Introduction & Welcome to Jeremy's Blog

Well, tomorrow (in about 19 minutes) is March 31, 2007, and I am officially turning 34. In some ways, it is a bit on the surreal side, since I now realize that I am about one year away from the obligatory prostate exam. I am six years away from being officially declared over-the-hill. This is also my last year of being able to check the 18-34 age checkbox on many surveys and registration forms. Oh, the changes that will be up-and-coming.

I may as well take a moment to tell you a bit about myself, since in a way, it is a good, comforting reminder to me, that at 34, my mental faculties are still functional, at least to a minimal level. And in the event that I subsequently forget any information about myself, this will serve as a good reference and reminder point.

My name is Jeremy. I am a proud Canadian, living in the Toronto area (technically, I am not in Toronto proper, but for continental reference, I live close enough). I am happily married, and have a wonderful little boy. I work in a management position in a large U.S.-based Information Technology services company - been there for 10 years this year. I serve at my church on the Board of Elders (how I made it on there is anyone's guess, but I suppose it's proof positive that God has a sense of humour). I volunteer with a kids' group weekly, which I absolutely enjoy doing.

In my spare time, I enjoy reading copious amounts of books. I am not exaggerating here - one year - 2003, I actually set a personal best by reading 54 full-length books for the year. I love to read, and it's something that, unfortunately, I grew into more later into life. My wife and I have a nice collection of books in our personal library at home, so much so that we can probably put a sign on our front lawn advertising our house as a used book store (that may come later).

While I don't necessary have a lot of natural talents (for instance, I golf, but am terrible at it; I fish, but have never caught anything, despite the fact that I have enough angling gear to at least make me appear as if I know what I am doing; I play tennis, but lose in straight sets), the one thing I would say that is a natural gifting is my writing ability. It is nothing to boast about, but at the very least, I know that I can write fairly well. In fact, when I was younger, I was heading towards a career in journalism, being accepted at a fairly respected journalism school at a university in Canada. This was after a childhood of excelling at the literary arts (reading, spelling, etc.). In 1991, I won "Letter of the Week" for the Toronto Sun (one of the popular newspapers in Toronto, though I have since fallen off the bandwagon a good 15 years ago). In my late teens/early twenties, I was a regular contributing writer/reviewer for Heaven's Metal (now simply HM) magazine in the U.S., and my e-zine works can be found if you type in my name on a basic search engine. In college, I served as Managing Editor for our school's magazine, and contributed a few articles to boot. Why I ended up not pursuing a journalism career is an entirely different topic, and one that will take up an entire posting of its own a little later. Suffice it to say, I have no regrets.

Four more minutes before I am officially one year older. What else can I tell you in the meantime?

I am a proud, card-carrying member of the Conservative Party of Canada. This is an integral piece of information to pass along, since it will help you better understand the philosophical and political framing of some of my blog material. If it seems that I am a bit opinionated, it is because I am. However, I do try to convey my sentiments in a open and respectful manner. You may not agree with me at times, but thank God we live in free country where we have the freedom to be able to express divergent viewpoints without fear of reprisals or criminal prosecution. That being said, sometimes I will admit, I do let my emotions get the better of me, but I suppose I can chalk that up more to my convictions being pretty strong on some topics.

I am also a born-again Christian, which obviously heavily frames my viewpoint on things. I accepted Christ as my Saviour on October 2, 1991, and the journey since then has been about constant growth. I am still growing in my faith, learning through making many, many mistakes, and being thankful that salvation is not based on what I've done in my life (since I'm sure I would fail any test for "being nice").

I previously had a mom-and-pop type blog that I hosted myself, but I could never get the comments and layout working quite right. True, I am a certified IT guy, but web publishing has never been my strong point, even though I am conversant with HTML, but sometimes, it's just better to use existing tools out there, rather than trying to re-invent the wheel.

I see it's 12:02AM now, on March 31. My dear wife, Julie, has planned a wonderful day of celebration for me culminating in an evening out at Herongate Dinner Theatre in Pickering, Ontario (we are going to see Forever Plaid, which I understand at one point was a broadway production). Tomorrow afternoon, she and our son will be making home-made cinnamon rolls for the first time from scratch! That should be totally awesome.

Well, let me go ahead and post this and I'll add more tonight, since the night is young, the family is snoring away, and I am not exhausted in the least. Thanks for reading this, and I hope and trust that it is received well.