A Little About My Growing Up & Announcements

As of late, I've had very steady increase as far as international traffic is concerned. And it got me thinking about the only time in my life that I've been outside the U.S. which was when I was about 4-5 years old. At the time(late 1970s), my dad was in the Air Force and was stationed in Agana, Guam.

I was born in Cumberland, MD in 1974 and that was about when my dad got into the Air Force according to him. We lived in many places and then he was stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi. My brother was born in Columbus in 1976.

Not long after that, we were off to Guam for several months. It was there that I had my first memory of anything. The one thing I remember is beachfront where there was a huge rock that my dad used to dive off of. There were several things he told me about later on that I found funny that may surprise some of you as well.

I wasn't that well-behaved early on in life, but eventually discipline would take over because my mom enlisted in the Air Force right after my dad was discharged. In fact, both of them have said that my brother and I were Guam's Destruction Crew.

We threw actual records around like they were frisbees and destroyed them. The brand new speakers that my dad just made were destroyed when we turned the volume all the way up on the stereo then pressed the on switch. We set things on fire before, too. I don't remember that, but I'll take my dad's word for it.

One of the house-sitters we had was Filipina and most everyone knows that the Philippines are well represented there. Another one that my dad told me about was a huge Samoan guy that so big, you didn't want to be on the other side of a couch when he sat down because he would knock you off of it.

Another thing my dad told me was that I got away from our home out there on my big wheel cycle. I ended up at a store where they had a drink machine outside. My parents found me up there pounding as hard as I could on that drink machine in hopes that a soda would fall out. Well, I knew I was in trouble when they found me and I didn't get my soda either!

We eventually moved back to Mississippi before my mom got in the Air Force. This time, we moved to Oklahoma City as my mom was stationed at Tinker Air Force Base. My sister was born there in 1982, and that's when I first got into sports.

The Sooners were the first team I remembered, but I was the biggest baseball fan as a kid. I first saw the Cubs on WGN and that became my favorite team. My brother liked the Cardinals and it became a sibling rivalry amongst us. Over time as baseball began to have work labor problems, football became my favorite sport with college game being first now.

Anyway, I still can tell you the exact street address of the last place we lived at in Midwest City, OK. My mom surveyed houses and traveled quite a bit which enabled us to see much of the state and abroad. When I was a teen in 1988, my mom got a transfer out to North Carolina to work so we moved. Outside of living in central Pennsylvania for a little over a year, I've lived in this state since though I've moved several times within.

As I said, I'm a little shocked at some of things I did as a kid that they reminded me of. But I'm absolutely one of the most laid-back and polite guys you'll meet now. I have my pet peeves and bad things to say like everyone else. But I can promise you, those destructive things I did as a kid is the most trouble I've been in my life. OK, enough about that....

Announcements about the site

I've run into some Filipina friends of late as well as Indonesian buddies, too. As a result, my international traffic has seen a big increase. One of the reasons is because I've shifted away from having this blog be all about sports while adding back the creativity I showed on SN. Another reason is because of the kind and gracious people I've met outside the U.S. on-line.

I found that Cbox(short for Chatbox) on Tripzibit's site last week, and have decided to add that form of communication here. The biggest reason is I understand and respect people's privacy of not wanting to reveal their e-mail address to the public. The Cbox allows you to leave a message with your site link on it so you can check them out. It enables you to let them know you stopped by to visit them. Trust me when I tell you, if you visit those people, they're more than gracious enough to return the favor. In turn, you'll start getting a little more traffic which is why those who have advertising up is wanting to see more of in the first place. If you want me to check your site out or even link you, then message me on the Cbox or drop me an e-mail. I'm fine with either one. So here's a suggestion(or equation for that matter) for you guys and it's totally your call to make: Cbox = traffic = money.

I recently added the Google Translator underneath the Cbox for those of you that want to read this page in another language. For those of my friends here in the U.S., I recommend checking out some of those international sites because you can learn quite a bit about them and the country they live in. Also, you'll notice some of the pages are not in English, but most them have a Google Translator to where you can enable that.

I wrote in some new policies about the site over the weekend that everyone should read which can be found directly under the Blog Roll List. It hasn't been a problem of late, but we(meaning Paul H and I) have had issues with the types of comments that have been left on this site before. We do moderate them to protect everyone and not just ourselves. Therefore, we are strongly enforcing the Commenting Policy, so if you don't read it before replying senselessly, that's not our fault.

I do have a copyright for my own protection of the content and site itself. In the past, I've had my work plagiarized from SN and I've also had my bank account broken into on-line two summers ago. Also, I've been stalked as well, so it's not hard to understand why I protect myself as much as I can on the internet. And it's also for the protection of those who take the time to stop by, too. I've put in a lot of time on this site like most of you guys have with yours, and there's a reason why tools exist on the internet to cover yourself. I just ask that you respect me as much as I respect every single one of you that takes the time to come here. Just be civil.

Last, thank you all for coming by. Whether you're from here in the U.S. or not, it is always a pleasure to have you come by. I'm very proud to say that my blog has been getting some solid international exposure now. So be sure to check out my Blog Roll list of friends from not only in the U.S., but abroad as well. Thank you again.

Posted in: Agana, blog, blogger, blogs, Filipino, Guam, Maryland, Mississippi, Oklahoma

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