If you have stumbled across this page, you may be asking why I have decided to start blogging now. The answer to this question is multi-faceted and based on a couple different factors which I will discuss below. I have been kicking around the idea of blogging for quite some time, but I have never had the time or technology to do it the way that I wanted to… until now.
Since I became aware of and gained access to the world wide web, there has always been a social aspect to participation in the digital age. My first service provider, AOL, had many great community spaces to participate in and connect with others from across the globe. After that, I found different message boards to join that were related to my many interests. Then social media became simple and mainstreamed with the launch of MySpace, then Twitter came along, then Facebook opened to the public, then Twitter became X, then BlueSky launched… you get the picture. All these changes have left my thoughts and ideas spread far and wide across the internet under a myriad of usernames and identities; many which I can no longer remember. With the continuous evolution of how we communicate on the web, this will be a continual issue if I were to simply keep switching services. Hosting this blog will allow me to keep all my thoughts, rants, and ideas in a singular and easy to access place. Finally, I am looking to move off most social media sites. I have recently deleted my account on X as it has become a cesspool of ideocracy. Facebook is getting tiresome, and I am preparing to take a long hiatus from it; I have no current plans to delete my account as I do use it to stay connected to my military brothers and sisters across the globe. Reddit has become annoying since it went public, and I do not enjoy it the way that I used to. I have dabbled in BlueSky since its launch and am currently enjoying it, I am not committed to building a large presence there.
Along with the changing social media landscape, I am tired of constant changes to EULAs, data breaches, data sales, and the like. I have been working of the past year to limit my data exposure on the web as I am tired of the endless issues. My information has been part of many of the largest data breaches, and even more less know events, and I am sick and tired of having to “clean up” after negligent companies. Further, as you watch the EULAs evolve, it is getting to a point where no matter what damages are caused by a company, you are signing away your right to litigate, nearly every EULA that you agree to these days has an arbitration clause where you waive your right to sue (I am sure that I will write about this at some point when I feel like getting political).
Since graduating, I have gone from writing hundreds of pages a year to nothing. I do not want to let my writing skills atrophy. I want to continue to develop my style and improve my writing as I will likely be writing a lot more if I decide to pursue a terminal degree in the future (think dissertation).
I have a passion for learning technology. Hosting this blog is just a piece of what I am teaching my self in my home lab. Maybe one day I will make a post about my lab and what I have learned.
This is likely the most straightforward reason… putting my thoughts down in writing is just plain therapeutic. I bottle so much thought and useless knowledge in my head that it gets in the way of thinking about other things. Putting the proverbial pen to paper allows me to work thorough complex problems, ideas, musings, etc. and free up space in my noggin for other things.
In closing, I am glad that you stopped by to check this out. Maybe you find some of my writings useful or enjoyable, maybe not.