“Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!”
— Automatic first post, words of encouragement

This my obligatory first post for 2016. I’ve tried many times before to start (and keep) a blog, but eventually lack of time, motivation and interest end up letting the blog slowly grow into a state of disrepair and ultimately abandonment. Presented with repeated evidence that this is the final destination for the effort, why keep trying?

To whom much has been given, from him much is expected.¹

As a human being who is inquisitive about the world and wants to go out and experience it, I’ve been helped tremendously by the first-hand descriptions of various places, and travelogues from people of all stripes. I’ve felt more confident when traveling to a foreign place after reading about it, and even without traveling to a place I’ve felt as though I could experience it a bit through the descriptive or humorous writings of others.

As an entrepreneur and small business owner, I’ve been influenced (in good ways and bad) by many great blogs out there. There’s no shortage of useful advice, but in addition I find it motivating to read about the personal experiences of success and failure from people succeeding on a massive scale, or owning a failure on a public stage.

As a self-identified foodie, reading recipes or watching video content online has inspired me to try eating and making new and exciting foods! So many Pinterest “Nailed It!” fails to go along with all the wins.

Finally, as a software developer I’m so indebted to others for their writing in the form of blogs, answers on Q/A sites, tutorials and just plain source code. I’d reckon that the average developer doesn’t go through a single day without referencing a blog or answer site, or reading over someone else’s code or open-source library. While writing software is not just a process of cutting and pasting code found online, it sure helps to find and read the thoughts and code of people who have attacked similar problems in the past and won (or at least lost and logged the failures).

So– I’ve been helped so much, and have enjoyed the content of others for so long that I feel both obligated and excited to contribute as well. Part of the reason the web is so great is that everyone² is able to put their content out there, some of it will be good and some will be not so good, and eventually some of it will end up helping someone. Hopefully I’ll be able to do that, or at least keep this blog going for long enough to say that at least I tried. And if not, there’s always next year.