My name is Aurelio Victor Alvarez. I was born in 1967 in Queens, New York. I grew up in New Jersey, and I currently live in Connecticut with my wife, my two sons and my dog. My parents both grew up in Havana, Cuba and I am fluent in Spanish. I consider myself a New Yorker because I’ve worked in New York City for 30 years and apart from my first two years in Queens, I’ve lived in Manhattan for 10 years and in the Bronx for 5 years. The things that define me as a person can be broken into four general categories: I’m an environmentalist and political activist; I lead an active lifestyle; I enjoy helping other people; and I love to learn.

Environmentalism has led me to follow some seemingly unusual habits. I minimize my use of disposable plastic bags, cups, plates, straws, bowls, and cutlery. We are a one-car family and it’s a Prius that gets 46 miles to the gallon. We are able to be a one-car family because we selected a home that was walking distance from a train station that enables me to use the train to go to work. On a workday I walk about a quarter mile to the train on the CT side of my commute and on the New York City side of my commute I walk or take a city bike to my office. When we need the use of a second car I take the train to Stamford, pick up a rental car at Stamford, use the rental car, return it to Stamford and take the train home from Stamford. I use a bicycle as much as possible for transportation around town. Since our home is walking distance from town, we often walk to go out to dinner, go to the library (Miki and Victor have both worked at the library which is 3 blocks from our home), go buy dog food, and for other errands. We collect compost in our kitchen and I walk or bike it to deposit it at the St. Mark's Gospel Garden once a week. I take cold showers, I have not used a drop of hot water in my shower since November 2014. I usually wash the dinner dishes and I use very little water by using a device on the spigot of the kitchen sink that modulates water volume. When my shower or sink drains get clogged, I use a plunger rather than pouring toxic chemicals down the drain. I minimize waste, I minimize my use of fossil fuels, and I support renewable energy. I dislike big cars, big houses and real estate brokers and real estate developers (with a very few exceptions). I’ve attended several protests including Critical Mass in New York City and Paris (the bike protest that happens every month in cities across the globe), the Women’s March on Washington, D.C. in January 2017 and the Global Climate Strike in September of 2019 with Greta Thunberg. Most of our savings are invested in companies that support renewable energy or have a low carbon foot print. I vote, and I try to educate myself on the candidates before voting. I’ve attended meetings at the New Canaan town hall in which I’ve spoken at the podium two different times demanding a redress of my grievances. I’ve written opinion pieces in the local newspaper.

I’ve always enjoyed leading an active lifestyle, and I incorporate exercise into my everyday life. I go mountain biking in the woods, and I've used bike-sharing programs in nine different cities. I enjoy swimming in oceans, lakes, rivers, ponds, and streams. I enjoy using boats that don’t have engines such as sailboats, canoes, kayaks, sculling boats and rowboats. There are three things I've tried to learn how to do before I die: surf, do an olley on a skateboard, and do a hockey stop on ice skates. I can do a decent hockey stop on ice skates (I'm much better on the right foot forward hockey stop than the left). After trying to surf over ten times since 2010 and not being able to stand up on the surfboard, on July 14, 2021, Victor, Lucas and I took a surfing lesson at Narragansett Beach, Rhode Island with an instructor from the Narragansett Surf and Skate Shop named Lord Frothmore (aka Rigby). The waves were perfect for learning that day and I rented a 9' 2" surfboard. I was able to surf 5 to 10 times and the last ride of the day I surfed all the way to the beach and stepped off the board into 6 inches of water. Victor and Lucas also got up on the surfboard several times that day. Even though I was an old kook, it was totally rad! I still can’t do an olley (two out of three ain't bad). I enjoy diving into water. My favorite dive is the can opener because I can aim the dive’s very big splash so that I can soak people near the water who aren’t expecting it. I’ve walked to the Union Square farmers market at lunchtime on Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s from 2005 to 2020. For many years I wore a green wig when skiing. I do yoga regularly, I can do a headstand for half an hour. I enjoy climbing trees.

Helping people is another personality trait that I cultivate. I put an emphasis on teaching all kids, including my own. I’ve taught Sunday school at the local Episcopal church since 2011. I’ve run a program called Salsa Sunday at the Sunday school once a year since 2017, and it has become one of the highlights of the Sunday school program. I was a cub scout den leader for 2 years. I enjoy doing puppet shows. I'm really good at telling scary ghost stories. I tutor kids in math. I've done volunteer work at pesticide free new canaan including building and maintaining its website www.pesticidefreenc.org, I ran the Green Tent at St. Mark's Mayfair for 8 years, I was the President of my condominium board from 2014 to 2017, I've been on the New Canaan Board of Finance since January 2021, and I've volunteered for various other non-profit organizations. All of these services were done free of charge.

I enjoy learning. I’m an avid reader. I like to read big books. I’ve read 1001 Arabian Nights, War and Peace, Les Miserables, Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha, Proust’s A La Recherche du Temps Perdu, the Federalist Papers, and the King James version of the Bible. I enjoy history. I can recite the Gettysburg Address from memory. I regularly read the New Yorker magazine. I listen to music frequently. I like rock, jazz and Cuban music. I have about 250 records, 150 CD’s and lots of digital music. I enjoy singing, and I can play Latin percussion instruments and a little bit of the harmonica (my dog Ziggy often howls when I play the harmonica). I've written two entries in Wikipedia on two of my relatives, my great, great, great grandfather on my paternal side (other people have added content to this Wikipedia entry), and my great grandfather on my maternal side. I enjoy viewing art and visiting art museums. I’ve painted two oil paintings (Led Zeppelin IV, Cafe Vivaldi). I have a map collection that includes roadmaps of all of the 50 states. I often go to lectures and I enjoy plays. Carpentry is a hobby of mine. I’ve built a nine pieces of furniture that I use in my apartment. My carpentry masterpiece is an interior door with stained glass panels although it’s somewhat crooked. I've written poetry.

I use lists as a device that helps me advance the four defining categories of my personality. My ambition is to complete all items on all the lists before I am visited by the terminator of delights and the separator of companions. Here is a list of my lists:

1. I've read 60 of the 175 New York Public Library's "Books of the (20th) Century"

2. I’ve visited 119 of the 470 national parks

3. I've been to 33 of Vermont's 51 Unique Natural Features as listed in the DeLorme Vermont Atlas & Gazetteer (one of them is not accessable because it's on private property)

4. I’ve seen 152 different species of birds, 128 in Eastern North America and 24 in Western North America (see Birding blog for details)

5. I’ve hiked 111 of the 112 mountains in the Northeast with an elevation of 4,000 feet or greater

I have some vices. I show off and brag too much. I hate my cell phone. I like to shop for beer and cigars (I dislike shopping for anything else). I smoke 3 to 4 cigars a week and drink 3 to 4 beers a week. In summary, life is short so I try to live it to the fullest extent possible by pursuing these four dimensions of myself while I still can.