The genesis (neither biblical nor musical)

For many out there, the coming of the new year sounds a call to take The Plunge. Unlike many around here, though, my calling does not involve plunging into hypothermia-inducing Wisconsin waters. The length, breadth, and depth of my stupidity may be legendary, but even I have my limits. No, I am succumbing to something that has been calling me for a long time, and this is the first of what I hope will be innumerable postings to my own little corner of cyberspace. (Okay…maybe this really is another manifestation of my stupidity after all. But I digress.)

Why now, though? I guess the real impetus came from my friend Harley Altenburg, who approached me on Facebook a couple of weeks back, asking if I might consider being a contributing writer to the football.com website. Although I was flattered at his suggestion, I declined. You see, I am what could best be described as a casual fan of the Packers and the NFL in general as well as the Badgers, and nothing more than that; I score even deeper on the “casual” scale when it comes to the Beautiful Game. And I felt that my level of expertise and insight would hardly qualify me for such a site; I would most likely come across as the guy in the back of the classroom who always had a smartass comment to something the teacher might say, but who could never come up with the answer when called upon by that same teacher in class. I might be able to get away with something like that on a site like this; fans clicking to a site with a name like “football.com” would deserve better, though, and as hard as it was to say “no” to a friend, I truly felt it would be for the best.

But it got me to thinking…why not get rolling with a blog of my own? I had heard the suggestion from time to time in the past, but never felt like the time was right; I always had “something else” to do. The problem with that, though, is that there is always “something else”, and before you know it, there is yet another “something” to take its place. And like all of us, I am sure, I have missed out on my share of things that might have been because “something else” got in the way. No more, though.

What should you expect here? Well…the name of the blog should give you a good idea. Among my current passions (besides my family and friends, of course) are genealogy, music, trivia, and Lord-only-knows what else; there are also other things throughout my life that have caught my attention over time and that still hold a spot in my heart that will be the basis for unexpected divergences as the fancy strikes. Those of you who know me through Facebook or in real life know that I can be something of a smartass at times – okay, quite a bit of the time – but I will guarantee you that not everything that will be posted here will be funny; sometimes this will be by design, and sometimes not so much. Some posts will be deeper than others, some will be from-the-heart personal stuff, and some may on rare occasion not even be original (such posts will be properly cited, of course). Some will be long and meandering (if you follow me on Facebook, you know that I have this tendency), and some will get right to the point…assuming that there is actually a point in the first place. There will be infrequent occasions where the Muses cause me to write things lyrical or poetic; these I will share with you as well. In short: Expect anything or nothing, depending on your definitions.

And let the randomness begin.