Web page of Gavin A. Kitchens

I originally created this site to market myself to potential employers, but it is slowly expanding beyond that. All opinions contained herein are my own and do not represent the opinions or interests of any other entity with which I may be associated. If you have any comments or suggestions, please use the guestbook banner below or send an e-mail using the icon below.

Currently, I am a geologist with an environmental services firm in Columbia, Maryland. I am not currently seeking employment, but am always open to consideration of new opportunities. I am, however, looking for an appropriate graduate program. If you are looking for prospective employees or graduate students, then look at my resume and send an e-mail if you think I would be a good fit for a particular opening.

Among my many interests are libertarian philosophy and economics, caving, and horse racing.

I'm a libertarian (not a Libertarian). A libertarian is neither conservative nor liberal and is more consistent in ideology and values than the modern representatives of such. We believe in individual freedom, personal responsibility, limited government, and the free market. For a visual description (and a much better representation of ideology than the narrow-minded left-right view perpetuated by the media), take the World's Smallest Political Quiz. I reject the Republican and Democratic Parties and the notion that Americans must choose between them and no others. I view this corruption as a source of many of America's problems. You can keep up with ballot access issues by reading Ballot Access News, published by Richard Winger. Among the causes I support are the Free State Project, the Institute for Justice, and the Cato Institute.

Paul Pushkar introduced me to caving in 1995. I joined the National Speleological Society the following year. I've since been a member of the Dayton Underground Grotto and the Louisville Grotto, although I do not currently have a Grotto affiliation. Eventually, after gaining more experience, I may want to join the Cave Research Foundation, which is devoted to karst research. Following are some of the caves I've caved in (at least those I can remember): Climax and Pine Hill in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, Sloan's Valley in Pulaski County, Kentucky, Queen Blair in Monroe County, Indiana, Blissits in Breckenridge County, Kentucky, and Goochland in Rockcastle County, Kentucky. I also caved in three caves in the Rudope Mountains in Bulgaria. One was called Crystalna and I don't know the other two names. I also like touring show caves. The commercial caves I've visited include Mammoth Cave, Ohio Caverns in Logan/Champaign County, Ohio, Stump Cross Caverns in North Yorkshire, England, Diamond Caverns in Barren County, Kentucky and Hidden River Cave in Hart County, Kentucky.

Get ready for Kentucky Derby 134 on 3 May 2008, Preakness Stakes 133 on 17 May 2008 and Belmont Stakes on 7 June 2008. I've been betting on the Kentucky Derby since 1997 and, although I've spent many hours handicapping races, I've yet to pick a Derby winner. The closest I've come were Victory Gallop, who finished third in 1998 and Empire Maker, who finished second in 2003.