The aim of this blog is fairly straightforward: a space for me to share my thoughts on a wide range of topics that are too long or controversial for a status update on Facebook or a stream of Tweets. I already occasionally blog about passenger rail here and new music that I enjoy here. This blog is intended to augment those pages, not replace them. I Tweet here for personal thoughts and here for work (again, passenger rail).
I've found – on numerous occasions – that I've wanted to articulate more in-depth thoughts on a particular topic, whether its something related to the various professional sports teams I follow (Bills, Sabres, Nationals, Everton), something happening in the craft beer or homebrewing scenes or those ghastly subjects of politics or religion.
I try to keep my friends' news feeds on Facebook clear of my political ramblings or in-depth treatises on faith and religion, out of respect to my friends' wide-ranging beliefs and persuasions. I do better on the former than the latter (although I'm certainly not 100% apolitical), but mostly things I've posted about faith have generally been limited to pretty spiffy things Pope Francis has been doing. With the dawn of this space, I plan to shift such sentiments here.
The nature of the topics I plan to discuss here will inherently draw reaction and criticism. That's fantastic. I'm looking forward to reading and responding to comments, especially among those representing the loyal opposition and seeking worthy dialogue by which reasonable people can disagree. I'll try to do my absolute best to keep the tone of my posts civil and present opposing arguments in an honest and respectful fashion.
At the same time, some posts will be far less controversial.
Lastly, the title of this blog wasn't chosen for any introspective, telling reason. I watched a documentary on the Ottoman Empire recently, which included some history on its elite soldier corps known as the Janissaries. Seemed like a cool name for a blog.
