The Militant Moderate

This blog contains
The semi coherent ramblings of a quasi, pseudo,
wannabe, maybe, kinda-sorta, not really, intellectual,
old enough for the Senior Discount, but too young for Social Security.


I have spent most of my life inside my own head
It is really not a bad place to be.
At my age, it is not likely to change.
Sometimes it is lonely,
but usually I am content.
I don't have to ask permission.
I don't have to coordinate, placate or pacify.
My imagination can take me
to some wild and wonderful places.

When I was young(er), I liked to write,
but somehow life got in the way.

Retired IT manager.
Very married, with 2 children (son & daughter), 2 stepsons, and 2 grandsons.

(Considerably fewer than)
10,000 fascinating facts about me!

1. Raised in a factory town where everyone works for Olin Corporation, most making small arms ammunition.
2. My grandfather was a gardener/handyman for Mr. Olin.
3. My jr high school sports teams were the bullets.
4. My high school was in another factory town built around oil refineries.
5. My high school sports teams were the Oilers
6. My father was a Marine in WWII.
7. After the war he married my mother, who was 16, worked in a steel mill, then as a police officer, then as a security officer in another steel mill, then as a fireman at Olin.
8. He was a volunteer fireman in my home town for 20+ years.
9. He once arrested James Earl Ray.
10. He has always been involved in local politics and served one term as a village trustee.
11. My mother was once a union shop steward at Olin.
12. She has been an election judge for as long as I can remember.
13. She encouraged me to read and to think.
14. I have worked as a farm hand.
15. I am shy.
16. Some people interpret this as arrogance. They may be right.
17. I need some social contact, but not much. Most of the time I am happy in my own little world. I am a borderline Nerd.
18. I am more comfortable one on one than in a group.
19. I am more comfortable talking to a woman than a man.
20. I am an agnostic, although I once studied for the ministry.
21. I have performed 2 baptisms and 1 funeral.
22. I wish I was still religious.
There is great power in faith.
23. I once shook hands with William Fulbright and Wilbur D. Mills. (Most people reading this won't know who they were.)
24. I once shook hands with Sorkis Webbe Sr. (Only people from St. Louis, my age or older will know who this is.)
25. I once witnessed a cross burning.
Strangely enough, this was part of a religious ceremony
26. I have a master's degree in criminal justice.
27. I have been inside at least a dozen prisons or jails in six states. I use this to drive my wife nuts. When talking to someone we have just met I will say something like "when I was in prison in Colorado …". She hates that.
28. I faked my way into an IT profession and worked in IT for almost 30 years.
29. I once held a stock broker's license.
30. I am a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitrator.
31. Married twice. Both wives were/are attractive, intelligent professionals.
(How'd I pull that off?)
32. I was an urban pioneer in Soulard. I have also lived in Kirkwood, which is a wonderful town.
33. I once had long hair and a beard. The beard still comes and goes.
34. I was once chased down the street by the Illinois State Police.
35. I suck at all sports, with the possible exception of racquetball.
36. I used to know all the words to Alice's Restaurant and Subterranean Homesick Blues.
37. I spend way too much time sitting in front of this computer.
38. I once knew all four verses of the Star Spangled Banner
38.I have one brother, nine years my junior, who is also on gather. http://tomcat50.gather.com/


(more to come)