Before I begin this introductory piece in earnest, I would like to take a cue from Tad Wert’s excellent piece about The Underfall Yard and display some gratitude.  A little over six years ago, one of this site’s founders, Brad Birzer, co-founded another site called Progarchy.com.  While dedicated to music in general, as it’s title would suggest, it’s emphasis was on my favorite musical genre, progressive rock.  Not long after the site went live, I left a comment there that grabbed Dr. Birzer’s attention.  The next morning, an email expressing thanks for the comment arrived in my inbox.  We exchanged a few more emails and promised to enjoy a beer together if we ever met in person.

But that was far from the end of it.  Only moments after that exchange ended, I received another email, this time with an invitation to be a contributor at Progarchy.  Having more than a few opinions about my favorite music, I jumped at the chance to write there, and I was off and running.  Still, I’ve never forgotten how I ended up there, and thus my decision to follow Brad here was made before the invitation email arrived.

As for me? Professionally, I’m a patent agent, which can be thought of as a patent lawyer sans law degree/state bar admission.  By education, I’m an electrical engineer, so the patent applications I write and prosecute are related to computers, electronic circuits, things like that.  Some of you are probably reading this on a device that has some stuff inside for which I wrote the patent.  I’m also a Navy veteran, having served six years as a sonar technician on the nuclear-powered submarine USS Olympia, with the entirety of my enlistment served under the best commander-in-chief of my lifetime, Ronald Reagan.

Personally, I have a wife who originally hails from Koga, Japan (about an hour north of Tokyo by train), and most importantly, an eight year old son who is one incredible kid.  It’s possible that he’s a bit spoiled, although I have absolutely no idea whatsoever how that happened (insert faux-innocent facial expression here).

Now to tie things up, I do a lot (and I mean, A LOT) of writing in my day job.  That writing is primarily an amalgamation of technical and legal writing … with emphasis on the technical … and the legal.  One of the joys of being a contributor at Progarchy was that I was able to write about something I loved, music.  Here, I get to do the same, and more.  I’m sure topics of many future posts will be musical in nature, but this site offers me a chance to write about other things.  I’ve already got a few ideas bouncing around in my head.  Please accept my apologies for the rattling noises.

In closing, I’d like to thank the founders of this site for having me.  It’s truly an honor.