When I was younger, this was my favorite time of the year. School was just letting out, I had the summer ahead of me to go to the pool, play outside, go to summer camp and enjoy the weather. I’m grateful to have the winter weather behind me, but summer doesn’t have the same appeal to me now as it did back then.

I have been in this industry for more than 25 years at this point, getting my first paid job at the Ball State Daily News in the summer of 1998. Since that time, I have written thousands of stories (my best estimate is around 5,000, but that could be a little high or a little low).

I have been a fan of video games for practically my entire life. My parents purchased an Atari 2600 for my brother and me in the early ‘80s and I’ve been hooked on them ever since. I even wrote a weekly column on gaming at my last job that was published across the country for a few years. While I don’t consider myself an expert on the subject, I’m definitely well versed in it.

Despite a recent cold streak, it feels like winter is over. Finally. In my younger days growing up in a small town in Indiana, I used to love winter.

Even though I’m in my mid-40s, one of my favorite entertainment escapes in life is still Star Wars. It’s something my big brother introduced me to as a very young kid and I remain just as passionate about it today. While most Star Wars fans are great, a small portion of the fandom are sadly among the most toxic people you can meet.

I love technology. I think it’s incredible that the science fiction of my childhood has become my reality as an adult.

It seems a little hard to believe, but it’s been a little more than four months since I joined the staff here at the Crestview News Bulletin and Santa Rosa’s Press Gazette. While my primary job as editor has me working with our reporters on stories, organizing the budgets of the papers and of course editing all the stories, photo captions and graphics for accuracy and grammar (I do apologize for mistakes that sneak past me, they annoy me as well), this job has also given me a chance to return to my roots as a reporter and writer.

There’s no need to sugarcoat some things. The pandemic sucked. Millions of people worldwide died from the virus. It brought undue racist attacks against Asians here in America. It helped to bring a lot of anger to the surfaces in the states and abroad.

Ben Franklin did a lot of great things for this country. One of his bright ideas that I am not found of, and really hate to be honest, is daylight-saving time. Well, that’s not entirely true. I actually prefer daylight-saving time. What I don’t like is the switch back to standard time.

The other day, I watched “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” and more than 40 years later it remains an excellent movie on its own and is still the peak of Star Trek in my opinion. One thing I really paid attention to in this latest viewing of the movie is just how great some of the lines are and how they really have inspired me and have had a small part in forging me into the person I am today.