Hope you have a great trip, and don't worry about us - we'll still be here when you return! You can't shake us that easily!

Say, as long as this is a sort of semi-open-thread, I'd be thrilled to learn a little more about some of the other regular readers/commenters who like hanging out here...Hale, Andrew, Bisaal, B. Durbin, lyle, Annoying Old Guy, Andrea (though she's got her own blog, so we can learn more about her there!), and whoever else is around here often - what do you do, what have you done, how did you find John's blog, what are your plans for your life and the world, etc., etc.?

I can't remember how I found Random Jottings. Possibly via Andrea, who looks just like Jane Seymour. So she says, and I believe her.

The things that interest John usually interest me. He's appropriately appalled by the soulless savages who threaten western civilization, and outraged by the moral pettiness of those who would weaken it from within.

I also find the comments to be unusually intelligent and well-written.

Don't want to leave you hanging. I'll try the bio.

After college I was a freelance illustrator. Book jackets for major publishers, b&w vignettes for the NY Times, Reader's Digest, et cetera.

In 1995 my girlfriend died. That's probably more than anyone wants to know, but it was the answer to the question: What's it like to lose more than you can afford to lose?

Afterwards, I clerked in a bookstore, sold coffee beans, and worked as a librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library. I was suspended for an act of violence, reinstated, and then quit.

In 2002 I won a screenwriting award from the Hollywood Film Festival, met some minor stars, didn't like the business, and returned to painting.

My new project is limited edition giclees on canvas, which are turning out beautifully. Hooray for technology!

Holy crap, lyle, you're not only interesting, you're really talented! And I'm so sorry for your loss - I can't imagine what that would be like - at least not yet...

...I've gotta learn to check the links in folks' names to see if they lead to websites like yours...wow...

Great idea Ethan. Shame Lyle went first. No one is going to have a more intriguing bio than that!

I'm an Indiana University grad (BA in Econ) and have spent my entire career in the investment world.

Moved to Chicago (from Louisville) a few years ago to take job I couldn't turn down. I love Chicago and now consider it home.

As for interests, I'm an avid amatuer astronomer (past president of the Louisville Astronomical Society - LAS), and interested in all things science. Here is a gallery with some pictures I took of comet Hale-Bopp when it came through back in '97. Unfortunately they didn't scan in very well and the internet photos really don't do justice to the real thing.

Had I truly followed my heart I likely would have gone on to get a graduate degree in something like the History and Philosophy of Science and been teaching at a university somewhere.

I think I came across John's blog while randomly clicking on some of Glenn Reynolds' links. Even a cursory glance of John's posts showed something a little different - and I am always drawn to different. I stick around because this is the blog most likely to make me re-evaluate my own position. And Lyle is right, the comments here are unusually intelligent and well-written.

Mike - those pictures are fantastic...the quality of the scan isn't fantastic, sure, but the composition is extremely cool, and really makes you want to see the original prints!

Plus I feel a kinship with your Ohio Valley roots...I'm from Cincinnati, and while I've only spent one weekend in Louisville, it was a great weekend! Plus the Louisville Bats are the Reds AAA club, so you've gotta love them...

So I'm from the Cleveland area, and ran the gamut of college majors - I was a music composition major at Cincinnati's CCM, then majored in physics for two years at Case Western, and finally went to the Catholic seminary studying for the priesthood, getting my degree in Philosophy from John Carroll...was an organist/music director at a church for a while, then moved to Cincinnati ten years ago...I'm a computer programmer for a debt collection company, delightedly married for four years now, still sub on organ here and there.

My wife and I have studied Arabic privately for around two years now, just to learn a fascinating languange (and so we can make fun of people without them understanding), I finally quit smoking for real last summer and we took up jogging, and I'm utterly in love with Cincinnati...a friend and I put this site together: CincinnatiRoads.com, where we take videos documenting the streets of Cincinnati...and I have a number of galleries here.

And finally, I found John's site after we stayed in White Rock Mountain in Arkansas in a Civilian Conservation Corps built cabin. I googled it when we got back, happened across this post of John's, and have been here ever since...I love John's sense of history, his big-picture perspective, and his great writing - I may disagree with him, but he's always honest, clear and up front. And indeed, the amazing experience and insight and civility of his commenters is a lot of fun too...

Let's see if I can type this without going bonkers... I'm trying to get used to new glasses (first new presciption in fifteen years) and the line from the bi-focals is driving me nuts. I guess I'm now officially middle-aged. Waaaaahhhh :(

Yep, I think Lyle's a hard act to follow. :)

I'm 45 years old, and have kinda drifted through life.

I'm a bachelor by long force of habit, I guess. I had a girlfriend for a couple of years, but it was a long-distance relationship (I was in the Army in El Paso, Texas, and she was a med-school student in Philadelphia) and it ended on a rather sour note 19 years ago. For a long time, I was angry with myself for allowing myself to fall in love (the reasons why make for a long story, and the older I get, the more foolish the story becomes in hindsight). In the last few years I think I've learned a few things. At least the anger has faded.

I grew up in a throughly ordinary middle-class family, the younger of two children, went off to college, and got a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

Professionally, I've done a bit of this and a bit of that. Four years as a lieutenant in the Army, a year as a junior-level manager at Conrail, three years as a clerk at Radio Shack (I loved the job, mostly, but it's a good way to starve to death), and for most of the last 13 years I've been a worker-bee in a number of different warehouses, mostly as a temporary worker. I also spent a year as a contract worker for the State of Maryland as a quality-control inspector for new buses. (If you're in Baltimore and have ridden the 04- and 05-series buses, I helped QC them.)

Yep, a slacker I am. :)

If I can be said to have a mania, it's antique electronics. Anything with vacuum tubes just fascinates me. And if you know anything about electronic test equipment, you'll understand why I collect General Radio gear from before 1965. If Hewlett-Packard (now Agilent) is the Cadillac of test equipment, GR was Rolls-Royce-- expensive as hell when it was new (and dirt cheap now), but it will last until the next ice age.

My plans for my life? I make it up as I go along. (wry grimace)

My plans for the world? Convert everyone everywhere into fans of Japanese animation! hahahaha BWAHAHAHAHAHA... *cough* *cough* *ahem* Sorry about that..... (I help run a large convention of fans of anime, manga, and Hong Kong cinema here in Baltimore. From 1200 attendees to 22,000 attendees in less than ten years. Scary!!)

How did I find Random Jottings? Probably like Mike, I stumbled here from a link at InstaPundit five years ago or so. Why do I keep reading? Like Mike and Ethan, I've come to appreciate John's sense of the modern political and social scene, and his sense of the otherworldly.

I'd write more, but I'm about done for the day. And your eyeballs are probably about done, too. Sorry for running off at the keyboard ^_^

Well, to begin with, I'm female.

For some reason there is a lot of confusion on that score in various places I comment. I think it's because I use an initial (for consistency, so I don't have to type out my ten-letter first name every time I comment somewhere new), and because I use the ACTIVE VOICE!

Hee.

I got my degree in Broadcast Studies through the Honors Program at Gonzaga University, in part because it was getting to play with cool equipment but mostly because I could complete the pre-reqs and finish the degree in two years after I decided that maybe I didn't want to be an engineer*. This also left lots of time for improv— possibly the best thing I did for life skills while in college— and other theater projects, including post-production editing** of a musical onto tape. I'm very proud of the fact that I did it by myself, after hours, within two weeks while carrying a full class load and only half-understanding the equipment.

The fact that I did that kind of thing voluntarily should tell you a lot about my personality.

I've lived in four states since I graduated from college, have been a summer-camp counselor, newsradio board op and newsreader, bookstore clerk (fun job, isn't it, Lyle?), freelance artist and graphic designer, and photographer, pre- and post-production.

All of these jobs made sense at the time.

I've done an online comic, a blog, several other websites, a Flickr site, and a LiveJournal. I learned most of my online circumspection from a gent known as Gharlane of Eddore, who I met when I was nine years old. I still miss him.

I'm currently embroiled in a semi-secret project that has taken me away from other things. It's semi-secret because the two people I want to surprise***— if it pans out— have enough of an online presence that I can't be talking about it on my blog or places they might visit. That and because this is one of those things that everybody says they are doing, but not everybody succeeds— and I'm pretty sure I have a good chance of being in the latter group, but I'm keeping quiet until I am.

I quilt, but it's primarily art quilts since you can't sell a bed quilt for the cost of materials but you can take a 20x24" stained-glass style picture of a fantasy dragonfly and sell it for upwards of $200 as a "tapestry." That is what is known as finding a market.

I don't remember how I found this blog but it's been in my top tier reads for around two years. My last move brought me back to where I started, which is the Sacramento area, so I know most of the places John talks about. I can and will expound upon Sacramento history at the drop of a hat.

Wow, that was fun. I don't get to do that very often.

*Two years of engineering means I know really weird stuff about electricity and relativity, and understand the difference between weight and mass. That jug of milk really DOES weigh more at arm's length.

**Post-production editing AND syncing the sound by hand. The trick is to match the tapes by ear, and re-sync them every few minutes of tape time.

***My mother and my husband. The only reason I can get away with the latter is that he's into World of Warcraft. Boy, won't he be surprised!

B.,

Yes, bookstore clerk was the lowest-stress job I ever had. My co-workers were usually artists, musicians, and actors. It was so easy you'd almost do it for fun, and it paid accordingly.

The store was an independant with a steady stream of foot traffic. Customers were lively and educated but very liberal, including a few well-known authors.

A side benefit was the opportunity to sample writers whose work I wouldn't otherwise read. I discovered that most political pundits celebrated by the Left were misinformed and foolish. Shallow thinkers, bad writers. The Internet continues to confirm that impression.

B. - you take fantastic cat pictures! And that ain't easy to do!

...and everyone has interesting things they do/know/have done...the graphic design, the vintage electronics, the anime, the astronomy, the quilting...

...and to add to the the bookstore clerking theme - I spent a semester working in the bookstore at CWRU, stocking, check-out...and we know John used to own a bookstore...hmm...

The trick to good cat pix is to focus in... and wait. Then you can get the good moment instantaneously.

That and take several hundred of them. You're ONLY seeing the good ones.

I second the motion about B's cat pictures.

Except for the one of the dog. Does he think he's a cat? :)

My sister had a dog who quite willingly played with her cats, and would actually "groom" one of them on the top of its head. I have no clue what the dog got out of it, but he liked to lick and chew the spot between the cat's ears. Go figure.