RICK "ZIGGY"
This is Rick, known to most as Ziggy. This is not a nickname, but a middle name. Born on the beaches of southern California, I love music, marine mammals, inventing, all facets of geology, environmental science, the great outdoors, sports, our family and God. I don't have a very flashy job. I am the Las Vegas Sales Director for Spectacular Events When ordinary just won't do. Let me book your special event or function.

MUSIC
I sing in the church choir at St. Joseph, Husband of Mary Catholic Church in Las Vegas.
Panorama of St. Joseph's.

Here is a sample of my singing from a wedding I sang at in Ireland.

ANIMALS
I had the opportunity to work with exotic animals, but my first love is marine mammals. I am so grateful that I was able to work at Marineland of the Pacific. I was able to work on a daily basis with bottle-nose dolphins, pilot whales, killer whales, several species of seals, walruses and my personal favorite, California Sea Lions. One summer I was the surrogate mother to a baby sea lion. I miss it more than anything else.

Someday, Mike & I would like to open up a sanctuary or zoo for exotic animals that can not be rehabilitated, or would love to have a couple sea lions as pets. So if you have any available let us know. We would like them to be animals that could not be rehabilitated to the wild. Yes, we are serious.

GEOLOGY
I love nearly every aspect of geology. We spend time in the desert looking at fossils. The Southern Nevada as well as the Mojave Desert of southern California has many fossils from the Miocene epoch. We have found fossils of prehistoric rhinos, camels, horses, and insects. We always leave them in the rock so they can hopefully be shared with the rest of the world. I also like to lamp. That is to take a special black light and walk the desert washes in the darkness and look for fluorescent minerals. I have found opal, calcite, scheelite as well as several scorpions. Yes, they are fluorescent. Come out to Nevada and let Mike and I show you around.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
I am very much interested in environmental science. We only have one world and it isn't getting any bigger, so we need to take care of her. I would love to see the day when we can all get around in something that is environmental clean and live in a less disposable world. Some day maybe we could generate our own power for our homes and drive hydrogen fueled cars that emit water vapor. I could go on about this for days, but its real boring stuff, so if you want to discuss further send me E-mail.

TRAVEL AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
We love to travel. We have been to several countries and do spend a lot of our time exploring many Southwest Native American Nations. Any place where the air flows and the plants grow is where I belong. Nature is such a beautiful place that I can't get enough of it. Even a dandelion growing in the crack of a sidewalk is wonderful.

CULTURE
With our diverse ethnic backgrounds, I really have an interest in other cultures. My parents came to the USA from Poland after WWII and although they embraced the American way of life, they made sure that no one in our family forgot where our ancestral roots were planted. I got to witness Poland under Communist rule. I spent nearly every summer in Hawaii with my family there. I learned about Polynesian culture and became fascinated with aboriginal cultures. I made sure that when I went anyplace, I spoke with the people rather than just be a tourist. I have read and experienced cultures, of several regions of Polynesia, many southwest Native American cultures, Celtic regions and Eastern Europe. Now mind you I don’t go “native”, but I do gain an apperception of native lands and it’s peoples.

JOBS
Over the years I have had some of the strangest jobs. But you only live once so I loved all of them in one way or another. I have done everything from swimming with dolphins for a living to being a costume character at Disneyland. This is me in high school when I worked at Disneyland.

SPORTS
Boy I love sports, but never have enough time to enjoy them like I would want to. I like to participate better than be a spectaror, except for rugby union. Would probably participate in that if I didn't have an artifical hip and had the quads for it. This is a list, of some of my favorite things to participate in. Bodysurfing, Snow Skiing, Beach Volleyball, Roller Blading/Skating, Cycling, Canoeing, Hiking.

FAMILY
We have an extended family. In the immediate family there is my Mom and my two sisters. My father died in 1991 and was buried along side his mother and father back in Poland. This was his wish if Poland ever became a free country. I am glad that my Dad got to see Poland break away from communism in his lifetime. Then there is Mike's side of the family. The two families are a close knit group so it seems like one family. I was also an AFS foreign exchange student back in high school. There I have another complete family. My host parents John and Helen both passed a few years back. But I am as close to my host family as I am with my natural family and Mike's family. So if you add it all up, there are a ton of people all over the world in my extended family. You can visit more of my family at the following web sites. Nephew's site Rob's Cafe. Niece's site Queen Tanya.

CREATING AND DESIGNING
I am always active do not let limits stand in the way of things I have done or would like to do. My dad was a real good practical engineer and great with tools, and fortunately I picked up those skills. As one hobby, I design theme parks. It started at the age of four after my first visit to Disneyland. I have even been known to make scale models of some of my parks and attractions I have designed. If I put my mind to things I usually get them done and I am someone, who once gets something inside my head won't stop until I finish it. An example of that was one day I woke up and thought it would be great to make a 100-foot long kite. Within a week and with very little outside help I was flying my multi-colored dragon stunt kite. I love research as well and with my research skills and creative juices, I created the Nevada State Tartan. That's it on the left. I guess this will be my legacy.

HAVE FUN
My motto is: You only live once, and if you do live again you aren't going to remember it anyway, so have fun and try it all. I have done a lot, and would love to do so much more if only given a chance. I have been truly blessed to have had the opportunity to swim among wild dolphins in the south Pacific, fly into active volcanoes in New Zealand, study volcanism along active lava fields in Hawaii, caving in New Zealand, hiking in tropical rain forests of the Cook Islands, white water rafting in central California, work with for an Australian Rules Football club in Collingwood, Victoria, Australia, scuba dive among sharks off of Catalina Island, collect marine specimens on a marine life catching vessel in off the coast of southern California, and even appeared on a television game show.
Here is a segment of my TV appearance.

NEW LEASE ON LIFE
I have been very lucky to know that God is looking after me. With a degenerative hip I honestly thought I would never be able to walk normally again and the prospects of having the quality of life I wanted was not going to be available with a conventional hip surgery. The miracle came in the form of Dr. Todd Swanson who brought a revolutionary mini hip to the United States from Europe. He did my surgery and my quality of life is not lacking at all. For more information and pictures of my surgery go to http://www.ziggy1.com/hip.htm

GOD
God is awesome! Without God I would have nothing. Only wish there was a way I could praise God ultimately.

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Last revised:December 20, 2007