I Am. When?

At some point in every person's life there is a voice, a soft whisper, a feeling that resounds throughout the very core of your being, louder than the roar of a volcano erupting and, yet, still quieter than a butterfly's wings; telling, begging you to fulfill a destiny. It is a simple thing to miss, or ignore, and easier to misinterpret, but for some it becomes a guiding call for them. There life's work. A blessing, a curse, a dream and a madness.

When I was still very young I heard that whisper, and while at the time I could not comprehend what it was or what it meant, it has become an obsession of mine; leading me unwittingly throughout my life. Simply, Robotics. It is what brought me into the field of computers, both as a programmer and technician. It is what lead me to join the United States Navy as a Nuclear Electronics Technician. It is what brought me back to computers in the networking field, and further into programming. It is what has made me a technology geek. And I loves me some technology.

Of course there are sides of technology I hate, mostly what people do with it. In particular I have an intense dislike of communications technologies. And not just for the obvious reasons that would lead one to hate mobile phones (which I do and refuse to own), but mostly due to the anonymity they can provide. Or rather that some take advantage of. While I do use much of the same technology that I dislike, I use it with a set of principles that precludes me from hiding behind the phone receiver or the keyboard. If you would not be willing to spend the time speaking directly to a person, face to face, then there is no reason to use other methods. Further, if you would not be willing to say those same words aloud to that same person, then those words are not worth uttering.

Pretty easy. Of course I have digressed from the purpose behind this post: Technology and Andrew Maxim - Chapter 1 - Why I blog. It is my hope to make use of this blog, this conduit into my world, as a means of releasing the random thoughts which so often keep me from sleeping at night. Whether it is a reply to a newspaper article I might have read, or my drooling over a new technology, or a random observation, or even, on rare occasion, a little insight into how I see the world. It is these things that I will likely post on, and should you not have noticed, it covers about everything.

It is also my desire to use these entries as a means towards refining my writing style. I have been told that I am a decent writer, I have even been published a few times in the past, but as any perfectionist will tell you, I can be better. So this will be my medium, the keyboard my pen, and the electrons flowing across these computer systems, this technology I enjoy so dearly, shall be my ink. I hope you enjoy.