About me (aka Who is this Raving Lunatic?)

Since I have some idea of the types of things that I intend to post here, I figured it might be a good thing to give my potential blog stalkers a wider insight into the brain that is putting this stuff into the blog-o-sphere. Like many, I am a Father (notice the capital F...there is a difference), and Husband. I work in "big ticket" sales; which is an interesting environment in and of itself. No other work environment that I have immersed myself into, and there have been many over the years, has had the double barrelled hit of ranting distrusting customers on one side and screaming distrusting bosses on the other. Despite the bitterness and interesting perspective on the human condition that this work environment tends to give you, I am told that I am amazingly level headed and rational. After some of my future posts, you may choose to have a different opinion, and that is OK.

I am originally from behind the Orange Curtain; so, politically I was raised in an environment where the little "(D)" next to a candidate's name may as well have stood for "Dead", but as I have grown up and seen more of the world, I seem to identify more with the Libertarian perspective. Maybe one day I will even finally get off my butt and research the basic party principles enough to change my official party affiliation. For now though, I like having my vote be counted in a way that it wouldn't if I officially changed my party status. I like to think of it as changing the system from the inside.

On Fatherhood, I am a super breeder by today's standards. Again, something that gives me a unique perspective on child rearing. With a family as large as mine there are times when I feel more like a prison warden than a parent. Yes, we actually have to do head counts, and bed checks before we feel comfortable relaxing after an already long day. I am also an only child, so every day is a learning process in regards to how much chaos, and what kind, is normal or at least to be expected. Fortunately, my wife is not an only child and tries to help me understand that our house is actually pretty tame by the standards of her youth. There is a reason that we have been together long enough to have a 9 year old (at the time of this posting). If I remember correctly I think that puts us around our Silver anniversary in Today's world.

My wife and I actually talk about our issues. Even more amazingly, we actually try to listen to each other and understand what the other one is saying. Just a hint for any of you newbies to the world of marriage, especially with kids...MARRIAGE REQUIRES WORK AND CONTINUED INPUT. I know that everyone says that "they aren't going to become like our parents", but when push comes to shove everyone reverts to what their parents did to them; after all, it worked on me. My wife and I have taken a different approach on this too. We have a pact; she doesn't let me do the things I hated when my parents did them to me and I don't let her do what she hated when her parents did them to her. That requires that we talk to each other, try to understand who the other one is and how we got to be who we are. Did I mention that marriage and parenting takes work...OK, just checking.

I am an educated individual, though it may not show since it is after 2:00am at the time of this writing. I have a degree in a very obscure major, from a very good university. Unfortunately, since there are only six of us on the planet at last check, it is not a very lucrative degree to have in its own right. You would not think that this would be the case based on simple supply and demand; but, you have to remember that law of economics applies to both the supply side and the demand side of the equation. And I apparently chose the wrong side of the equation. I am not bitter by this. I am still passionate about my degree field, and I made peace with the financial downside of my field a long time ago.

That said, I love to learn and challenge that learning. I use friendly debate as a sort of litmus test of an idea. If an idea can not stand up to scrutiny and grow and expand from the practice, it probably isn't that good of an idea. I know that eventually there will be people reading this monster and most likely commenting on the things that I say here. I look forward to putting what is, until now my own mental rantings and observations to the test in the outside world. I will most likely comment on your comments and create a whole side conversation with you my future audience. I do expect certain rules of decorum to apply to both your postings and my replies. There is a difference between debating an idea, or the post that puts it out into the universe, and a slam. I would hope that we can both keep that difference in mind.