First Post

Well I guess it is time to begin writing! For the first post, I plan to summarize some of the reasons that want to begin writing a blog as well as the topics that I intend to write about.

Writing forces the writer to think through ideas and thoughts to form coherent expressions. Often what seems clear in the mind changes dramatically when committed to words in an essay. Lately I have found that I have a variety of thoughts flowing through my head but the only ones that I commit to writing relate to my professional life. I intend to use this blog format help me think through some of the thoughts and ideas that relate to the rest of my life. For now I conceptualize the rest of my life as a three legged stool.

I chose the title "Three Legged Stool" to represent the three aspects of life that a good person manages to keep in balance. I think about it as the intellectual, the physical, and the spiritual. I intend to write about all three of these topics so that I can crystallize my actual beliefs and hopefully elicit some feedback from readers. As to the specific topics that I will address under each subject the following should be a rough guide.

When I think about the intellectual portion of my life, I first think of my formal education, which I completed five years ago. For now, until I can afford to retire to University life, the intellectual portion of my life consists of reading in my spare time. My intent is to begin, again, writing critically about the ideas that I encounter in my reading. Topics will likely include reaction to the books that I try to read monthly or bi-monthly as well as reaction to interesting blogs that I have been reading for a couple of years now.

Physical excretion always reminds me that I am alive! That and the opportunity to measure myself against an opponent are the main reasons that I love participating in athletics. I hope to be able to post some pictures of my athletic experiences and to write briefly about them. In addition I will probably also comment on spectator sports: either of teams that I follow or the athletes whose achievement stands out. Unfortunately, I was not able to get my act together for the ski season, but hopefully I will be able to document my exploits this summer: road races, triathlons, surfing and much more...

The third topic that I tentatively plan to cover is my spirituality. As a practicing Catholic, there has been plenty to think about recently both individually and communally. I hope to offer some comments on my spiritual development, which will likely include insight gained both in personal payer and reflection as well as through more formal worship. I may even offer comments on a particularly interesting homily. Since I have never written much about my spirituality and faith I am not sure how well this will work out. Looks like we will see.

So, that is my plan for this blog. Just like I thought, committing thoughts to writing has taken some effort, but has helped to clarify my toughs and feelings. It feels much better! Now that I have laid out the plan I hope to begin fairly regular blogging on some interesting topics. Hopefully the prose will improve and loosen as I get more practice. Here we go...