The answers to the questions who, what, why, where, and when should be enough to describe ‘this’.
Who
The domain name really answers this question – this site is Andy Bowers’ blog. I have a wonderful family but they don’t need their details strewn all over this. Ergo, no ‘About Me’.
I’m a semi-retired professional engineer (chemical) with 40+ years experience with process design and process control projects pretty much all involving water supply and water treatment across Canada – Newfoundland and Labrador, Nunavut, Alberta and all points in between – as well as some long-term resident project management excitement in the Caribbean and China also with ‘water’ projects.
What
It’s part writing it down before I forget what really happened or lose the pictures, etc. and part writing it down because I think if needs to be written down – not as a 140-character tweet or a short-commented flippant Facebook post – but as coherent articles that follow the advice the King gave in ‘Alice in Wonderland‘:
The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. `Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?’ he asked.
‘Begin at the beginning,’ the King said gravely, ‘and go on till you come to the end: then stop.’
Why
Partly because it’s fun, partly because it’s a learning experience with chances to reflect on what happened back when, and partly as my soapbox.
Where
Before retiring, I lived in the self-styled Centre of the Universe. Since retiring, I live in the wilderness of rural Eastern Ontario. I’m part of the ‘refugee from Toronto’ group, but I *think* I’ve adapted to a life where a chainsaw is more important than a Starbucks.
When
The blog concept began almost 25 years ago, frequently interrupted when I had much more important things to do, slowing to a crawl when I was uninterested, and occasionally suffering when servers went down, hosting companies disappeared, and script kiddies trashed stuff. Perhaps retirement will bring some stability to my blogging or give me an outlet to rage against all the things that might be worth the effort. Perhaps not, but this time I am determined to give it a decent, albeit intermittent, try.
Family
FWIW – a rare group shot of the fam.
Old stuff too
I even managed to locate some of that old stuff that appeared in previous incarnations on my blog. It’s available in the History section.