After six-plus years of TPRS, the time has come for a change. The biggest reaon for this is that I’m no longer living in Seabrook, TX. For the past few months, I’ve been living in Beaverton, OR, a suburb of Portland. Being 2500 miles removed from the Texas Gulf Coast (thankfully, because I HATE Houston), it seems a good time for a name not associated with a particular geographic location. TPRS was never really about Seabrook or Texas, anyway. They’ve both occupied my attention from time to time but I’ve known to let my imagination wander. My focus has always been primarily (but hardly exclusively) on national and international issues as well as human stupidity (which may be redundant), and I think What Would Jack Do? is more reflective of that…not to mention that it’s a truly ironic anagram. Yeah, I know; I’m probably on the Expressway To Hell for that, but at least it will be an interesting trip.
Yes, the name has changed…and not necessarily to protect the innocent. Call it an evolution or a makeover. Call it rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Whatever you might call it, not much of substance will change. That much I can promise.
I do owe a HUMONGOUS debt of gratitude to David Flanders for the graphics (and there are a few more I’m hoping can be fit in somewhere) and to James Bow, who has been kind enough to function as my de facto IT department over the years. Yes, it’s all about knowing your limitations, and while I know writing, I couldn’t code my way out of a whorehouse in the middle of a police raid. Accordingly, I’ve sworn to sacrifice a goat and consume it’s still-beating heart at midnight during the next full moon as an expression of my gratitude.
For those of you who may be new to this little cobwebby corner of da Interweb, allow me to introduce myself. I’ve been blogging since 9.3.01 when I was a contract technical writer for Enron in Houston. The People’s Republic of Seabrook initially began as a project to teach myself HTML. Yes, once upon a time, TPRS was coded completely in HTML…back in the day, when I had to walk fives miles uphill both ways to school, usually in a driving snowstorm.
I’ve always had a gift for writing, and while I’m still hoping that I’ll find a paying writing gig at some point in my life prior to shedding my mortal coil, this gives me an opportunity to keep my hand in the game. I love to write, I have a lot to say, and I have a bad attitude- not the greatest of combinations, but I gotta work with what I got, eh?
I’m a soon-to-be officially single (not by choice) approaching-middle-age male who’s been fortunate enough to been granted a keen intellect and the gift of curiosity. I’ve discovered that there’s very little in this world (including myself) that doesn’t deserve to be ridiculed somewhere along the line. If I can inject a different viewpoint and enough snark to make someone think (or just thoroughly piss someone off), then I’ve accomplished what I set out to do.
I grew up in far northern Minnesota, about two hours south of the Canadian border. I’d like to say that growing up while enduring -40 and -50 degree winter days developed my character, but it mostly created an intense desire to escape. Perhaps that might explain my wandering ways.
I’ve lived and worked in three different war zones, I’ve danced my way around minefields and booby traps, and i’ve almost been shot by a Turkish soldier. To say that these events have left me with a warped perspective would be something of an understatement. One doesn’t stand in the middle of a Croatian village with snipers 100 meters away without being profoundly changed. Neither does one traipse through Cyprus’ Green Line without developing a distaste for war and the suffering it creates. I’ve seen far too much of man’s inhumanity to man, and it’s left me with an abiding hatred of nationalism in all it’s forms.
This new site will be a continuation of the old one for me, in that it will be part therapy, part practicing something I’m passionate about (writing), and part stream-of-consciousness, foaming-at-the-mouth rambling. Oh, and in case you might not have noticed, I’m kind of all over the place. I write about what interests me- whether it’s politics, religion, hockey, Republican sex scandals, or Turkish oil wrestling…or anything else that pops into my point li’l haid.
I hope that you’ll enjoy WWJD. If you have suggestions or reactions, I’d love to hear them. It’s my sandbox, but it’s always gratifying to discover that someone is actually paying attention.
Cheers…. ;-)
