Thoughts from a pipe

The evidence of this blog will prove that I don't know what I'm doing here on the internet. Why does this entry even exist as I sit here at 8:04 PM on Thursday, May 10, 2007? Why is there a picture of myself smoking a pipe? Who am I and what do I intend to accomplish with this blog. I'm going to unravel the factors that led to me sitting in front of my computer on this May evening in Tustin and writing.

A few years back, I knew nothing about the internet, web pages, photographs or blogs (I still don't). I didn't know that I liked to write. I still don't know if I do. Here goes (we accountants like to write in organized lists)

Factor #1 - My Pipe
This is certainly tops on my list. Last summer, my brother James came to visit me in here in California, having recently returned from Iraq. We spent a week exploring Southern California as only small-town goobers turned rock climbing fanatics from hickville, Illinois can. Before James came, he told me that he had a "gift" for me from Iraq. I don't really like gifts to be honest...why? That's another story I suppose, but I figured he was going to surprise me with some rolled up tobacco from Havana, Cuba that he had purchased legally in Iraq and smuggle illegally back to the states in some undisclosed body-cavity (we Chally brothers have always had a fondness for smoking and it's become an accepted, all-purpose gift). At any rate, I picked him up from John Wayne airport after leaving work on that sunny afternoon and as we sped out of the airport immediately toward our first destination - Corona del Mar and Gary's Deli for some carne asada tacos (with guac, of course) and down to the beach for some rock climbing - he, with a sheepish grin on his face pulled a red case out of his green army-issue pack. Still not knowing what the surprise might be, I took the red case and opened it, only to find what I can honestly say to this day is the tops on the totem pole of gifts I've received - a tiger head-carved meerschaum pipe. James proceeded to launch into stories about the Turkish man in the marketplace who sold him my new prized possession. I didn't need any convincing. Bowls and bowls of tobacco did the convincing. Which brings me to Factor #1 - what I found with my pipe is that I loved to smoke it, and when I smoked it, I loved to talk, and I loved to think, and I loved to write - which I never knew I did. So my pipe-smoking takes two forms - one is to enjoy with great friends and spend evenings talking. The other is equally as sweet when It's just me, my pipe, and a journal. I never knew I enjoyed to write...and I still don't know that I do - but with the pipe in hand, the words just flow.

Factor #2 - My July Trip to Europe
As I plan to travel to Switzerland, Italy, Croatia and a few other places this summer, I felt the desire to document my trip. Along with purchasing additional memory cards for my camera and a video camera, I felt the need for a place to share those pictures and video (I don't know if I can even put video on this). But anyway, I wanted to create a site that would allow me to write about my travels.

Factor #3 - Dreamweaver
I took a couple classes this spring - one where I learned how to write html and another where I learned how to use Dreamweaver to create a web site - pretty cool stuff. Before those classes, I knew nothing about web pages, code or how a browser worked (and I still don't know much, but enough to be dangerous). Anyway, that got me over the "I don't know anything about the internet" phase.

Factor#4 - Other People's Blogs
My aunt and my sister-in-law created blogs in the last few months and my little brother posted a blog on his myspace site - all of which were very cool. The four factors listed above plus recently reading an amazing book about Brad Washburn containing many of his photojournalistic writings inspired me to create this blog. Will this be the only entry? Maybe. I hope not, this could be kinda cool.