Who am I?

If you're trying to get an idea of what this post's about by reading the title: don't worry... This isn't some long-winded philosophical rambling about personal identity and purpose. I figure life is too short to waste time figuring out the "Who's" and "Why's". By the time you start making sense of it, your time's up! Personally, my philosophy is more centered around the concept of "Why not?".

I'm just a typical Joe. Nothing interesting to report, really. I take pleasure in simple things, and take offense at certain things. All in all, I consider myself to be a very tolerant and semi-well-adjusted individual (if there actually is such a thing).

So why start blogging? I forgot to mention that I'm also a very opinionated bugger! This being said, I'll also be the first to admit when I'm wrong. So I guess you could say that I'm "moderately" opinionated. Like other bloggers, I've got things to say and I want to share them with the world and get feedback from others, whether they agree or not.

To give you guys an idea of what this blog's about, let me share some of my "likes" and "dislikes" with you. The "likes" are the things that I enjoy in life, or that interest me in a certain way. It doesn't mean I'm an expert in any of them; but given the time and motivation, I could easily become one!

The first "like" that comes to mind is motorcycling. I'm a newbie at it (only been riding for 2 years), but I have to admit that I'm hooked. Before you start imagining me as some leather-clad tattooed dude with a beergut riding around on a over-chromed Harley with an exhaust that makes more noise than an F-14 at takeoff, let me clear a few things up. I enjoy touring and discovering roads that most people will never see, which pigeonholes me in the "Adventure Touring" category. For non-motorcyclists out there, think "BMW" rather than "Harley-Davidson". As a general rule of thumb, I don't like "Cruiser" motorcycles or the lifestyle generally associated with it. Now before I get the local Hell's Angels knocking at my door let me just state that this is a personal choice; if you enjoy it, go ahead! More power to you.

Another "like" is photography. This, I've been doing for a little while now; about 8 years. Started with a Pentax Super-ME 35mm semi-automatic SLR and have been through numerous models and technologies ever since. I'm not a purist, so I won't go on ranting on the purity of film cameras vs. digital. Truth be told, I'm a big advocate of digital photography because it makes the art more accessible to the masses.

A few other "likes" worth mentioning are music (Studied classical music in university for 4 years), technology and computers (I've got a post-graduate diploma in Information Technology Management), and ecology.

The "dislikes"? I suppose I could easily condense this to one simple definition: "I generally dislike ideas and concepts that simply don't measure-up to common sense". Need an example? How about motorcyclists who claim that wearing a helmet actually increases your chances of injury in a crash. These are usually the "hidden agenda" types that try to come up with arguments for defending a point or idea, because they simply don't have the guts to tell the truth.

Anyhow, that's "who I am" in a nutshell. Ever look in the mirror and wonder who you are?