Defining my audience

So, what am I doing with a blog?

I'd hate for it to become a gratuitously narcissistic diary thing. I think that I'd prefer to edge down the scale toward moderately self-absorbed. Mostly, I'll be sounding off on my various opinions, interests, life events, and etceteras in a conversational style blog that will end up being interesting to only a few folks.

Hey, I just defined my audience! A few folks, who likely just want to know what I'm up to, and would possibly be interested in some of the things that interest me. Now that that's out of the way, here's a sampling of what to expect:

I plan to do my entries as discrete units on a single topic, instead of ramblings about my day. So most entries will be either reviews of things in which I'm interested, or thoughts about important parts of my life.

First, I enjoy beer. The making, pouring, smelling, consumption, and discussion of beer makes me happy. I will share recipes and solicit your favorites. Do not try to hold back key ingredients, because I will know, and I will glare furiously at your recipe.

You might know that I have a respectable collection of board games and card games. When I am enjoying beer with friends, I will often suggest a board or card game. Here in this place, I will share my boardgaming experiences, reviews, and holiday gift suggestions. I sincerely hope that your life, and your heart, has room for board games.

My amazing grad student lifestyle has encouraged me to fall into a deep rut, in terms of what music I enjoy. Prior to grad school, I was in another musical rut of my own design, listening almost exclusively to jazz and rock like Blues Traveler, Sublime, and Dave Matthews. With the advent of online music tasting sites like iTunes, I've encountered a lot of great music from the now, as well as music that I missed from the 90s. While I appreciate the doors that iTunes opened for me, I now buy all of my music in hard copy from my local store. You will be treated to what I consider to be the best in music from just off the beaten path, as well as reasoned diatribes against music that I consider to be not-so-much the best.

I have liberal politics, which means that I believe in less of a rigid interpretation of the U.S. Constitution by the congress and judiciary. I have a strong belief in social justice, and in the individual rights of citizens, and I believe that lawmakers and judges should err on the side of these considerations. I believe that large corporations should be viewed as valuable, if untrustworthy. I am willing to concede to a more conservative interpretation of law as it applies to perpetrators of violent crime or sexual abuse, as I am a fan of polite society. I am glad that the ACLU exists, but they piss me off sometimes.

My religiosity is confusing. Raised Catholic, I attended a Catholic church for the last 6 years, until a few months ago. I was last seen in a Unitarian Universalist church...er, building. More on that later this week.

I am not a fan of the current US administration or its war policies. Too many wonderful people have died because of stupid politicians. I don't know who I will support in the next election.

I am a husband and a parent. So weird.

I have a healthy fear of crows, en masse.

To recap: a lot of commentary on boardgames, beer, music, possibly disc golf, and maybe a bit of molecular biology is what you should expect. My liberal politics and religious hand-wringing should help buffer all of that action, and I'll try to slip in some Kinkaid-esque "hearth-warming" stories of my beautiful daughter as she sorts out basic control of both her neck muscles and her talons of fury.