Hey, it works! That’s how a lot of beginning programming books start you off, with the simplest little program you can write. I thought it appropriate to start off my educational experiment in public writing in the same spirit. This is an imperfect start to what I’m sure will be an imperfect blog, but how else are you gonna start? Well… maybe an introduction?

Hi there! I’m Mike. Thanks for stopping by to read a few words. There are more on the way.

I was recently asked why I wanted to start a blog. What is it about? Honestly, I have no idea. This is an exploration. I want to see what I can make here. If I can produce something worthwhile here, I’ll keep going. And more significantly, I want to see what I can learn from the experience. As I start off, there will be plenty of ongoing changes and plenty of mistakes along the way. The changes will settle down. The mistakes will continue, speed the learning process, and hopefully decrease over time. For starters, I’m hoping to post a few times a week with the most interesting things I’ve come across. I’ll get a better feel for what the blog wants to be about as I go on.

What’s with that One Page Ahead?
I do tech support. In our world, the definition of an expert is someone who’s One Page Ahead (in the manual) of the customer. It could be a derogatory term. I’ve seen complaints about instructors who were only one page ahead of their students. For the purposes of this blog, I prefer to think of it as amusing self deprecation.

I’m no more expert than you. But I like to read. I like to figure out how some things work. I like to point people to answers I’ve already found. I like to stay on top of the latest cool things on the net, on computers, technology… I’ve also noticed a few neat things in the world beyond my computer as well. And if I come across something rather interesting, it could be fun to write about it. Theoretically I could then be an expert on something.

The key here… what’s really more important is whether you get something out of whatever I’m throwing words at. I’m not writing just to see my own words in print on the World Wide Interweb. No, really. There’s enough of that out there already and you didn’t spend more than two minutes reading them. I don’t want to waste your time. Ok, yes, there could be cat photos at some point. But beyond that… well, I like being a helpful guy. If I can write about something that’s useful to you, helpful, entertaining, makes you laugh, or makes you see the world in a fascinating new way, then I’ve brought something positive to the world. Rockin’!

So I’m gonna go write some stuff. And if you feel like it, drop me a note in the comments. I’d really like to hear from you, and I know you’ve got something you just can’t wait to share. Plus I need to figure out comments before the comment spammers show up. So many things to figure out here…