Hello World

"Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It's about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy."

-- Stephen King, "On Writing"

"Writing distills, clarifies, crystallizes thought."

-- Steven R. Covey, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." 

Welcome to The (re)-inaugural post for The Coffee Dog House.  I'm glad you came, and I'll do my best to make certain I don't waste your time.  Or to put it another way: you have a lot of choices with where you waste your time on the internet, so thank you for choosing mine.  I'll try to make it as enriching and entertaining as I can. 

So about this site: I'm by all appearances a regular Family Guy in my forties.  Work-wise, I'm a consultant in the Washington D.C. area.  I teach people in government and government contracting how to manage projects.  I'm one of the tired, the overpaid, the huddled commuters yearning for common sense.  I say this without a trace of self-pity; I get paid a lot of money (well, a medium amount I suppose) to tell people what I think and to help them solve problems.  And in doing that, I write all of the time: sensitively-worded emails, dry technical documentation, proposals, training material.  It's a lot like creative writing, only without the personal satisfaction. Or creativity.

Before this, though - in another life, before the wife and kids - I was a High School Teacher of English Literature and Acting.  I directed Shakespeare, graded papers and performed in local theater.  In job interviews and cocktail parties, this is the part where people ask me, "so how did you wind up doing this?"  I'd give an appropriately neutral answer, of course.  On my blog, I'll tell the truth: hell if I know.  Like a lot of us, my career trajectory was fueled by a desire to feed my family and steered by opportunities, layoffs, job markets and unsolicited advice from well-meaning relatives.  I didn't have much of a plan.  A poster on the wall of one of my Guidance Counselors read: "If you don't know where you're going, you'll wind up someplace else."  Done and done.

But here's what I've found out about where I am at the end of Act I of my life: by knocking around in the worlds of Education, Arts, Technology and Government, I've had a chance to grab some front-row seats to some of the more insane parts of American life.  For the last several years I've been in the Orchestra, front row center, of government projects, watching how good people in Washington try desperately to shoehorn laws into actual work that is supposed to do something for someone.  That isn't a remark designed to be liberal or conservative: the problems with making laws into making laws work for everyone is equal opportunity.

So at 42, I believe that I know three things really, really well: being a Husband and Father, writing decently, and observing the political world's impact on American life.  So this blog will be about all three.  Sometimes I'll just put out personal essays, sometimes maybe some short stories.  Occasionally, if I'm feeling brave, I might try to bring some full-on journalism onto the page based on my work and what's happening in our country.  Considering the headlines surrounding healthcare.gov and my experience in managing projects, right now is a target-rich environment.

Like most of the zillions of Internet blogs out there, I'm writing to try to bring my own thoughts into clarity.  For me, it's also important to blow on those creative embers in my mind before they go out.  But here's my promise: regardless of whether or not I'm putting out an essay, short fiction, or article, I'll do my best to make this worth your time.  If I don't - call me out on it.  That's what the comment section is for, in my opinion.