OK, I'll start

Hello again. I want to thank all of you who have shared your support for this blog in the past couple of days. It's good to know that we're (and I say "we're," because we're doing this together) engaged in a worthwhile endeavor.

I've had a few people ask about the profiles and many of you have agreed to participate, which is pretty damn cool because I'm still a little nervous about this and am trying to figure out what it's all going to look like. Let's just say there will be very few rules. Like I said, I want to hear about what defines you, what motivates you, your interests and other things.

So here's a prototype, and I hope this will clear a few things up. Today we're talking with Joe.

OK, wait a minute. That was the icebreaker. That's me a few hours before high school junior prom. Here's something a little closer to what I look like now.

That's the guy you know. With less hair. Much. Less. Hair. Let's see what he has to say.

Let’s start with some basics. Tell me a little bit about your life.

I live in Springfield, Va. with my family. One wife, two kids and a dog who's terrific when he's not using household goods as his chew toys. I'm a workforce analyst at an area nonprofit. It's not the greatest job in the world right now and has gotten stale, but it's stable and it helps me provide for my family.

I grew up in Connecticut in the Town of Wethersfield, it's a tiny suburb of Hartford. It's where I spent the first 28 years of my life. I lived in Gainesville, Fla. for a few years and then moved to the Washington, D.C. region in January 2004. Been here ever since. I was a newspaper reporter for about 14 years and have worked in the analyst job for the past eight years.

Now tell me a little bit about your background. What is your heritage? Where does your family come from? Do you have roots outside of the United States?

I'm a true American mutt. On my father's side, his Dad was Irish and his mother was Italian. On my mother's side, her Dad was German/Irish and her mother was Greek. My Dad's parents passed away before I was born. He didn't like talking about his childhood too much, but I know that his Dad was a World War I veteran and worked for the U.S. Postal Service. His Mom (according to my Dad's friends) was a typical Italian mama who urged everyone to stuff their faces every time they came to their house in Hartford. 

My Mom's father died when I was eight months old. But "Grammy," my mother's Mom, died when I was 19. She had some pretty cool stories. She was sent from Thessaloniki, Greece to the U.S. by her parents at age 5 to live with her aunt and uncle. She never said why they sent her away, but I like to think they believed she would have a better life here in the States. So she showed up at Ellis Island and made her way. Man, she was tough as nails. She taught pottery and volunteered at nursing homes, and she worked as a teacher's assistant at an elementary school in West Hartford. She didn't stop working until about six months before she died at age 82.

What really drives you? What’s your reason for getting out of bed every day?

Honestly, it's friends and family. I really value the relationships in my life. I think that's why I started this blog. I need it for personal reasons, because I realized I haven't been taking enough "me" time lately, but it's also another chance to connect with friends. And to have some laughs. I like to make people laugh. It doesn't always work, but dammit, I try every day.

I should also mention that I like to do yard work, crossword puzzles and play Scrabble. So yeah, somebody call AARP and tell them I'm ready for my card.

Tell me about a difficult period in your life, how you coped with it and how it made you stronger.

Whew. Well, I mentioned in the first post that my Dad's death a few years ago was extremely difficult. My Mom was diagnosed with dementia shortly afterwards, and my sister is still up in Connecticut trying to manage things. Mom is in assisted living right now and she still knows who we are, but the disease has affected her speech and communication is challenging. 

Honestly, I don't know that it's made me stronger yet. I just know that it's hard to watch over my family down here and keep an eye on things that are happening 400 miles away at the same time. But I'm trying.

In your travels or through your work, tell me about a time you learned more about somebody – or something – after looking a little deeper, beyond the superficial.

Well, this doesn't relate to a specific person, but I realized that there's a bigger world out there when I moved to Florida. I know it seems obvious, but up to that point, I had not lived in a community or worked in a place that people from many different cultures/races/backgrounds called home. It really opened my eyes. Our newsroom, for example, was a mix of white/black/Asian/Hispanic people, gay/straight, Democrat/Republican, you name it.  

And as you can imagine, that increased tenfold after moving to the D.C. region. That's one of things I love about where we live. There are 150 countries and 100 different languages represented in the student body of the county where my kids go to school. That still blows me away. And that's the kind of place where I want to live, and where I want my kids to be, as well.

Let’s have a little fun. Tell me about your worst job. And if you haven’t had one, tell me about the most interesting one.

Oh boy. That's easy. I spent part of a summer working at the Connecticut motor vehicle department during high school. My job was to alphabetize the accident reports. That's it. This is before computers. I alphabetized paperwork. I also quit after three weeks.

Tell me about your taste in music. I don't know about you (well, I do, but this is a template for future interviews), but I can't live without tunes. In the car. While making dinner. During workouts at the gym. They're necessary, right?

I have a really weird mix of music on my iPod. I feel like I'm getting old, though, because the selections weigh heavily toward anything from the 1960s to the 1990s. But it's rock, blues, metal, jazz, classical. It could be Black Keys one minute and Stevie Wonder the next. Many different genres. Just depends on what mood I'm in. Maybe some people on this blog can make some suggestions.

Thanks Joe. Did we miss anything? Anything you’d like to add?

Yeah. This has been a lot of fun. And you're quite a handsome man.

Well, OK, you know I'm kidding at the end there. But that's where we're going. I want to get serious and have some fun at the same time. Let me know what you think and if you have any questions. Talk to you soon.