About Me! (long version)

I’ve always dreaded writing about myself. Will I reveal too much, or am I holding back unnecessarily!

I was born in Egypt many, many moons ago. I went through primary, middle an secondary school at Victory(ia!) College in Alexandria, just like my father and brother.

I emigrated to North America (ok, Canada) before I turned 17. I finished my education at Barton Secondary School in Hamilton, Ontario then went on to get a degree in Geology at McMaster University. I worked for a while in a gold mine in B.C. (Hello Bralorne), and then for a summer doing base metal exploration in Northern Quebec and Labrador.

But Geology was not meant for me. I went back to McMaster for another degree in Economics for which I had developed a passion during that solitary winter of 1973 in the BC interior. The winter of 1973 clarified my thinking on other matters too!

Now, with a degree in Economics, I sought employment mainly in government entities, both in Ottawa and in Toronto.  But even in those heady growth days, finding the right job was difficult.  Nearly a year later, I was offered an entry level analyst position as a ‘pension analyst’ in the Civil Service Commission of the Ontario government.  I never expected to stay there for over a year. Now more than 30 years on, I’m still there.  But ‘there’ has changed, as the Civil Service Commission begat the Human Resources Secretariat which begat Management Board Secretariat which eventually begat the second coming of the Ministry of Government Service, which includes an entity called Human Resources Ontario for which I nominally work. Talk about a square peg in a round hole, and that is me! Yet, over the last year I was nominated for an Amethyst Award, and was recognized with an outstanding long service award  at an “HR” ceremony.

And yes, I have a lovely wife who is very talented in photography, and a graphic designer daughter who is also lovely and talented, and equally challenging and surprising. As to my son Timmy, he is six months older than my daughter, chirps, calls his name, and keeps us happy and together.

My “passions”, are critical thinking and North American Unity. My life stance is secular humanism, and freedom from supernaturalist religions, though my wife says that my religion is Americanism,  to which I proudly plead guilty.  I am a republican and a Republican.  But as a Republican, I am a liberal republican having witnessed the self destruction of the American Conservative movement which I supported for over thirty years. With Buckley and Reagan gone, those in the movement who pledge their fealty to these icons leave me cold.

My posts on this blog with touch on these (and other) passions, my life and those I care for. I hope you find something. If you don’t, well there are a lot of other places on the internet.

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