I am Blaine, known by bmathison1972 on the forums and blogs. I am a professional parasitologist specializing in agents of human disease, including medically-important arthropods. I am also an amateur entomologist and study Nearctic click beetles (family Elateridae). Historically, much of my collection was devoted to insects and other arthropods, but in late 2018 I started building a Synoptic Collection of other species, to have one good exemplar of any animal species (my personal ‘Natural History Museum’). Other hobbies include hiking, bird-watching, running, and lifting weights, but my other ‘big’ hobby is visiting sports arenas, especially baseball stadiums. Whenever I travel for work (which I do with some frequency), I always check to see if there is a local college, independent, minor, or major league team to see.