Travis Smith: my resume, bio and photos back to the main blog page

So, a friend told me yesterday I must be brave to post my phone number online like that.

I think perhaps “brave” in this context meant “foolish” or perhaps “naive.”  Maybe even “boneheaded.”

He raises a good point—is a blog a good place to post personal information?  I mean, you could find my address, my birthday, my phone number, my wife’s name and more here. 

But this doesn’t bother me, possibly because I attended journalism school.  I know that all that personal detail, and way more, is available online.  I can look up the military record of my friend George, the divorce records of my parents, and the business license of any one of my entrepreneurial friends.  Blogging it doesn’t make it much easier to find—and in this case, my phone number will be in the phone book and therefore also online anyway.

A close reader could also tell that I’ve bought good stuff worth stealing (like the Wii!)

But at the same time, I’m certain that of the significant robberies that occur in Vancouver this year, a very very very small percentage of them will be from people who are specifically targeting someone.  Most crimes are crimes of opportunity, and frankly, my place isn’t that easy to get into, plus we have an alarm system.

What else can you tell from my blog? My cat’s name, my first car’s name, my weight, my height, my first girlfriend… the list goes on and on.

But that information, despite being fairly personal, isn’t particularly useful.  I’m careful to use security questions that can’t be answered by anyone else correctly, and I can’t think of any other reason you’d be able to use my cat’s name against me somehow.

There are actually plenty of private things that don’t make it into the blog.  That’s one of my defining characteristics, I think—I try not to have varying levels of exposure and secrecy from different groups of people.  I have basically stuff that’s just for me to know, stuff that’s for Susie and I to know, and stuff that pretty much everyone can know, if they want.  I don’t blurt everything else, but I don’t make it hard to ask, either.

I guess Popeye says it best: “I yam whats I yam and that’s all whats I yam.”  And if others think differently, that’s fine. I don’t think this is the “rightest” way to be, it’s just the way I .... yam.

ps. My Wii number is 6315 5764 4929 7982



 
 

 

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Overheard

“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.”

...who said it?

“Almost every American I know does trade large portions of his life for entertainment, hour by weeknight hour, binge by Saturday binge, Facebook check by Facebook check. I’m one of them. In the course of writing this I’ve watched all 13 episodes of House of Cards and who knows how many more West Wing episodes, and I’ve spent any number of blurred hours falling down internet rabbit holes. All instead of reading, or writing, or working, or spending real time with people I love.”

...who said it?

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”

...who said it?

“I play with variables constantly.”

...who said it?

“Only the person who has learned Continual Love coming from a heart of Gratitude/Worship can effectively deal with the problem of loneliness.”

...who said it?

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