What?... Why?... Introducing my blog

Well, I finally did it. I started a blog. I have been contemplating it for a while, but it was really after reading some interesting posts recently that I found the inspiration to get going with it.

Truth be told, I have always loved writing, but pencils make my hand cramp up. A teacher in school once said I have the ability to produce wonderful and elaborate stories in writing. My imagination certainly does fire on all 8 cylinders.

My mind wonders... and it wanders. It is like a pack of hunting dogs, fast, loud and purposeful, when it all suddenly comes to a halt and turns to chaos at the smell of a nearby female in heat... and then back again to the chase.

Clay Scroggins calls it A.D.O.P. That is “Attention Deficit... ... ... Oh, Pretty!”

But a lot happens inside this head of mine. I wonder about things. I think about random stuff and sometimes even about things that I consider important. I get nostalgic, especially when driving through a historical area, and even more so when driving through an area of historical importance to me. I observe and I notice things.  I ask questions, and a lot of them and that irritates people. J So now I blog.

My thoughts are very random at the best of times, ranging from trivial everyday stuff (why do viennas come in packets of 20 when hotdog rolls are sold by the dozen?) to more technically interesting stuff, like the difference between a smoothbore and rifled barrel. Or the evolution of music through the ages. And which is bigger, a walrus or an elephant seal? This, of course will lead me to Wikipedia. I easily get lost in Wikipedia. I’m a Wiki-holic. One article leads to links to three others that all have to be followed. So I’ll start out with two articles on the mentioned pinnipeds, opening all kinds of interresting links in the articles when I’ll suddenly find myself following the walrus-Nordic-Scandinavia-Sweden-Sweden in World War II-Swedish Armed forces-Swedish Air force links and end up reading about the SAAB Gripen fighter and comparing it to its various contemporaries. Now I have just finished reading a report on the Indian Air force’s medium multi-role combat aircraft program, won by the French-manufactured Rafale. That’s good news for Dassault Aviation who haven’t managed to gain any successful sales of the Rafale. I would love to have seen the process in selecting it over the Eurofighter Typhoon. That must have been a really intense selection process, they took very long in coming to a decision. They say the end result was based on the total cost of ownership and operation, calculated for a 40 year period, but I’m not so sure. Many countries have purchased the Typhoon and none as yet have bought the Rafale. Is there a reason for that? Political pressure maybe? Is it that Typhoon really is technically superior to Rafale? Rafale can accomplish many more operative functions than Typhoon, and the tender was released to find a multi-role fighter, so I guess it makes sense. I wonder what the key differences are between the two, and if something like the F-18 Super Hornet compares favorably... and ... err... where was I? O yeah, walruses.

So, many things obviously interest me. I love nature, the outdoors, fishing. I have an interest in hunting and camping. I am a scale modeler and I love music, particularly the heavier stuff. I play golf when I can, which really is never and I’m a mountain biker on top of that. I am fascinated by most things military and historical. I have a particular interest in collecting biographies of famous people, well I love books to be honest. I love my family and I consider myself a keen observer of people. I love hard work, I can watch it for hours. I consider myself a student of the Bible, but I ask a lot of questions about what I discover. Discovery is end the result of the thinking process of ‘question/answer/discuss’, is it not? So some of my ideas are a little ‘out there’. That irritates people too. JJ But I question and I discover, even if I just discover I am horribly wrong in my thinking.

So that’s me. What will I blog about and why should you bother reading any of it? Well, I’ll blog about whatever will be going on in my mind at the time. Anything that I spend more than a few minutes thinking about is noteworthy material. I believe many people have the same overactive cognitive activity going on, and I share interest with many others, so there might just be something in here for everyone. I’ll even add pictures if it’ll help. Maybe some people can help answer some of the inane questions I have, or the scholars out there can help answer some of life’s more difficult questions. I will do a timeline of my life and share some of the many moments that have made my life a pleasure to live. I will tell some of the funny stories of my exploits, and even share how I almost brought peace to the Middle-East, or started WWIII, whichever way you look at it. No, I’m not a politician or even a person of influence, which makes this story really peculiar. It happened on the day Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as president of South Africa, my country of residence. It was a historic day in Pretoria, quiet and filled with expectation. It was right in the middle of my one year of military service and my unit was on guard duty in the streets Pretoria at the time. I myself stood in front of the entrance to the German Embassy when it happened. A convoy of.... wait, I just did it again. I digressed. Darn it! This one is for another day.

But that’s it from my side for now. I thought I would introduce myself before I get started on the juicy stuff. Besides, my two typing fingers are really cramping up now...