Hello World!

I have just completed my jump into the world of social media and I am feeling quite like the "man who fell to Earth." I recently activated both LinkedIn and Twitter accounts and based on some internet based advice, opened this blog page. Evidently, to get some credibility you need to have a blog page so that your "followers" can know who you are, otherwise you will not have followers; I think there is a Catch-22 in there somewhere.

So, I will take this time to, more-or-less, introduce myself.

I am an old guy.
My first computer was a Commodore 64. I had a dial-up connection to CompuServe and although, I can't recall the price, it was per connection, incredibly slow and seemed rather expensive. The "64" in Commodore 64 referred to the size of the RAM. The memory was cassette tape, access was sequential and the monitor was an old B&W TV we had; the entire setup was ridiculous. However, even at that time, I thought that the Internet access part of the experience held the most potential.
My next computer was an Everex XT. If I remember correctly, this one had 256k RAM and what I was assured was more memory than I would ever need, a 10MB hard drive. It proved not to be enough within 2 months. This machine had DOS 1.0 and Windows 3.3.
I've had a number of machines and OS' since then: a Radius MAC clone (OS 7.5), some generic PC made up on the spot at a Computer Show (Windows 98), our current desktop is an HP Pavillion with Vista and I have an Acer notebook that dual boots with either Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) or Windows 7.

I am a printing professional.
I am currently employed by Tobay Printing on Long Island as a pre-press specialist and I am self-employed (dba Three Village Printing) as printing broker and consultant.

I am a student.
I attend Stony Brook University. After sending 2 sons to college, I thought it time to finish up something that I started 40 years ago. Part of my problem was not knowing what I wanted to when I grow up; now, I don't worry about it anymore. I am majoring in Business and Economics, I feel both subjects will help me out with my current plans and expectations.

I am a musician.
I have been playing the guitar, rather badly, for over 45 years. Two years ago, I thought it would be a good approach to learn music from an entirely new perspective: as a rank beginner with an entirely new instrument. I saw the animated feature Waking Life and was absolutely floored by the accordion of Glover Gill and the Tosca Tango Orchestra, so my choice of instrument is the accordion.

I am a traveler.
My wife, Carmela, is a sixth grade teacher and loves to travel. I guess I got the "bug" from her. We've been to Norway, Italy, Costa Rica, Mexico; we've traveled to a few of National Parks (what an incredible resource our National Parks System is) notably, The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Death Valley, Red Rock Canyon, Shenandoah, Zion, Everglades. I'm sure I've neglected to mention a place or two and we have plenty more to see.

I am a bon vivant.
I enjoy life: I love to eat, I love to drink, I love to laugh. I enjoy the company of my good friends and family, I enjoy a good book, a good movie and I love music.

In the future, I will use my blog page to vent, rant, update and otherwise inform. Thanks for your time and interest and if you have any comments, please post.