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All About Me

Music, Art, Philosophy, Science, Religion, Current Events, Politics, Pre-Romanticism Literature, Education, Technology, SciFi Movies and Fantasy Novels (and much more) are my interests. You will find writings on most (and hopefully all-at some point) of the topics. Some of my posts are unedited ramblings that my mind has captured from floating around in this ethereal space. Most posts are researched (some quite heavily) and I try to provide accurate and interesting material that both the expert and lay-person can enjoy.

I am a music-loving philosophy enthusiast who likes to stargaze for long nights while contemplating our existence and trying to determine which candidate I should vote for next. At least, that's what my wife tells me, and it’s a pretty good description. I also love to meddle with photography and pretend that I’m at least competent at taking pictures. I try to hit the hiking trail at least once a week and on good days I remember my camera.

I spent over three years in shoe retail. While I did enjoy the job, recent unethical management practices has forced me to find another occupation. I decided to look for something a bit different, and found it. I now work with a non-profit company that helps and supports people with intellectual disabilities. This kind of work has proved to be challenging on many occasions and quite rewarding. I’m still in the training phase (for the most part) and look forward to that being over.

My wife has her own page on here (check out the rose archives). She has two beautiful wonderful girls who love to go to the park and occasionally walk the trails with us.

About this Site

The main purpose of this site is to provide an outlet for my interests, a way for me to express my thoughts and opinions on just about anything that interests me. I love to read, I love to research and study. This site has evolved several times from a simple blog on blogger to what you see here. I've used several different blogging software and have found that while I like the aesthetic look of iWeb, it just is not functional enough for what I am wanting to do. Now I use Rapidweaver and have been pleased with the results. The downside is Rapidweaver does not provide nice cut-and-paste looks for their pages and so it takes a bit of work to make this site look as good as iWeb, but this software gives me more opportunities and more options and hopefully it will evolve into a better site and blog than what I've produced before.

One major change to this site is the content. Before I had a few blogs that were just focused on their topic. I would post anything that was related to that topic. What I found was that it was just too much work. I have very little amount of time each day that I can spend on this blog and it is only one of a few interests that I have (see above). I love to think of myself as an autodidact and a scholar/researcher. However, if I am going to have four unguided blogs, then all of my time will be spent finding and writing material for these blogs instead of reading and studying the things I really enjoy. Therefore, each blog will have a focus on something that I'm studying. Each post will be my notes on the subject. I like to think of myself as a writer, so I'll try to keep the posts interesting and relevant. However, if you don't have an interest then I don't expect you to read it. This site is not here for you, it is here for me. It is my outlet, my experiment. Why publish on the web for the world to see? Simply because I have a need to somehow have a positive impact in the world. I desperately wish to move people, to inspire them, to help shape and change them. Though it is doubtful that these blogs will do that, keeping my interests to myself and not sharing what I learn and am passionate about then gives my interests very little meaning and my life becomes dull and apathetic. So, here is my writings available to anybody and everybody who cares to read them.

I love debate and discussion. Anywhere you see a comment field, feel free to leave something. I will read them all and will respond to most. I have full control over the comments so if there is something that is inappropriate or unwarranted and irrelevant then I can delete those comments and/or ban that user from leaving any more comments. Likewise, I provide a way to email me on each page (at the bottom) and welcome any emails. A lot of the material I study is, quite obviously, from books written by others. The notes (and posts) I write are always in my words and any literal writing taken from others' material is always quoted and I try to always show the source. I do not like plagiarism. While some of the words may be mine, the ideas and concepts many times are not. I will not provide this disclaimer on every page for two reasons, I don't want to, and I feel it's just not needed. If you feel I have left out credit, simply let me know. I am all for giving credit where it is due.

As stated before this site and these blogs are for my own purpose. If you enjoy what you read, then more power to you. If not, feel free to tell me why and then feel free to not read anymore. Visit any time. I try to update often. At any rate, enjoy.

About the Blogs

I like to think that each blog has its own personality, its own style. Most posts, you’ll find, are conversational and vary in topic. Occasionally I will write a post that is all fact, formal, and educational, but I like for my writing to be enjoyed. Also within the blogs will be subpages which basically are papers that are just too long to fit in one post. These subpages will often cover a single topic in length and include a lot of resources. They are my attempt to fully explain in detail some concept or idea that interests me so much that I took the time to research and write about. I figured that since I took the trouble to research and write, I might as well do something with it to make it worthwhile. Since I am no longer in school, those papers are published here. I always welcome any comments, suggestions, criticisms, etc.

Broiled Astroscovery
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I love learning about the universe, how it works, what it’s made of, etc. In this blog you can read about ancient/current/future astronomical events, new discoveries, technology, science fiction/fantasy, and almost anything else related to astronomy. I will also write about myths, controversies, and misconceptions: what’s right and what’s wrong. The approach I take with this blog is one where I search out news, events, and ideas that are interesting to me and then will attempt to write a well-informed post. While I try to keep the posts interesting, I also try to keep them educational. This approach allows me to write about my interests as well as force me to know something about those interests well enough to relate it to others. I am a very visual person; I learn best through visualization and this often creates problems when turning what I see in my mind into audible/readible words. Sometimes it is not very successful, however this blog is an attempt at getting better.

Broiled Music
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Rock, Pop, Classical, Blues, Jazz, Ballet, Alternative, Hip-hop, Opera, Gospel, Hard Rock, Grunge, Emo, Reggae, R&B, New Age, and just about any other genre is what you’ll find here. Actual music will be featured with an article about the piece. I’ll also post reviews and commentaries about concerts, events, lectures, and most anything else found locally. Just about anything related to music and art can be found here. Update (3/21/2010): I will no longer be posting to this blog, at least temporary. It has become apparent to me over the past few months that I have taken tried to do too much and my life just does not allow for that. Music is a passion for me and hopefully as I become more comfortable and successful in my other projects I will then return to writing about music. I have decided to leave the blog up as that will prove greater encouragement for me to reach a point where I can return to my music.

Broiled Philosophy
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I love those philosophical questions that seem to stem from thin air as if our thoughts are just floating around in space waiting for our minds to grasp. Find a question here and read my attempt at an educated answer. Philosophy is one of those topics that can be so broad that attempts to some semblance of knowledge leaves the seeker even more dumbfounded, confused, and more lost than they were before. I’ve done a lot of reading on the subject of philosophy and barely understand 2 cents of what I read. Despite that, I have started taking a cautious and thorough approach which should prove more successful. However, my writing is still premature which leads to one of the purposes of this blog in the first place: an opportunity for me to get my writing down and out in the world where it can hopefully be met with helpful criticism and further me in my personal quest for knowledge. Since my venture into this is still premature, much of the posts will be educational, and as I get more comfortable with the subject then will my posts become more opinionated, thought-out, and responsive. I do not know the future of this blog, as with previous blogs I have had to discontinue posting due to it simply being overwhelming. However, as far as plans go, this one has a future.

Broiled Photography
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I believe in complete freedom of expression including using photography. I have read that several photographers think that photography should only be used to reflect the world and the artistic interpretation should be left up to painters and sculptors and other artists. I completely disagree. I use photography to interpret the world in as many creative and artistic ways I can imagine. All of the photos in this blog have been taken by me, edited by me, and belong to me. They are my interpretation. Broiled Photography is actually not a blog at all, but collection of photo albums where, on the main page I display photos I am most proud and subpages of photos and events I have attended. Compared to many photographers, I use a very low-end generic consumer camera and two pieces of free software: iPhoto (came with my Mac) and Image Tricks.

Updated: 3/27/10