Giving Thanks

Given the serious nature of my last post, I feel that I should lighten things up a bit by acknowledging those who have helped expand my audience. Before I get to that, I just want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read what I've had to write. I would never have guessed that I'd have so much traffic in my first week of blogging. You all are the best!

Improving Upon the Art of Teaching Science

I've been looking forward to writing this post for a few days now. As much as I enjoy the process of storytelling like I did in my previous entries, I find editorial work to be more challenging. A blog post by Sarah Werning, titled "Why Paleontology is Relevant", triggered a brief Twitter discussion between Brian Switek, Jon Tennant, and me. The result was a great question requiring a thoughtful answer which will hopefully provoke further discussion.

@joe_r_hancock @laelaps How would you go about doing it, if you had the chance..? I try some stuff dans my blog, but can be difficult
— Jon Tennant (@Protohedgehog) February 19, 2013

Where I'm At and How I Got Here

While I don't plan on writing a post every day moving forward, I figured I've got enough of a backlog of topics to justify more frequent updates. Since I've already given a detailed background of who I am, I felt that the next logical step was to summarize my previous dinosaur studies so everyone knows where I've been and I have a better idea of where I'm going.

To preface things a bit, I plan on only discussing books I've been reading. There are a number of blogs I try to keep up with, but the vast array of topics that are covered would dominate my time if I chose to discuss them. I've provided a list of the blogs I read and will likely make mention of the authors from time to time.

Who I Am and Why I'm Blogging

Hello, everybody, and welcome to my blog. I figured my first entry into this venture should be introductory, as my future writings would probably lack context otherwise. I'm currently enrolled in the Construction Engineering program at Montana State University-Bozeman and have another year or so before I graduate. Before this, I spent over five years in the Air Force working with munitions. As both of these paths were essentially chosen for me by the government, I've decided to wander off and finally learn about something that actually interests me.

I found as much of the set as I could online last year. Abebooks is an awesome resource for used books.