InsaneJournal

Current location:	in my head
Current mood:	cheerful
Current music:	Piper at the Gates of Dawn (Pink Floyd)
Entry tags:	me, who am i

Who am I? Why am I here?
Why am I here?

No, this is not the old cliche - I'm not questioning my existence.  What I mean is, "why did I start this blog?"

That requires an answer in two parts: first, a short description of who I am (or, at least, who I seem to be); second, my reasons for posting stuff here, as opposed to on MySpace, or some other type of "social networking" site.

For the first part, answering the question of "Who am I?"

From my bio: I am a polyphasic-sleeping cyber-pagan web developer browncoat hacker potterhead gourmet cook card-playing father of two... and husband of one.  I describe these aspects in order, below, but in general, this blog will mostly focus on the "hacker" and "cyber pagan" aspects, with bits of "polyphasic sleep" and "gourmet cook" (and maybe the other stuff) thrown in for flavor.


I practice "Polyphasic sleep" (look it up).  My schedule, when I keep it, is a variation of the "uberman" method; I sleep for a couple of hours at night (usually go to bed between 1:30 and 2:00am, and wake between 4:00 and 4:30am), and take several naps of 20-30 minutes each, about every 5-6 hours, during the day.  I spend a total of around 4 hours sleeping every 24 hours... which gives me 20 hours of "productive time", compared to most peoples' 16 hours.  (I put that in quotes because my wife and I don't always agree on what defines "productive"...) 
I'd heard about polyphasic sleep a few years ago, but didn't really look into it until last winter.  There weren't enough scientific studies that showed it works, but the anecdotal evidence was pretty convincing, and I figured I'd give it a shot.  So, in early January (this being 2008), I drastically modified my sleeping pattern.  The first few days were difficult - I'd find myself drifting off at my desk, unsure what I'd been doing for the previous several minutes.  After about 4 days of this, my body began to adjust... but my brain still had a bit to go.  My physical needs were taken care of, but strange things would drift across my vision, only to disappear when I tried to look at them.  The hallucinations (if that's what they were) lasted a few more days, but after that, my brain and my body were fully adjusted.  A lot of the stories I'd heard indicated that it should take longer, like two to four weeks, to adjust.  I'd done it in just over one week.  I worried at first that there would be some strange side affect, something I wasn't aware of, but nothing like that manifested.  Looking back, I figured that my meditation (which I've been doing off-and-on for 20 years, but consistently since summer of '07) may have helped me to adjust faster.  Or, maybe my old insomnia helped to prepare my brain.  Whatever it was, I'm here now, so it must have worked. 

I'm a practicing "Cyber Pagan".  I've heard several comments/questions regarding this, so I might as well address them here.
"Oh, Pagan, that means you worship Satan, right?"  Um... no.  Most *real* pagans don't believe in the Judeo-Christian concept of "Satan" (or whatever name you give it); those that do, generally do NOT worship or pray to it.  I researched the Church of Satan (Anton LeVey, etc.), a couple of decades ago, but don't follow their beliefs.  I also looked into several "Satanic cults", but found that all were some sort of sham ("tell 'em what they want to hear"), scam ("tell them Satan needs their money"), or front (that one was dealing drugs behind the black curtain, so to speak).  In any case, that is not who I am.
"Pagan? You mean Wiccan! I know *all* about that!"  Invariably, no, they didn't.  If they knew "all about" Wicca, then they'd know that not all Pagans are Wiccans.  There is a rather distinct difference here - it's like saying "All Christians are Baptists", or "All Moslems are Shi'ite".  There are many who would strongly (and sometimes violently) disagree with those statements.  Yes, Wiccans are Pagans... but not all Pagans are Wiccan.  I'm Pagan, but I'm not Wiccan.
"Cyber Pagan; so you do your rituals in chat rooms, right?" or, "Then you allow people to bring cellphones to rites?"  No, that would be "Techno-Pagan" - Pagans who permit the use modern technology in ritual.  While, yes, "technically" (heh) I could consider myself a "Techno-Pagan", that term is, to me at least, too limiting.  I *have* participated in online rites.  I *do* bring my cellphone (although I generally turn it off, unless there's a reason to be interrupted mid-rite).  But that isn't *all* I use technology for.
As a "Cyber Pagan", I *incorporate* technology into my beliefs and rituals.  My *athame* is a cordless high-temp soldering pen.  I don't see auras, I feel electromagnetic energy fields.  To me, all things are connected, in a vast electronic circuit - problems occur due to shorts, improper voltage, low (or high) currents, and out-of-phase cycles. 

I'm a "Web Developer".  Technically, "Web Application Developer".  Slight yet significant difference.  I create applications (mostly .NET) that run on a website (internal or internet), and that typically utilize back-end databases (generally MS-SQL, sometimes Oracle, mySQL, etc....)  I'm not a Designer - I can create an app to someone else's specs, but my creative talents are more virtual than visual.

I'm a "Browncoat".  In short, I'm a fan of the Firefly television series, as well as the movie Serenity.  For a longer description, see the various websites (in particular, http://browncoats.com/) which describe us.

I'm a "Hacker".  I do not (no longer, at least) crack security encryption, passwords, etc.  I do, however, hack hardware.  Give me a device - mechanical, electronic, wooden... anything that can be taken apart, can be put back together... better than it was.... (or, sometimes, just different than it was....)

I'm a "Potterhead".  That is, I'm a fan of Harry Potter.  My wife (and myself, sorta) has a "Wizard Rock" band, called Hut-on-the-Wrock.  Check *us* out at http://www.myspace.com/hutonthewrock (I mostly just do lyrics, but I'm working on other stuff as well....)

I'm a "Gourmet Cook".  I don't do simple, when it comes to cooking.  Even a hamburger takes on a new dimension when I fire up the grill.  Note that I do NOT claim to be a Chef - those guys simply amazing.  However, I can enter just about any kitchen, rummage through the fridge/freezer/pantry, and come up with some rather tasty dishes... no matter what.  (Well, there has to be SOME food to be found....)

I'm "Card-Playing".  I play Black Jack and Poker.  By that, I mean to say, I win money at blackjack and poker.  I've been playing BJ here and there for (omg) 18 years, ever since a college professor (math) turned me on to it.  I've only really been playing poker for a few years - I used to play nickel-dime ante with friends, but have moved up to larger stakes (usually at casinos).  I like it, not just because it's fun, but because I'm good....

I'm a "Father of Two".  I have two lovely daughters, Morgen, 6 years old, and Liana, 3.
Morgen looks quite a lot like her mother did at the same age; we even fool relatives, when we show pictures of Courtney's youth.  The kid is incredibly intelligent - and that's not (just) a proud father talking.  On a recent "standardized test" (NWEA MAP), she scored in the 98th percentile for reading, and 84th percentile for math.  She's even read Harry Potter!  Morgen is also one of the kindest kids I've known - she immediately befriends anyone new that enters her life, whether it's a new classmate, or a substitute teacher, or adult friends of her various relatives.  If she sees that a kid is being left out of something, for whatever reason, she makes a special effort to include him/her, or even stops whatever she's doing with her friends to go sit/talk/play with the other kid.
Liana takes after me, in more than just looks (poor kid).  She's brave, brash, bold... "active" doesn't begin to describe her level of energy.  She seems fearless, particularly when she's focused on getting something that has caught her eye.  Unfortunately, she doesn't think of the consequences of her actions (such as injury, or punishment), or if she does, it's generally too late.  But it also seems that injuries are something that other kids endure - she has fallen (she would say "jumped") from a 4-foot high porch to hard concrete, only to immediately rebound to her feet and proclaim "I'm okay!", and go running off on whatever errand she had in mind.  She is precocious, in that she feels fully within her rights to be playing - hard - with the bigger, older kids... and doesn't understand when they don't want to play with her.

I'm a "Husband of One".  One rather beautiful, intelligent, loving, witty, beautiful (did I already say that) wife.  Courtney and I have been together for a bit more than 11 years (as of this post), and have been married for just shy of 9.5 years.


Okay, that's me, in a nutshell (kinda like the Universe).


Why am I here?

As for why I'm doing this blog; as stated above, it's pretty much for the Hacker and Cyber-Pagan parts of Who I Am, although I'll throw in other stuff occasionally (like the Supernova Chili recipe I posted the other day).  I don't feel that MySpace is a strong enough venue for some stuff I want to talk about, and I haven't updated my LiveJournal blog (or was it Facebook?) for so long, I don't even remember the password...  This one gets the more-serious, less-hokey stuff, and I'll keep the goofy rants on MySpace.  (Although I am reserving the rite to rant all I want, here, too.)


That's it!  Leave me a message, PM, IM, find me on Twitter, whatever.  As I stated (nearly a year ago) on MySpace, if you have any questions, just ask.  If I can, and it doesn't cause harm to others, I'll answer honestly.  (If I can't answer, I'll let you know that, too... and usually tell you why I can't answer....)