As if sky diving, scuba diving, kung fu and flying weren't enough, John Barker recently decided to try parasailing. He also rides horses and is learning how to sail. "I draw the line at bungee jumping, though," Barker says. "I like to feel that I have at least a little control over what I'm doing, and with bungee jumping, you're definitely not in control. Gravity is."

What would induce this computer scientist and father of UD sophomore Amanda Barker to sample activities that most of us would view as crazy, dangerous, or, at the very least, outside the mainstream? After all, what's wrong with golf, gardening or gourmet cooking?

Barker's answer to that question goes back to 1987, when he suddenly became a single parent to his 5-year-old daughter and a son who was not yet 2. "My sister urged me to get out and do something different," Barker recalls, "so I decided to try scuba diving."

Since then, he's dived in places ranging from Pennsylvania quarries to the California coast, from the Bahamas to the Florida Keys. His deepest feat was a dive 110 feet below sea level to a German U-boat that was sunk off the coast of North Carolina during World War II. He now holds several diving certificates and has nearly completed the requirements for a master diver.

Barker is also a student pilot. He has been interested in airplanes since he was a child, and he finally began taking flying lessons in 1992. That year also marked his first horseback-riding experience. "After traveling for work during most of 1992," Barker says, "I promised my kids that when I got back from a lengthy business trip in Italy, I would do something interesting with them." The trio set out for Colorado, where they spent a week at a dude ranch, riding horses in the mountains. Their riding took them to almost 10,000 feet above sea level.

"I think it's kind of funny," he says, "that I've ridden horses at higher altitude than I've piloted a plane, and I've landed a plane at a lower altitude than my deepest scuba dive--Thermal Airport in Death Valley is 136 feet below sea level."

Kung fu came into Barker's growing list of activities through his son, Michael, who is now 15. "About six years ago, the school counselors and teachers told me he was hyperactive and needed to be on Ritalin," Barker says. "I didn't want to put him on drugs but knew that I had to do something to control and direct his energy. We passed a king fu studio on the way home from school every day, so one day we stopped in and decided to enroll Michael."

He loved it, and Barker soon decided to enroll his daughter, Mandy, now a sophomore at UD. "I knew she'd be dating soon, and I figured it would be good for her to have those skills. Then, I decided to do it, too; I realized that the kids would be driving soon, and I'd need to be able to say 'no' when they asked for the car!" Michael and Mandy are now black belts. Barker's new stepdaughter, 9-year-old Katie, has already caught up to him by achieving a brown belt, too. "My wife claims I'm on the ten-year plan," he says.

Sondra, Barker's new wife, is the only family member not participating in kung fu, but she's more than busy herself with school. A registered nurse, she met Barker while caring for his terminally ill father several years ago. After they were married, she broke her arm. "She couldn't work with a broken arm," Barker says, "so she decided to go back to school rather than sit around waiting for it to heal." Sondra received her bachelor's degree last December, is now working on her master's degree and expects to be certified as a nurse practitioner sometime in 2002.

The only new thing Barker is contemplating doing now is going back to school for his Ph.D. "But, I'm not ready just yet," he says. "I don't have the time right now. It sounds trite, but losing someone you love makes you realize that life is short and there are no guarantees. If there's something you dream about doing, you need to do it now because you don't know if you'll be around to do it next year or when your kids are grown up. I'm determined to live life to its fullest every day."

And, live it he does, although he insists he doesn't do anything dangerous, except ride a motorcycle. What about all those other activities--flying, sky diving, parasailing and scuba diving? They're not dangerous? "Not really," he says, laughing. "You only make one bad landing in your life. Anything you can walk away from is a good landing."