Hi,

My name is Rob. Currently, I live in Alberta, Canada, with my wife, Lesley, and our two dogs, Maggie and Ellie. And, yes, our dogs are pretty close to the centre of our universe … or just past it, I can never remember which is right.

While I have a few degrees in American History and Political Science from the University of Western, ON, my credentials – or lack thereof – for writing on the various topics I choose, should really be viewed through the dual prisms of personal experience and a-heavy-degree-of-skepticism; certainly, the prismatic rainbows intersect at some point between who-does-this-guy-think-he-is? and complete BS. It just so happens to intersect right in my favourite colour. Grey.

The hard truth is that I suffer with major depression and debilitating anxiety. I deeply miss the people I used to work with and the members I worked to serve every day. Life is full of uncertainties and there is nothing fair about it. As one colleague used to say, “Fair is where you get cotton candy.”

Rest assured that everything I share with you through this blog has been filtered, re-filtered,  edited, packaged, unpackaged, repackaged, edited again, and then overhauled one more time to ensure readers receive an authentic, genuine product. You know, like bottled water flowing freely from the natural springs of Mount Sounds Cool and Remote.

Writers that choose to offer to the world their thoughts in an unfiltered, unedited context are simply full of shit. We all self-edit, work, and re-work our own narratives/stories/thoughts/ideas before they ever reach another person’s ear; we commit them to paper; or in my case, like a raving, self-aggrandizing polemic, put them on the internet for my grandmother to read. I really hope she Likes my blog … and as she read that, I can hear her saying aloud, “Oh, I do!” and never really understanding what I meant for her to do. I’m kidding: she has Facechat, Snapgram, and live Twits … Hi Gramma!  🙂

So why write? Simply put, I love it, and the investigation aspect that comes with quality writing. (Full disclosure: I loosely use the term “investigation.” It’s a fancy term meaning I have visited Wikipedia. In my underwear. From bed. But Wikipedia is great because you know it’s the best information you can possibly get because anyone, like academics, professors, doctors and scientists, can post it there, so you know you’re getting the best info possible.)

Now, my family and vast array of three friends, including Maggie and Ellie, will have to pretend to enjoy it, too, so that we can get through Thanksgiving dinner without those awkward pauses when I inevitably start harping on the powers-that-be and their ugly choices while trying to hide my own political agenda. At least they will know what to expect. Or will they? I’m crafty. Like a polar bear.

Whatever your thoughts or feedback, please share with me; whether you agree or disagree with my original, unbridled, climate-changing [hey, the last one doesn’t even make sense, fella!] thoughts, I still get paid the same amount. That amount is precisely (464,321/51+87)*(377-52/3*0). Damn you, BEDMAS. Damn you! Anyways, where was I?