The Autobiography of a Hoosier Boy

Freddie made a comment the other day that struck home with me.  She said

I figure you must like to argue HB. I’m way too hotheaded for that.

Not you, though. I think you DO make some headway sometimes. But it seems like a LOT of work, for almost no reward.

It does seem that way. I started my other blog in March of 2005. It seems like forever in the past. At the time I was working in a remote office, alone. I worked for a very small Italian company as their sole representative in the US. All I did was sales. Customer service, quality, engineering, invoicing were all handled elsewhere. I had little to no contact with people outside of my customers. Business was good, but new sales were nearly impossible to gain, as our company had a very limited product offering, and a person can only spend so many hours a day prospecting. Over months and years the list of possible customers shrinks.

I had worked alone for a number of years. In those cases order entry and customer service as well as engineering etc. were on shore. There was no 6 hour time difference. I talked to people in the company every couple of days. Sometimes we had long conversations. I often traveled with marketing and product managers. In other words, there was a lively give and take. With the Italians, there was little to no contact.

I guess you could say I was bored. I would go days or even a week speaking to nary a soul during the day. The wife would head for work and the kids to school. I drove to my office and spent the next eight hours with no human contact. I needed a release, someone to tell my jokes, rant my politics. The wife had heard my bad puns for far too long and she had no interest in politics, so it was time to spew my many thoughts to someone, even it was an audience of zero on the interwebz.

It took a long time for anyone to notice. Like many of you, The Acidman sent me a nice email with sound advice. He told me to find my own voice, a task I have yet to master. Maybe I can reach that goal here. In any case the other place has built a small but loyal following of 60 to 100 hits a day. I am happy with that. It is the outlet I need to ssdiscuss politics, tell jokes, rant about sports.

I know some readers do not like me to spend so much time on politics. I do like to argue, and since I am trying to be honest here on this site, I really do like to be right. It is a character flaw I have worked on, but sometimes I can not help myself. I am not the bulldog I once was, but often I cannot let idiots have their say without pointing out they are idiots. With the exception of “that one site”, I rarely offer arguments on other people’s blogs. In fact I rarely comment. I think I have little to add to the conversation, or it has already been said or I post my thoughts at my own site. I love comments, but spare others my brain dribbles.

Anyway, yes it is a lot of work for little reward. But I love every minute of it. I post away almost every day, having the conversations I do not have at home or work. With the exception of my brother and one or two bloggers I have met, I am an anonymous shouter in the windy ethernet. I plug away in the confines of my home office, my famlly oblivious to my weird hobby. I like it that way.

So here we are. This site is nearly year old and I rarely post to it. I think I will use it to place my more personal stuff, like this post. Stuff I do not care to share with the multitudes. Over time, the need for approbation and acceptance will lead me to post links and try for the hits that make blogging worthwhile. I have no illusions. Typing one-sided conversations to the internet is no different than talking to yourself in a second stroy office.

It is weird, you want people to show up, but when they do it spoils the whole thing. Some of you bloggers will understand.

If you accidently showed up here, you are welcome. If you came on purpose, Thank you.

I will end quoting the most worthwhile thing ever written by Kurt Vonnegut:

“and so it goes…”