It is only fair that the reader gets a thumbnail introduction to the person in front of the keyboard.  So here goes.

I come at this undertaking from an interesting perch.  I retired shortly after my 70^th birthday, in early summer of 2024.  So, I can be thought of as old.  Which is both a blessing and a curse.  Coincidentally, a local non-profit project for which I had been providing expert guidance kicked into gear, requiring considerable heavy lifting for a couple of months.  It then blew up in a manner that I recognized:  Joy and satisfaction was replaced with conflict and angst.  Leaving me battered, bruised and sad, but also free to step away and pursue the interesting, unfettered land of retirement.  Including this.

Children of the sixties and seventies, my wife and I have been together for almost fifty years, almost all of them married.  We have two amazing grown children and six equally amazing grandchildren.  Somehow, we survived multiple unexpected career upheavals, serious health urgencies, and financial crises.  And here we are: Still in love, healthy, enjoying unexpected financial stability, and a thriving family tree.

Somewhere along the road I earnt an Honours Psychology degree and then an MBA, the first to support my initial career work, and the second to open new career paths.  Along the way, I worked in operational leadership capacity across social service, hospitality, manufacturing, academic, and information technology domains.  And, as a badge of honour, managed to get pushed out of all but one.  Fortunately, the last one stuck despite my best efforts to set the conditions for my departure.  At some point, these things will likely be explored.

I understand one of my defining strengths as an ability to visualize solutions to practical problems and cause those solutions to take shape in the real world.  Whether that be applied to organizational strategy or process, creating something unique, acquiring new skills or knowledge, or fixing that deemed as unfixable.  Most of what I have accomplished in life can be tied back to that capability.  I have also maintained a lifelong survey of science and technology, nourished by a preference for fact over belief.  Finally, I am a firm believer in sweat equity as a road to credibility, mission success, and personal satisfaction.

So there you have it.  As endeavour’s go, I don’t expect any particular outcome nor do I expect an audience.  However, if you find something here that holds your interest, provides a little humour, or challenges your thinking, enjoy.