Jack of all, Master of none

I am Jake. Jake I am.

Ok, my name is actually Ian, but I'll be going by the name Jake on this blog. That's right, Jake. Why Jake? Well, see, I wanted a blog called "Jack of All, Master of None", but that name on blogspot (along with some other blog sites) was taken. So, I have changed my name to Jake (for the purposes of this Blog) and settled with "Jake of All, Master of None". Catchy? Yes. Does it make sense? Well, that is questionable, but I'm going with it none-the-less.

This is my first post of my first blog that lasted more than 24 hours. Simply put, I consider myself a jake (jack) of all things and I'd like to document my knowledge (or lack thereof). I do know a little about everything (more about some things, and less about others). I have an opinion about most things in this life (which everybody should). Sure, I'm not a master at anything (get it now? "Jake of All, Master of None"), but I can speak intelligently about most topics. The topics I cannot speak intelligently about, I don't discuss. Pretty simple, huh.

There are a few inspirations for this blog. The most direct inspiration to my blog is my old neighbor Jim Chaney. He recently created a blog (sure, I'll pimp it, http://sportsjim81.wordpress.com/about/) chronicling his adventures nearing his 30th birthday. He made a list of 30 things he wanted to do before his 30th birthday (which is less than a year away, but by judging from his picture, has to be at least 10 years away).  In any case, I've been putting off creating a blog for sometime using the "I have 2 kids and a full time job" excuse every time. Well, Jim also has 2 young children and has time to blog (as well as time to go to Cameron Indoor Stadium, golf at Bethpage, and train for a marathon). So, with Jim's blog as a motivator, I figured I'd give my blog a hearty try. Thanks, Jim, for making it look so easy.

Another inspiration to the blog is Mr. Adam Carolla. You probably know him from one of the following endeavors: 1) old school radio show Loveline, 2) The Man Show television program, or 3) his highly successful podcast (http://www.adamcarolla.com/ACPBlog/); or you don't know him at all (something that my hairdresser confessed to me last week). I recently read his NYTimes best selling book "In Fifty Years, we'll all be chicks" and loved every second of it. So, with Adam as inspiration, I wanted to get my thoughts out there and get some discussion going on a variety of topics. Thanks, Adam, for being so funny and thoughtful.

A third inspiration (more of a motivator) to this blog is a friend Jake Major. No, Jake Major is not his real name, but it is certainly an alias of his (he is the shy type who doesn't even have a Facebook account). Jake Major and I contemplated a blog a few years ago that fell apart in the planning stages. Even though that blog never got off the ground, Jake Major inspired me to do some writing (including a few screenplays as well as some cool movie reviews; which I may share on this blog at some point in the future). Thanks, Jake Major, for giving me the writing bug.

My last (but certainly not least) inspiration for this blog is my family; namely my wife Jake - uh, I mean Emily - and my kids Jake and Jake - uh, I mean Justin and Landon. Every day, my family inspires me to be a better person, husband, and father. I'll most likely reference them often in this blog, since I see them and interact with them every single day of my life.

So, with all that inspiration behind me (and with my eldest son napping right next to me as I type this), I begin my trek into the blogosphere. I hope to spur discussion about lots of topics. I hope to not make a fool of myself. And I hope to be the inspiration, as the above people have been inspiration to me.

Stay tuned for my next post coming by Friday. I'll try to have out one post per week to start.