The Alpha Post (All Others Won't Be As Boring)

This is the very first post of my revived blogging effort. At one time, I had 3 completely different blogs that I kept up with, usually adding at least 2 posts per week per blog. It was a relaxing hobby for me at the time, and I genuinely looked forward to coming home after work with something interesting to blog about.

When I used to blog, I worked primarily in construction, frame carpentry in particular, and I worked VERY hard. Ten hour days, six days a week with a small side-job on Sundays. I had to work that much, not out of choice, but out of necessity. My wife had just given birth to our daughter and was not employed. At the time, we lived on the Big Island of Hawaii and the cost of everyday items, gas, milk, diapers and the like were so expensive that I had to sacrifice so that my fledgling family had that solid foothold that every family needs. Actually, "sacrifice" is not the right word. I gladly worked hard for the comfort of my two girls and enjoyed seeing them happy. I guess duty or responsibility would be a better fit, but no matter the word it was a tough and stressful time in my life.

After a long day, I would retire to my "office", a rickety desk I made from scrap lumber that set in a sweltering corner of our laundry room, and add funny, stupid, weird, serious, political, or religious posts to one or more of my blogs. Whatever had struck me as something interesting to discuss during the work of the day, while chatting with co-workers at lunch or some news snippet I caught as I left home in the morning. I never had a set subject for any of my blogs. Of course I tried to focus on a certain topic but inevitably the blog would breakdown to mere ramblings, rants and raves about something or other. The point, as I perceived it, was to have a place to let my mind run wild with nonsensical posts about how some local "bruddha" had snaked a wave from me while surfing, or why it seems you must have nearly super-human strength to slowly lower a 10-pound sledgehammer to your nose then raise it back up. That type of blogging was fun, I must admit, but rather unproductive and inefficient. But as I look back I see that it was more my love for computers and IT that drew me to blogging.

For as long as I can remember I have always been fascinated with computers and information technology. When I was 11 and the WorldWideWeb wasn't so worldwide, I ran my own BBS (Bulletin Board System - And yea I am that old). I used a program called WWIV (someone out there is going to get a kick out of that) to run my Board and I could never figure out what the WWIV stood for. World War 4? At that time, ANSI drawings were all the rage and 1 vs 1 Doom deathmatches over dial-up blew everyones mind, if you had a 600mb harddrive and 16mb of RAM then you had a top of the line computer. Several of the other local BBS administrators and myself created an intranet between 5 or 6 of our computers with the ability to transmit messages from BBS server to BBS server, updated every hour. This sounds ancient and ridiculous, but it was the coolest thing to me and it stoked the fire that is my obsession and love for everything to do with computers.

Ever since those days and no matter what field I worked in, I always studied and learned everything I could about IT. Eventually, I moved out of construction and into more technical fields, starting with Satellite TV installation and moving up to fiber optics and networking, all the time learning and practicing with server side technologies, web design and implementation in my free time. Recently, I decided to pursue my love of computers and IT as a full-time career.

With that in mind and having stumbled over this interesting discussion via LinkedIn about blogs taking the place of resumes. I decided to start blogging again and this time make more professional and coherent (hopefully) posts about subjects pertaining to the many fields of which I have knowledge. Ultimately, maybe I will help someone with an informational tid-bit, maybe a potential client or employer will find my blog a refreshing addition to my portfolio of work, or at the very least maybe I'll just have fun again. Blogging.

I hope to address numerous subjects with this blog, from Joomla! implementation to how to build a deck onto your house! I am sure I will get off track from time to time, but I promise to always strive to make every post helpful and informative in some way.

Here is to the future of the Blog, the open-source CMS, Web 2.0 platforms and smashed keyboards everywhere. Here is to the fence you built with your own two hands, the remote controlled ceiling fan you installed with the help of your wife and here is to every swing of the hammer that misses your thumb. May you all find joy in everything you do and life itself.

-Michael