traveled."
. . . Mohammed
"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read just one page."
. . . St. Augustine
"Traveling: It leaves you speechless, then it turns you into a storyteller."
. . . Ibn Bettuta
"Travel is the only thing you [can] buy that makes you richer."
. . . anonymous
I have visited 99 countries on all seven continents. Here is a world map showing (in green) the countries I have visited. Press
here
to see a list of these countries.
Here are some personal travel records:
- Five continents in 10 days (November 25 - December 4, 2003): N. America, Europe, Africa, S. America, and Antarctica.
- Four continents in 3 days (May 5 - 8, 2015): N. America, S. America, Africa, and Asia.
- Ten countries in 16 days (May 26 - June 11, 2006): Ukraine, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Netherlands.
- Nineteen countries in 2 months (May 9 - July 9, 2006): United States, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, UK, Spain, France, Andorra, and Japan.
- Thirty-three different hotels/homes in 9 weeks (May 7 - July 11, 2006):
- Wrangler (Colorado Springs, CO, USA)
- Park Inn (Erfurt, Germany)
- Novotel (Berlin, Germany)
- Kasyno Hotel (Jarocin, Poland)
- Gwarek Hotel (Staszów, Poland)
- Westin (Warszawa - Warsaw, Poland)
- Hotel Horizont (Баранавічы - Baranavichi, Belarus)
- Almaz Hotel (Мінск - Minsk, Belarus)
- InTourist (Брэст - Brest, Belarus)
- Belovezhskaya Pushcha (Каменюки - Kamianiuki, Belarus)
- Lion's Castle (Львів - Lviv, Ukraine)
- Hotel Uzhgorod (У́жгород - Uzhgorod, Ukraine)
- Club Hortobágy (Hortobágy, Hungary)
- Annabella Hotel (Balontonfüred, Hungary)
- Habakuk Hotel (Maribor, Slovenia)
- Mercure Imlauer Nestroy (Vienna, Austria)
- Pension Standard (Prague, Czech Republic)
- Schuttersmuble (Eschenbach, Germany)
- NH Airport (Frankfurt, Germany)
- Hotel du Moulin (Bourscheid-Moulin, Luxembourg)
- San Sebastian Hotel (San Sebastian, Germany)
- Siddiqi Residence (Sheffield, UK)
- Boadilla Palacio (Boadilla del Monte, Spain)
- NH Amistad (Murcia, Spain)
- Confortel Aqua 4 (Valencia, Spain)
- Oliva Nova Golf (Oliva, Spain)
- Sansi Diputacio (Barcelona, Spain)
- Cal Daina (La Cortinada, Andorra)
- Parador de Alcañiz (Alcañiz, Spain)
- Boadilla Palacio (Boadilla del Monte, Spain)
- Steigenberger Airport Hotel (Frankfurt, Germany)
- Marriott (Nagoya, Japan)
- Nikko Hotel (Tokyo, Japan).
- 42,000 actual air miles in one month (November 17 - December 16, 2003): Cape Town to Frankfurt to Newark to Charlotte to Tampa to DC to Newark to DC to Frankfurt to Cape Town to Buenos Aires to Ushuaia to Buenos Aires to DC to Denver to Colorado Springs. [Note: the Earth's circumference is only 25,000 miles]
- 18,000 actual air miles in 3 days (May 5 - 8, 2015): Albuquerque to Houston to São Paolo to Johannesburg to Doha to Kuala Lumpur.
- Slept on all seven continents: Completed on 8 December 2003 when I camped overnight on Antarctica.
- Visited every country on the mainland of the Western Hemisphere: Completed on 23 January 2017 when I visited Honduras. Note: I have not yet visited French Guiana (which is not a country, but an overseas department of France) nor Greenland (which is not a country, but an autonomous division of Denmark). They are both on my bucket list.
Press
here
to see a list of my list of favorite accommodations (mostly eco-lodges).
Press here to read my international travel blog.
Domestic Travel
- I have visited every state in the United States, completed in 1999 when I visited Arkansas.
- I have lived in 9 states: Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Family

Members of my family:
- My wife since 1976, Ginny.
- Our daughter Marsha (born 1980). Graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder (BS, anthropology and fine art), Regis University (BS, nursing), and Frontier Nursing University (CNM). She was a paramedic at Denver Health, an RN in labor and delivery at Denver Health, an RN in the ER at Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune, NC, and now a certified nurse midwife at Women's Healthcare Associates. Married Ryan Saunders, a U.S. Navy Corpsman stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, November 2014. They brought us two grandchildren, Owen Saunders, born May 17, 2016, and Holden Saunders, born January 18, 2019.
- Our son Michael (born 1983). Culinary arts graduate of the Culinary Institute of Colorado Springs. He is co-founder of Market Collaborative/Market Coin, a fintech/tech company that provides a cost-effective means for hosting private food events in public areas and facilitates the processing of gift cards; Mondo Market, a Denver purveyor of gourmet foods (in the Stanley marketplace); and Offtoa, Inc., an on-line service for entrepreneurs.
- Our ocicat, Bali Hai.
I am very proud of my maternal grandfather, Morris Slobodow, who immigrated to the United States to give his descendants a better education and future. In his memory, I established the
Morris Slobodow Endowed Scholarship at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, to assist new immigrants in their quest for freedom and educational opportunities in this great country.
Eating
Poker
- I have played in monthly low stakes dealers' choice and Texas Hold'em poker games since 1978.
- I have played in weekly and bi-weekly low stakes Hold'em and Omaha H/L poker games online with friends since early 2020.
- I lose consistently but I sure do enjoy it.
- I did win the city-wide Colorado Springs 2007 Annual Amateurs Only Poker Tournament.
Writing
Teaching
Reading
- After the Empire by Emmanuel Todd
- Ancient Futures by Helena Norberg-Hodge
- Conservatives without Conscience
by John Dean
- Fast Food Nation
by Eric Schlosser
- Flatland
(fiction) by Edwin Abbott
- Founding Myths
by Ray Raphael
- How Far Will You Go?
by Evelyn McFarlane and James Saywell
- Half the Sky
by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
- In Other Words
by Christopher Moore
- Kite Runner
(fiction) by Khaled Hosseini
- Little Bee
(fiction) by Chris Cleave
- Love You Forever
(fiction) by Robert Munsch
- Metamagical Themas
by Douglas Hofstadter
- Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think
by George Lakoff
- Nature's Strongholds
by Laura and William Riley
- The Forest People
by Colin Turnbull
- The Infidel
by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- The Mountain People
by Colin Turnbull
- The Plot Against America
(fiction) by Phillip Roth
- To Engineer is Human
by Peter Petroski
- Wordplay
by John Landon
Music
See a list of my favorite music
here.
Movies
Quilt Watching
Triking
I ride a recumbent tadpole trike, which I ride 1-2x/week averaging around 25 miles at a time. I was the proud owner of an Australian-made Trisled Gizmo until April 2021 when it was destroyed by BikeFlights LLC during their shipment of the trike cross country. Now I am quite happy with my new HP Velotechnik Gekko fx26.
Puzzles
Wildlife Photography
Cars
Deck Building
- First photo: 10303 Dunn Meadow Road, Vienna, VA (click on the address to view the deck in Google maps. The largest and lowest level of this deck is obscured at 10 o'clock by the tree.)
- Second photo: A much older photo of the same deck taken from below; it shows the lowest deck not seen in the first photo.
- Third photo: 770 Nebula Court, Top of Skyway, Colorado Springs, CO (click on the address to view the deck in Google maps.)
- Fourth photo: Another photo of the same deck.