02.....On Mick

So, here I am, a non-blogger writing my first entry for a blog. It seems to me that virtually everyone who writes a blog starts with the disclaimer that he or she is not a blogger. If one is writing a blog, then by definition one is a blogger, but who am I to buck blogging tradition?

"What will I see in this collection of essays?" you may be wondering. Well, I'm wondering the same thing. I imagine that there will be a large number of cycling-related entries, and a few of daily life and my observations on such, and perhaps a bit of philosophizing. A few of my longer race and ride reports from the past will be added, as will my posts in the future. I think this is a better way to post my reports than Facebook, with its short attention span requirements. If you're reading this, you've intentionally come here, rather than having Mark Zuckerberg and company decide that you ought to see my mental meanderings on your news feed so they can place a couple of ads in your face. I hope this will give you a bit more insight into the workings of what makes Mick tick. In this first post I'll attempt to lightly cover who I am, and some of my thoughts and philosophy of life. Some of these items may warrant a full essay at some point in the future, feel free to ask me to expand on any subject if you'd like to hear more. Grab a cup of coffee to keep yourself awake, and prepare to be bored, confused, and hopefully entertained. A lot of randomness to follow!

1) Why are we here? For some questions there is just no answer. I don't believe there is a specific reason for my/our existence, things just worked out this way. This could definitely be a subject for future musings.

2) Everything you do, use, touch, interact with every day comes from within a few hundred feet of our planet's surface. Think about it, the car you drive, the phone (or computer or tablet) you read this on, the food you eat, the toy you play with, the clothing you wear, the building you're in, etc are all derived from material gathered from a thin slice of this planet.

3) If you think you see yourself in this blog at some point, it's entirely possible you're correct. It's even more probable you're mistaken. I'll make an effort to not identify individuals herein, but occasionally it'll be obvious to whom I'm referring. Having said that, some credit for my starting this lies with a good friend who recently did the same. I've often considered doing this, but thought I really don't have that much to say that anyone would willingly read. I guess we'll see.

4) I'm a liberal. Not so big a revelation to most of you, but wanted to get that out there. I lean waaaay to the left, but while I do tend to vote predominantly for a particular party, I don't consider myself to be a member of that party. In fact, I find the current iteration of our two party system quite disgusting. It just doesn't work to serve us. Do I have the answer? Nope. I wish I did.

5) Death, the final ending. I often envy people who are more religious than me, they seem to be more able to handle the death of a family member or friend, consoling themselves with the fact that the deceased is going to a better place. In my beliefs, death is simply the end. There's nothing more, neither heaven nor hell, no afterlife, just the end. This is one big reason I loathe to attend visitations and funerals. I don't deal with one's passing well at all.

6) Work, or more specifically, a job or profession.

7) Biking.

8) Friends.

9) Language, the use and misuse of.

10) Conversation.

11) Right vs wrong.

Well, apparently I do have a few words in me to share with you all, as you can see I haven't even touched on several subjects that could use explanations. In the future I hope to expand on these and more, but who knows when? I surely don't!

Thanks for reading....Mick, just Mick.