Blaugust Introduction
I'm participating in Blaugust, a ten-year-old blogging challenge this month. The organizer's asked the participants to write an introductory post on Day One, so if this post reaches more people than my Mom and my small group of online friends, you are about to read a mini blogging autobiography of a guy you don't know but might like to, so don't change the channel!
I've been online since opening an account with Prodigy, a national DOS-based online service in 1993 when I got my first computer. In circumstances that call for a username or handle, I usually go by amerpie. short for American Pie, the 1971 song by Don McLean. I occasionally go by CycleLou or HikerLou, incorporating my name and two passions of mine, endurance cycling and long-distance hiking. I've completed 83 bike rides of over 100 miles and I've hiked the Appalachian Trail from end to end in a single year.
I created my first blog in the late 90s on Geocities. It was named after a minor league baseball player who intrigued me, Wonderful Terrific Monds III. The blog had nothing to do with baseball, however. It was a mixture of me posting about that 90s life and a section devoted to the Vietnam War and veterans that I knew, like my Dad, co-workers and guys I knew from my own days in the Army.
My professional background is in IT support, primarily in the education area, both K-12 and higher ed but I've also done work in the medical and banking fields as well. I've been a devoted Mac user since the late 90s although these days I provide end user support in a solidly PC/Windows environment. I do it using an M3 iMac though, thanks to a cool boss. I retired in 2000, didn't like it and returned to work to have something to do with my days.
I'm married to an ultramarathon running grandmother of 13, who I call Wonder Woman for all of her amazing bad-assery. Between the two of us we have five children and all those grandkids scattered around the US in Texas, Alaska, North Carolina and Virginia. We've both lived in southeastern North Carolina since the 1970s.
I currently maintain four blogs:
- Amerpie.lol - a mixture of tech articles, photography and microblogging
- AppAddict - reviews of Mac and iOS software
- Living Out Loud - a personal blog where I write about a little bit of everything
- Linkage - an old fashioned links blog with a little bit of commentary
I help maintain a hand curated collection of Indy Web blogs at Blogroll.club. I'd love for anyone with a personal blog to stop by and add their URL to our list. We post a link to your blog in a couple of places and we include you in our RSS feed.
I am prolific. I average over 100 posts a month. I am most active on Mastodon (link at the bottom of this page) and a proud member of OMG.LOL, one of the friendliest communities on the Fediverse. I have accounts on other social media sites as well. I'm known for being friendly, helpful and approachable. I answer email and I usually follow people back on social media. I'm all about building a community online.
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