Crankcase

Two bags of jelly beans, a ten-year old and a Tilt-A-Whirl.

My foist ethereal possession! Yes, I finally broke down and got myself a blog. Some will say I waited until the blog bandwagon was overloaded enough to avail the need of jumping on, other will cry of my cheapness, but I finally got one, so quit yer crabbin'. Since this is my first post, I'll regale you with tales of the wet sack of biochemistry that is me.

Born to traveling gypsies in the south of France... oh sorry, wrong personality coming through. New Jersey born, raised, educated and mutated here, although I hail from a part of the state that was almost exclusively farmland when I grew up. True that there are some pretty cruel jokes about the Garden (Apartment) State, but much like the hazardous waste we're famous for, the place gets under your skin and doesn't wash off easily.

I'm a 30 something guy (although much closer to twenty somethings in that age spectrum), married with a wife and a four legged kid named Maggie (no, not a mutation due to groundwater contamination, but a year old Lab mix). I live near the shore, far enough away to miss most of the traffic in the summer but close enough that we can go without making it look like anEverest expedition. We're new home owners, not that the house is new, but it does make for some...interesting weekends. Although I have a good electrical background (I come from a family of electricians), carpentry, plumbing, painting, sheetrock, etc. skills are being learned at an exponential rate. Still, I wouldn't trade the house in for the steaming hole of an apartment in a steaming hole of a beach town we lived in before. Thanks, but you can keep all the drunken Bennies and feral cats.

Although my hearing is starting to go (it's genetics, but I trade off by having excellent eyesight) I have a deep fascination with music. I know most people like music, but I really only started listening to music in my late teens. And that was with 50's do wop when everyone else was clamoring for U2 and INXS (and they wonder why no one can spell now!). I've since caught up and pretty much have secretly vowed to not get caught in an audio eddy current like so many other folks (i.e. if you listen to "lite" rock, even vaguely like Kenny G or Michael Bolton, chances are you're in an eddy). To that end, I can and do listen to just about any music imaginable. Miles Davis, Korn, Morphine (you left us much too soon, Mr. Sandman), Zeppelin, G. Love, John Lee Hooker, Bobby Hughes Experience, Hank Williams Sr. (I owe that to a college prof) and a long list of many others. Other than rap (nothing personal, but how many times can you talk about slapping your ho and being the baddest m-f'er on the block and still make it sound original?) and said lite rock, if it plays sounds and has some recognizable rhythm I'll lend it an ear. Or two.

I work in a mid-sized engineering firm, although I'm not an engineer (I just wear nice ties like them). I am an "enivronmental planner," which roughly translates into "pay me enough and I'll shovel sand against the tide." Originally it meant mapping out wetlands (in case you were curious, no one in my office has found any dead mob guys. Yet.). Now I work with something called Geographic Information Systems, or GIS for short. In a pistachio shell, GIS lets you create maps and put reams of data behind anything on that map. If you were looking at a map of your town, GIS would let you get info on schools, fastest driving routes, nearby utilities, population, recreation areas, ZIP codes, anything you could think of. Sure beats a black dot and a name. In two words: bitchin' stuff. If you want to know more about GIS, go here.

Kinda surprised at how much I cranked out during a lunch hour and still only barely scratched the surface. My computer at home is down at the moment (the hard drive bought the farm), so I'm reduced to cranking out my blather on my lunch break. Hopefully, I'll be able to add to this at home once I get things back up and running. Until tomorrow then.

posted by: Jiggsy at 10/22/03 11:44 | link | comments |

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