Disclaimer/Blog Rules

Disclaimer

1. Opinions expressed in this blog are mine alone and do not reflect the opinions or position of any employer that I may be an employee of.

2. This site is provided on an as is and as available basis. I make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, as to the sites operation or the information, content or materials included on this site. To the full extent permissible by applicable law, I hereby disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for any particular purpose.  I will not be liable for any damages of any kind arising from the use of or inability to use this site.  You expressly agree that you use this site solely at your own risk.

Blog Rules

1. Anyone may post comments. If you post, please recognize that your words are your own and may not reflect my opinion, view or beliefs.

2. I maintain the right to delete or edit as appropriate or necessary any comment made on this weblog. Furthermore, I reserve the right not to post or remove material that is inappropriate to me, factually incorrect, or is inconsistent with the public image that I wish to maintain for this weblog.

Additional Information:

My thoughts, perspectives and opinions will, have or may change from time to time.  I consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind. This change is typically the result of learning new information which may lead to a better understanding of a subject, that I did not possess previously and can cause me to think differently about a previous weblog post. This weblog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point in time snapshot and manifestation of the various perspectives, opinions or thoughts running around my brain, and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not the same, nor even similar, to those I may hold today.

I attribute the above paraphrased paragraph to Alex Barnett - http://blogs.msdn.com/alexbarn/articles/44939.aspx whose original Disclaimer text provided the inspiration for the paragraph on additional information.

About Me

I am happily married in a second marriage and have two wonderful daughters in Minnesota, am a proud grandfather (soon to be three times over) and two stepdaughters who have become very important to me as well.

I am originally from Newport, Maine and Graduated from Nokomis Regional High School in 1975. I have a small town attitude towards many things and it is based on what I learned growing up in that small rural town.

I went in the Coast Guard when I was 17 and stuck around there for almost 21 years eventually getting promoted to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer (W3) -  Personnel Administration. It took me 19 years to earn my Bachelors Degree in Liberal Arts, so I am a long-time advocate of the need for continuing your education and that it can be done in non-traditional ways.

After my retirement from the military, I had a choice between going to work in the computer industry or working with kids in a social services career. I chose social services which eventually led me to being a Certified Special Education teacher. I am still a bit of a computer geek, an end user, not a programmer.  I am no longer teaching, but I am serving as an AmeriCorps Grants & Program Officer and I get to be the Emergency Response Coordinator for my organization in my spare time.  Most of my adult life has been in service or one sort or another. See my LinkedIn profile for further work history information.

I strongly believe in Common Sense and doing the right thing for the right reason and I do not believe that ideology or prejudice are the proper basis for critical decision making on important issues that surround us today.

Those are the basis for my biases, be aware and forewarned.

Through blogging, I have been introduced to many wonderful people (and some that I sincerely wonder about), who have expanded my views on several important issues, that are relevant in today's world. I purposely read a wide variety of blogs on both sides of issues and while I strongly disagree with many of the positions being taken on certain issues, I do believe that it is their right to have those positions.

I say that as long as those opinions are legal and don't injure others or purposely lead to injuring others. It is how we discuss and defend our positions that makes the difference between civilized people and being a bigot/extremist. I strongly believe that we can learn from one another and that is the reason I blog and read blogs.

I take the position on all issues that we can agree to disagree, but we must do it respectfully and do no harm and that is the baseline for my blog.

Respect for others and do no harm.

I hope that you will enjoy reading Thinking at Last and here's to meeting many more wonderful people through blogging.