Home » My Dear Guests, Allow Me to Introduce Myself.

My Dear Guests, Allow Me to Introduce Myself.

newportraitRichHailey.com is going to be a site that is about me.

Not in some egotistical self absorbed way, but in a way that hopefully will allow me to reach people more effectively.

I believe that God gave me the brain He did in order for me to use it for the people around me. I believe He gave me the urge to write in order to more effectively use that gift.

And so I will write.

My vision is that this site will soon be more than a daily blog. While I do plan on posting daily, I also plan on creating an archive of static articles on a number of topics. As a kid, I used to read a series of stories about Encyclopedia Brown, a kid who solved mysteries because he knew so much about almost everything. I decided I wanted to be him, and while I do not have his enormous powers of oibservation and deduction, I have managed to amass a wealth of knowledge on multiple topics.

My friends probably see me more as Cliff Clavin than Encyclopedia Brown. Of course, the difference is that I don’t drink, so I’m rarely found in bars.

I also have a better accuracy rate.

Anyway if this site is going to be about me, you probably want a little background information.

First of all, I am a Christian, and that is very important to me. I was born into a Catholic family, but fell away from the church completely during my teens and early 20’s. I always guided myself by the things I’d learned in Catholic School, and always believed in God and Jesus Christ, but I can’t say that He was the most important thing to me. Later in life, I began to search for something that was missing, and with the help of a good friend, I returned to my faith in God. For the first time, I began to actually read the Bible, and began to learn about the God I had believed in for so long. Part of this site will be about some of the things I’ve learned.

Second, I am a husband and father. I’ve been married twice, and while I deeply regret the failure of my first marriage, I am equally grateful for this second chance to get it right. Through these marriages, I have a total of 8 kids. I don’t do the whole ‘step’ thing very well. My kids are my kids and I don’t see them differently because they have a different mother or father or both, unless they want me to. One secret to living in a blended family is to respect the wishes of everyone involved. Blood is important; love is more important. And part of this site will be about my family, and the things they have taught me.

Third, I am a conservative libertarian. I have a very strong respect for the Constitution, and, like the Bible, I believe we do best when we take it at it’s word. Calling either a ‘living document’ that changes with the times is just a lazy way of getting what you want without having to pay for it. But the truth is that in both cases, you will wind up paying a price for your actions. And part of this site will be about the actions we are taking and the consequences we may face.

Fourth, I’m a Tennessean. I left the state when I joined the Navy. I’ve lived in Illinois, Florida, Virginia, New York State, Washington State, Indiana and Ohio. I’ve spent a lot of time in California, Texas, and Hawaii. And with all due respect to those great states, no place has suited me like East Tennessee.

Fifth, I’m an American. I’m not exactly sure what that means anymore; my country has changed a lot since I was a kid. Heck, it’s changed a lot since I was in the Navy! I know what America used to stand for, and what it appears to stand for today, and for my part, I’ll stick with our old values. And that will be part of this site.

Finally, I’ve grown to discover that I am a teacher. I don’t know how good at it I’ll be, but I’ve learned that not only do I love to learn, I love to communicate that learning to others. And that will be a huge part of this site. Don’t be surprised to see random science essays popping out every now and then, or technical discussions on subjects like zinc mining, Human Performance Improvement, or astrophotography. As Tommy Smothers once said, “My mind has many faucets.” I never know which one will open up when I sit down to my keyboard.

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