Now that this blog is expanding beyond my inner circle of friends and is even three and four times removed in some instances, I feel the need to clarify things a bit.  If you read a majority of my ramblings, you’d naturally come to the conclusion that I’m a miserable mope.  Nothing could be further from the truth, at least not nowadays.  Having a wonderful wife and two healthy daughters has really given me the proverbial new outlook on life yet it hasn’t entirely rounded out my rough edges that were sharpened as a youngster in Detroit during that city’s darkest two decades of it’s existence.

I’m not a big talker.  Beginning a conversation with someone is not my strong suit although once a topic has been started I can go on for quite a bit.  My outlet is writing and it always has been since grade school.  It’s my therapy.  When I vent, I feel better.  Thankfully this doesn’t incite the wrath of readers most of the time because I usually follow my own rule of rarely including politics or religion.  I’d rather focus on the minutiae of life, taking time to proverbially smell the roses.  Sure, I might rant on why the petals are turning brown or why was I stupid enough to prick my hand by holding the stem, but that’s because I’m still trying to get out of that lifelong “behind every silver lining is a rain cloud” mentality.  I still attempt to rise above my childhood memories, 98% of which my best friends don’t even know, where the demons in my head still manage to sneak into my dreams every once in a while even at the age of 35.  I expect no pity, though, and would rather focus on the present and future where it’s now possible to put a smile on my face.

With that being said, isn’t most writing that’s memorable based on angst or anger or any other range of extreme human emotions?  Some writers may embellish for readability factors and I don’t begrudge them that at all.  Do I think Hunter S Thompson ingested enough drugs to be an honorary member of Motley Crue or the Rolling Stones?  Absolutely!  But do I also think that he embellished some of his accounts in order to make a more memorable story?  Of course!

Blogs can be snarky and whiny.  Heck, I don’t even like the word “blog”.  It’s a horrific sounding mashup of two words that themselves are inferior.  It’s been over three years and I still can’t think of a suitable replacement word.  I truly try to avoid a lot of blog pitfalls that veer into self-serving or, quite frankly, uninteresting material.  This can be a challenge at times since I write 3-5 times a week and attempt to make a suburban dad seem like an interesting subject, or at least thought-provoking.

I support people wanting to be anonymous while writing online but I can also differentiate two entirely different blog commenters.  It’s one thing to stay anonymous in order to stay off most Google searches for security purposes.  It’s an entirely different matter when someone hides behind a pseudonym (not really an issue on this blog at all but absolutely a huge issue on a lot of sites) in order to be hateful or hurtful.  That’s why you see my name on every blog entry URL.  What I say I stand behind.  I don’t stupidly denigrate my employers or coworkers and if I say anything out of bounds on any subject matter, I should be held accountable.  On the flip side, if something I write makes someone smile or makes them expand their thinking or simply makes them talk about it elsewhere, then that makes me happy.

I welcome all newcomers to the site with open arms.  My blog posts don’t cure cancer, they don’t prevent mosquito bites, and they certainly don’t contain 30% more chocolate.  I truly hope you enjoy my musings and am grateful that I live in an age where a few keystrokes can be read anywhere by anyone and everyone.  I will be updating my links to the right next week so keep an eye out for some new sites to enjoy.