Introduction

Well, I’ve finally had a chance to sit down and think. I would first like to say welcome to my blog, titled “Through the Wilderness.” A few notes about the title. I was fishing around for ideas for the title of the blog when “Through the Wilderness” struck me as an apt title. In pondering further why in the world such a title would fit the blog, I have come to several conclusions. It fits me on a personal level; I love going for a hike through the Olympic or Appalachian Mountains, or even taking a walk through our local wild lands, geocaching or whatever. It fits on a psychological level not just for me but for all mankind. The wilderness has traditionally been a place of change. When the native peoples of Washington State went on their rite of passage, they would head into the wilderness of the Olympic Mountains to seek inspiration from the Thunderbird. When Luke Skywalker began his transformation, it was in the wilderness of Degobah. When Frodo found his courage, it was in the wilderness. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, it was done in the wilderness. Throughout human history, the Wilderness has held us captive, which is why I suppose I to was drawn to it. We are all going through change constantly, through our own wilderness.

Despite my earlier comments, I don’t think this blog will turn into a set of religious diatribes. I am Lutheran so Christianity is a part of my life, but I don’t see myself posting inflammatory remarks about religion or the lack of it and I will do my best to ‘separate church and state’ so to speak. I can’t please everybody, so if you read something you don’t agree with, don’t go huffing off. Instead feel free to comment. I love a good debate.

As for me, I’m an Undergrad student at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse (Go Eagles!). I’m doing a dual degree in Physics and Engineering and am seriously considering adding a Political Science minor to the mayhem. Since my physics training is very linear (no imagination needed!) I get frustrated with my lack of creative outlet. That’s why I’m starting this blog. I need some way to communicate thoughts and ideas. Trust me; you can’t really do that in 100 level physics (or 200 or 300 or 400 level, for that matter). I love computers and Nintendo (PS3 sucks). I am an ardent fan of all of the Star Wars movies and have let that passion spill over into the books I read. I have a huge range of interests, everything from ancient mythology to choice and game theory. I love games that involve strategy and thinking, such as Risk or Myst. I enjoy poker with the guys on Thursday evenings as well. I am also what could be called a professional Boy Scout, spending my summers on the pristine Olympic Peninsula at Camp Parsons summer camp. I’m heading into my fourth year this summer. Many years down the line I hope to own my own amusement park and/or amusement ride design firm.

For the life of me I can’t understand why blogs are so popular. All they really are is an online, public ‘dear diary’ out there for everyone’s perusal. I think my thoughts are interesting enough to at least prompt some discussion. In terms of content, I have a few subsequent blog posts planned out already but after that things will be a bit more off the cuff. If I find the lyrics to a song I find particularly striking I will post it. If you have a longer comment or just want something posted, feel free to email me and we can discuss posting it as a blog entry (no guarantees here).

I know what a pain it is to keep up to date with any sort of online information. Luckily for us, technology is there to help. This blog has an RSS feed attached to it (The link is at the bottom of the page. It says “Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)”). All you need to do is download your favorite RSS reader (aggregator is the technical term). Mine is at http://www.sharpreader.net/. To subscribe to the feed, click on the “Posts (Atom)” link and copy/paste the address into the RSS reader. If you get lost, there are plenty of tutorials out on how to subscribe to a feed. RSS readers are great in general. I have feeds from CNN on Politics, World Headlines, US Headlines, and a feed from Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers Dojo. They all update themselves hourly automatically. Even if you don’t keep up with my blog, these are great ways to stay up to date with general news. If you have the newest Internet Explorer, you have an RSS feeder built into your browser. It is pretty low quality, but you can access it by clicking on the favorites star, then clicking feeds. If you have Facebook, there is an App for RSS feeds. The possibilities are endless. All of this may seem really, really complicated and you may not want to bother, but trust me. RSS feeds are really, really useful. I’ve got my whole family using them now. The whole point of the RSS feed is so that you don’t need to check back every day to find out when the next gripping post is made; the RSS feeder tells you automatically.


To wrap up this inaugural post, I hope you stick around a bit to sample my writing. Think of this as a sort unlimited trial period. Those of you who were actually interested enough to read through this whole post may find it worthwhile to stick around a while. The 2008 Presidential elections alone will provide enough discussion for a good while. I’ll post the first real post by the end of this week.

Thanks for reading!

Until then,

Sean