I struggled with what to do here. Probably my biggest first decision as a blogger was whether to go anonymous or not. Partly its just a matter of the fact that I will be posting controversial things that could get me in trouble IRL (they shouldn't but they could, I'm not ashamed of anything on there but the PC police and all). But mainly its a theoretical problem, should who I am matter to my opinion on things?
In some respects yes, but really I think it detracts. People are obsessed with credibility. If you aren't a banker you don't know about finance. If you aren't an actor your don't know about Hollywood. If you are a man you don't know about women, and vice versa. But that's a load of crap. Yes, experience in those areas would inform ones opinion, but at the end of the day the opinion expressed stands or falls on its own merits. I don't need to travel to Afghanistan to know if we should be in a war over there or not, that's what books are for.
Nonetheless, I decided that I will never be able to conceal most of my experiences, maybe even my identity. So I'm going to share some info on my background, and hopefully I can still stay vague enough that only people who really care enough to do research can figure it all out.
Basic Stats:
Age: 28
Sex: Male
Race: White (Irish/Italian)
Nationality: American
General Area Grew Up In: NYC suburbs
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 140lb
Fitness (BW = body weight):
Bench: 0.8x BW (rib deformities a problem here, I feel like I'm hitting a wall)
Biceps: Curl sets of 30lb each arm
Triceps: BW on the shoulder press, various other work outs.
Push Ups: Dunno, should start counting these, a decent clip
Squat: 2x BW
Health Ailments: Type I Diabetes, Asthma, Immune Deficiency, Rib Deformities (yeah, I'm a mess)
Intellect:
1410/1600 SAT first try, roughly equal math and verbal. Supposedly this is 99th %.
Went to magnet school for HS and all tuition scholarship to a tier 2 university.
Socio Economics:
Grew up in a lower middle class prole family. Very loving though, above average parents. Had traditional high prole cultural values drilled into me.
Now: Stable upper middle class professional with good saving and investment instincts.
Career: My first job out of college was in investment banking as a quant. Was very good at it, absolutely hated it. Walked off the job when they wanted me to do some stuff I thought was wrong.
Then I started all over again as an actuary. I'm a civil servant working for the government on healthcare reform. Perhaps one day I'll write a post on why that interests me so much, the story goes back several generations.
Hobbies: Thinking/Reading/Writing, Beach Volleyball and other sports, Drinking/Socializing, Travel local and long distance (I love nature, visit a lot of natural parks), Making things with my hands from time to time
Dating:
A mixture of monogamy and hookups. I'm no Casanova, but I've been having a lot more success the last two years.
Politics:
I have none. This might be surprising from a civil servant in a political area, but I only care about things I control. I control the work I do. I don't control the political process. So I neither follow nor care about politics. I suppose if a presidential election is a week away I might post an uninformed opinion about it, but that wouldn't leave me any worse off then anyone that thinks they've got things figured out.
Why Blog?
I already leave comments on blogs I read for fun. Might as well put them all on my own blog. Then there is a very tiny but non-zero chance I could make money of it one day.
