My Life in Words

A Bit About Me

Since this is my site, I figured I'd put in a little bit about myself. That is, at least enough to understand the reasoning behind what I write.

I have a somewhat diverse background. I graduated Susquehanna Univesity with a BA in Political Science. I dabbled in that field for a little while, volunteering for a congressional campaign and doing some work for a political management firm. When I didn't find anything in politics or the political sphere that spoke to me enough to make a career, I turned to one of my other passions: computers. As it turns out, that was something of a large mistake. The IT industry is not the gold mine it may once have been, and I managed to scrape the bottom of the barrel with the job I chose. Thankfully that one didn't last long.

The next field I decided to try is the one I have enjoyed the most, and the one I can fall back on if any of my future endeavors don't work out. I spent a year studying auto mechanics at Lincoln Tech. This got a me a pretty good job as a technician working for a Volvo dealer. I liked working on the cars, but I never felt that it was meant to be my career, so I kept my eyes open for other opportunities. The one I was looking for presented itself in the form of an opening in Volvo Cars of North America. It spoke to every one of my skills: I needed to be good with a computer, good with people, and have an inside-out knowledge of cars - Volvos in particular. It didn't end up being everything I had hoped. It was quite frustrating at times and Ford's near constant cut-backs made it nearly impossible to even hope for a shot at another position. It did, however, provide me with enough financial security to actually feel comfortable for the first time since I graduated college. Thus, I stuck with it for a year before leaving.

So now I find myself at a bit of a crossroads. I have not decided what to do next, but I am considering graduate school of some sort, and possibly law school. Until then, though, I guess I'll just have to grace anyone who wants to hear them with my opinions.

So here's some background on some of the other stuff I write: Outside of cars, I have one other major hobby: computers - Apple computers in particular. I've been using them since my family got an SE in 1988 and other than a brief period of indiscretion early in college, I've never considered using anything else. Over the past few years I've accumulated quite a collection of older vintage Macs and completed quite a few project machines as well. Recently though, I've focused primarily on laptops; repairing and customizing Powerbooks and even some old Powerbook Duos. Although I don't write much about them now, there are a number of related opinion pieces in the archive section.

Since cars have been my bread and butter for several years now it stands to reason that I care a good deal about my own. Although I used to write quite prolifically about it, I found that nobody but me really cares about that stuff. In stead, in more recent years I have shifted more towards writing reviews of the cars I have driven and, sometimes, auto industry-related items.

Finally there is my dog, Toby. Although he is no longer with us, I felt that I should leave his page as something of a memorial.

View Toby's memorial page here

So that's a little bit about me. Hopefully it gives you enough background to understand the nature of what's I've written and have yet to write. If you have any questions or comments you can feel free to use the "contact" link at the bottom of each page.

 

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