I’ve been blogging for more than a week now, and perhaps it’s time to tell you a bit about myself. If you don’t care, I don’t care that you don’t care. My name is Mark Meier, and I write using that name as well as the pen name Marc Meiner. That pen name is reserved for my Ebony Sea stories. I’ve joked I don’t want any confusion about thinking they’re getting science fiction and mistakenly buy a book of poetry – ha-ah – because I’m poetry deaf. Like tone deaf or color blind, but with poetry. Then what happens? I wrote some poetry. More on that some other time. I work in local radio, producing a show called LaCrosse Talk on WIZM (1410-AM, 92.3-FM). My background is such a mish-mash of stuff, it’s impossible to categorize. I’ll do my best to sum it up. I grew up during the space race, and wanted to be an astronaut. Corrective lenses precluded that, though now it’s not such a problem, from what I hear. I grew up on a farm, and knew I hated “work.” Make that labor. Dad switched to building houses, and that involved too much . . . labor. Wasn’t a big fan. High school – slacker. I have three sisters, two of them older than me, and one graduated as valedictorian, the other salutatorian. Mark? Solid C+/B-. I contend I was bored, but I have an argument against that – some other time. My favorite class in high school was computer programming. I took the one (only) class and loved it. BEGGED for another, not no avail. Independent study? The teacher said, “I can’t find enough information to do that.” Another slacker? Even in the 1980s there was plenty available. In college I declared Computer Science as my major. Three semesters in I knew I didn’t have the drive to excel as a programmer. I coasted, coasted, and coasted some more. About five years into my college career, my girlfriend tried to kill herself in my dorm room. I’d had enough. I found out I had an academic advisor (AFTER FIVE YEARS? WHY WASN’T I TOLD BEFORE?) She told me the quickest way to get a degree was to take “these” three class and I’d graduate with a B.S. in Philosophy. (I love putting it that way.) I ended up flipping burgers. No surprise there. This is getting long, so I’ll finish tomorrow.