Why Am I On Substack?
Seriously ā¦
I think itās a relevant question.
Why am I posting my pictures, stories, and ideas here on this platform, on this publication, at this time?
ā¦ and why should you (my readers) care?
Well, if youāre thinking about subscribing (or staying subscribed) you should probably know that for me this is more akin to the personal blogs I used to post on 10 or 15 years ago, than any sort of business building project.
In other words, I have no intention of ever trying to āmonetizeā you.
Note: I am tempted to turn on paid subscriptions (and make it as cheap as possible) just to see if anybody will do it simply because they want to. But nothing here will ever live behind a pay wall.
Ultimately, my main goal is to make new friends; both online and even potentially in person. Iāve already had some success on that front.
At some point in the not terribly distant future Iām going to retire from my civil service weather job and Kelly and I are going to travel.
If I can open my Substack and write a note or a post saying something like āHey, weāre going to be in Cool Place, USA or Even Cooler Place, Overseas Country on these datesā and have someone pop on and offer to tell us about (or even better show us) the most interesting non-touristy spots in that area, then this publication will have been a wild success.
BTW, our little corner of southeast Arizona is a pretty cool destination in and of itself, so Iām more than happy to be the guy on the other end of that offer too.
Beyond that, I love to take pictures and tell (hopefully good) stories from my five decades on this earth, living all over the country, and the world.
Both of those things are way more fun if you can share them with others.
lol, we humans are all a little ego driven, so literally the only reason I can think of that I might even like to have thousands of subscribers some day is so that more people might enjoy the things that I write about and/or take pictures of.
Then again, if my circle here on Substack stays relatively small forever, Iām not sure that would necessarily be a bad thing. Iāve always said that if you donāt see me around much online for an extended period of time it must mean that ārealā life is probably going pretty well for me at that moment.
lol, all that when I could have just typed:
Iām here because I like to share pictures and stories, and hope to make some new friends in the process of doing that.
ā¦ but that wouldnāt really make for much of a about page now would it?
Literally, thatās the gist of it. If you subscribe, hopefully youāll get some smiles when you read my posts and notes. š
If you must know a little bit more about me ā¦
I grew up as an Air Force brat who was lucky enough to travel all over the world. I lived in Hawaii for most of elementary school and junior high, then moved to southern California for a few years, before graduating from high school and spending my early adulthood at an Air Force base in England.
After my dad retired and moved us to Florida, I lasted about 6 months before I hitch hiked to the recruiters office and joined the Air Force myself. I served 24 years as an active duty weather forecaster, again, literally all over the world, including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2014, I retired from the Air Force and was lucky enough to get a civil service job also forecasting weather for the Air Force. I moved around several times since then, but currently find myself supervising the weather station at Libby Army Airfield in Sierra Vista, Arizona. This will almost certainly be my last job before I retire a second time.
Over the course of my life I will have had a part in raising 10 kids (5 by birth, 5 steps). Kelly an I currently still have 3 teenagers in the house, and one of my high school aged daughters lives with her mom in Texas. I also have eight grandkids. Unfortunately most are on the other side of the country ā¦ one of the reasons we are looking forward to traveling after I retire.
My favorite hobby is photography. But I also enjoy reading, doing word puzzles, and sometimes catching a good comedy show on one of the far too many streaming services we subscribe to.
I consider myself an optimist. But itās a long-term kind of view. In the moment I can sometimes be as grouchy and disagreeable as anybody else.
Iām working on that. š
If that didnāt cover it, feel free to ask me just about anything:
