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Well, might as well say hi. I'll throw out all the details here and see what kind of new interesting people I can meet.
I'm from NC as well, actually from the beach, but living out slightly east of Charlotte now. It blew my mind that the author of the new series I fell in love with
Let me clarify #3. I've been in IT for almost 20 years, own my firm, and enjoy the benefits of being the boss - meaning I can take a day off here or there when I need to, etc. About two years ago I wrote my first book and had it published on Amazon. Surprisingly enough, it made me some decent cash pretty quickly, though I have nothing near the sales or following of the Author here. It was basically a technical how-to guide for idiots in regards to cloud computing and I figured it had a pretty limited circulation.That part proved right. lol
Anyway, I've always wanted to be an author, but due to the way my mind works it will likely never come to pass that I create a literary masterpiece of fiction. I'm too planning oriented... I know how to READ. I know what I LIKE. I know how to WRITE. You'd think it'd be easy? Nope.
Anyway, about a year ago I was driving through Georgia and at a particular place during my trip I thought "How about a SHTF book based on my actual life if I had to bug out RIGHT NOW... from here... this instant.... and get home. I was literally almost 250 miles away, which is funny because that's how far Morgan was in the first novel.
I've got about a hundred pages done, and not gone farther. Just haven't had the time. Lots of ideas, but not lots of spare time to dedicate to it. Between family, horses, dogs, chores, working on the SHTF stuff, not much time remains for a hobbyist author to do his thing.
Anyway, so I'm out of Audiobooks last week and about to spend another long time on the road. Let's go find a new author to try out (since I read faster than my favorite hundred or so authors can write). I see "Going Home" on the audible shelves. I'd put it in my wish list a few weeks earlier as a "possible" read if nothing else caught my eye. With no other choice in good literature to pick from, I purchased it and started listening.
Dude... (if you ever read this) you wrote my freakin' book, man! The character had a lot of the same gear I do, seemed possessed of much of the same mentalities and goals, etc. He works in IT. Wow, me too. He travels a lot and carries a go bag every time he leaves home. Wow, me too I think to myself as I look over the back seat of my truck while starting my 1400 mile trip this week to see my pack and gear all stacked up in the back seat.... His wife is apparently a great cook (revealed in book two). Wow, mine too. I mean seriously... there is absolutely NO POINT in me writing a book now. He literally stole my mind... not to mention he had way better ideas for plot development and has already had amazing success with the series. Thanks a lot sherlock! Now when I'm destitute at age 65 or so I'm going to blame A. American for taking my retirement away from me!
In case you missed the sarcasm.... I'm kidding. He's a great author and I'm freaking hooked already.
Ok, so I finish book 1 and start Googling. I'll have you know,by the way, I spent a great deal of time hitting pause on my audiobook and jotting notes on things to research later. During one of those searches it occurred to me to find out about the author a little. Not only is he online and fairly easy to find, but he has an entire website and forum with ACTUALLY good information, pleasant members that help each other out, and apparently is beholden to a fairly good sense of humor. I checked his Facebook page and saw the news about "going to be on the Today show." No kidding? Me too! (actually my showing was a year or two back, but again.. what are the freakin' odds?) I met Matt Lauer, his staff, and still talk to a few of them on Facebook from time to time. Again, it's a spookily weird parrallel. Though our two different experiences on Fox were nowhere near the same kind of thing. But again.. one more parallel.
I just realized that I'm starting to sound like a stalker. I swear I'm not. lol. It just blew my mind that there were so many commonalities between his fictional story and my actual life, then I found wierdly similar factual similarities as well.
So, I started to check out the forums... which eventually led me here to the Welcome Mat and I figured I might as well say hey.
So.. hey!
Ok, so the about me part: Fine.
I'm very interested in being better prepared for any eventuality - though I consider financial collapse a more likely scenario than EMP, it can't hurt to be ready for both, right?
I don't wear a tinfoil hat and don't associate with those that do... when you get TOO FAR out there, I just back away slowly. I don't believe "da gubment is gunna come take my guns and I'm gunna kill 'em all." No. I DO believe that its smart to be prepared for caring for your family, your loved ones, and further to try to surround yourself with others who are like-minded and who possess either the skills, the finances, or both to do that effectively if you can. Thus I have begun the endeavor to do so, with some minor success so far.
I have recently spiked my interest in HAM again. A long time CB-jockey from the old days, HAM is the natural next step, so I'm currently studying to take my technician test, have a couple scanners, and play around with my Baofeng UV-5R from time to time, though I only listen on the HAM frequencies and am working on trying to meet people I can learn from and network with, both locally and regionally, just in case.
My main trade skills lie in networks... I do structured cabling, fiber optics, etc. My personal skills lean towards carpentry and construction, horseback riding, camping, four-wheeling, and learning everything I can while I can.
I do some canning, though my garden is too small this year due to my work schedule to get much use this year. I'll work on that more next year again. Too busy with all the other hobbies that can quickly overtake your life if you're like me and both a prepper AND a little OCD and Type A. lol
What else can I say.... umm. I work a lot with social media, the internet, hosting, web creation, etc, so if those skills can be of service to anyone via advice here in the forums, I'd be glad to share the knowledge if it'll help.
What am I hoping to find here on the forums?
Oh, and as for the handle, my gamer friends called me Viper years ago when we played online constantly... it kind of stuck as it was the name of a character I was playing when I originally met them, and using my radio callsign seemed lame. lol.
All righty then.. that's probably WAY more than any of you cared to know. And if your'e still reading this, kudos for your stick-to-it-iveness!
I'm from NC as well, actually from the beach, but living out slightly east of Charlotte now. It blew my mind that the author of the new series I fell in love with
- Is from NC.
- Lives not that far from me.
- Wrote MY freakin' novel!
Let me clarify #3. I've been in IT for almost 20 years, own my firm, and enjoy the benefits of being the boss - meaning I can take a day off here or there when I need to, etc. About two years ago I wrote my first book and had it published on Amazon. Surprisingly enough, it made me some decent cash pretty quickly, though I have nothing near the sales or following of the Author here. It was basically a technical how-to guide for idiots in regards to cloud computing and I figured it had a pretty limited circulation.That part proved right. lol
Anyway, I've always wanted to be an author, but due to the way my mind works it will likely never come to pass that I create a literary masterpiece of fiction. I'm too planning oriented... I know how to READ. I know what I LIKE. I know how to WRITE. You'd think it'd be easy? Nope.
Anyway, about a year ago I was driving through Georgia and at a particular place during my trip I thought "How about a SHTF book based on my actual life if I had to bug out RIGHT NOW... from here... this instant.... and get home. I was literally almost 250 miles away, which is funny because that's how far Morgan was in the first novel.
I've got about a hundred pages done, and not gone farther. Just haven't had the time. Lots of ideas, but not lots of spare time to dedicate to it. Between family, horses, dogs, chores, working on the SHTF stuff, not much time remains for a hobbyist author to do his thing.
Anyway, so I'm out of Audiobooks last week and about to spend another long time on the road. Let's go find a new author to try out (since I read faster than my favorite hundred or so authors can write). I see "Going Home" on the audible shelves. I'd put it in my wish list a few weeks earlier as a "possible" read if nothing else caught my eye. With no other choice in good literature to pick from, I purchased it and started listening.
Dude... (if you ever read this) you wrote my freakin' book, man! The character had a lot of the same gear I do, seemed possessed of much of the same mentalities and goals, etc. He works in IT. Wow, me too. He travels a lot and carries a go bag every time he leaves home. Wow, me too I think to myself as I look over the back seat of my truck while starting my 1400 mile trip this week to see my pack and gear all stacked up in the back seat.... His wife is apparently a great cook (revealed in book two). Wow, mine too. I mean seriously... there is absolutely NO POINT in me writing a book now. He literally stole my mind... not to mention he had way better ideas for plot development and has already had amazing success with the series. Thanks a lot sherlock! Now when I'm destitute at age 65 or so I'm going to blame A. American for taking my retirement away from me!
In case you missed the sarcasm.... I'm kidding. He's a great author and I'm freaking hooked already.
Ok, so I finish book 1 and start Googling. I'll have you know,by the way, I spent a great deal of time hitting pause on my audiobook and jotting notes on things to research later. During one of those searches it occurred to me to find out about the author a little. Not only is he online and fairly easy to find, but he has an entire website and forum with ACTUALLY good information, pleasant members that help each other out, and apparently is beholden to a fairly good sense of humor. I checked his Facebook page and saw the news about "going to be on the Today show." No kidding? Me too! (actually my showing was a year or two back, but again.. what are the freakin' odds?) I met Matt Lauer, his staff, and still talk to a few of them on Facebook from time to time. Again, it's a spookily weird parrallel. Though our two different experiences on Fox were nowhere near the same kind of thing. But again.. one more parallel.
I just realized that I'm starting to sound like a stalker. I swear I'm not. lol. It just blew my mind that there were so many commonalities between his fictional story and my actual life, then I found wierdly similar factual similarities as well.
So, I started to check out the forums... which eventually led me here to the Welcome Mat and I figured I might as well say hey.
So.. hey!
Ok, so the about me part: Fine.
I'm very interested in being better prepared for any eventuality - though I consider financial collapse a more likely scenario than EMP, it can't hurt to be ready for both, right?
I don't wear a tinfoil hat and don't associate with those that do... when you get TOO FAR out there, I just back away slowly. I don't believe "da gubment is gunna come take my guns and I'm gunna kill 'em all." No. I DO believe that its smart to be prepared for caring for your family, your loved ones, and further to try to surround yourself with others who are like-minded and who possess either the skills, the finances, or both to do that effectively if you can. Thus I have begun the endeavor to do so, with some minor success so far.
I have recently spiked my interest in HAM again. A long time CB-jockey from the old days, HAM is the natural next step, so I'm currently studying to take my technician test, have a couple scanners, and play around with my Baofeng UV-5R from time to time, though I only listen on the HAM frequencies and am working on trying to meet people I can learn from and network with, both locally and regionally, just in case.
My main trade skills lie in networks... I do structured cabling, fiber optics, etc. My personal skills lean towards carpentry and construction, horseback riding, camping, four-wheeling, and learning everything I can while I can.
I do some canning, though my garden is too small this year due to my work schedule to get much use this year. I'll work on that more next year again. Too busy with all the other hobbies that can quickly overtake your life if you're like me and both a prepper AND a little OCD and Type A. lol
What else can I say.... umm. I work a lot with social media, the internet, hosting, web creation, etc, so if those skills can be of service to anyone via advice here in the forums, I'd be glad to share the knowledge if it'll help.
What am I hoping to find here on the forums?
- Anyone that can stand my verbosity. Brevity in written form is not something of which I'm oft accused. lol
- To learn more about comparing gear with others, seeing what I can improve on, and offering advice from the lessons I've learned with my own gear.
- To make like minded friends that can talk about a subject we have in common... as most of my real world acquaintances don't know this side of me: OpSec and CommSec and all being the point...
- To learn a little more about a lot of subjects, and to share some useful information when I can.
- And to see where the adventure takes me... I learned when I first got into being prepared that it'll change you in small ways and lead you down to hobbies and skills you would have never thought important before.... (Specifically solar.. still needing help with that one in some ways.)
Oh, and as for the handle, my gamer friends called me Viper years ago when we played online constantly... it kind of stuck as it was the name of a character I was playing when I originally met them, and using my radio callsign seemed lame. lol.
All righty then.. that's probably WAY more than any of you cared to know. And if your'e still reading this, kudos for your stick-to-it-iveness!
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