TimPlus(he/him)

I live in northwest Ohio, roughly 15 miles south of Lake Erie, and about 25 miles from Marblehead Lighthouse State Park. There isn’t much to see besides the obvious lighthouse, but it’s along the lake and very photogenic. I’ve taken several pics of the lighthouse over the years…ok, maybe close to 100, but this one so far is my favorite. Taken on the first day of Spring this year (March 20, 2026) during the evening when the weather was surprisingly comfortable along the water.

I’ve always had a fascination with lighthouses since I grew up along the coast of North Carolina and visited several along the Outer Banks, such as Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Cape Lookout Lighthouse, and Bodie Island Light Station.

What's a fork in the road you didn't take? Do you ever wonder what that other version of you is doing?

This is a good prompt, and it's one that really made me step back and think about past choices I've made that could've ended differently and altered my timeline.

While not as profound as missing a flight because I was late, subsequently preventing me from boarding the plane which then crashed not long after take off, I still feel one decision stands out above the rest.

Back when I was a senior in high school, I was checking out different colleges around the area (read: Ohio) like most high school students normally did. One college in particular stands out, Ashland University. I was still undecided on what I wanted as a career, so I was looking at schools that offered what I liked at the time; art, design, & coding/programming to name a few.

Anyhow, I ultimately decided against Ashland, but only because I was undeclared and it was a private college which meant it was expensive, and I didn’t want to owe a bunch of money for a major I wasn’t even sure about studying.

A few years later, I ended up meeting my wife through random chance. Since we’re 22 days apart in age, it means we graduated high school around the same time and would’ve been in college as well. After talking about education and colleges, I learned that she was also going to attend Ashland University the same time I would have.

Not that we would’ve crossed paths since the campus is a decent size and our majors were completely different, I’ve always wondered what would’ve happened if we did meet at college? Would we have stuck through and ended up married after college? Separated after graduation if our majors took us to different locations?

Regardless, that’s one of the roads not taken that led me to something better.

Well, someone had to do it, so why not me?

Anyway, my oldest and I went to the humane society the other day, just to check out the pets. Well, this human society only has cats, which means I was planning on being there until close because my daughter loves cats.

This was the door greeter when we entered. She looks calm but did not like when we tried to pet her. I'm amazed neither of us lost a finger to the cat.

Every once in awhile, I’ll go down a virtual rabbit hole whenever I research a topic of interest. Today’s guest: NeXTStep/OpenStep (you know, the base of what eventually became Mac OS X). I’ll definitely get some crap for this, but oh well. I’d rather use a computer with the NeXTStep UI than anything with Liquid (gl)Ass. Regardless, though, I can’t help but admire this screenshot because of how revolutionary it was over 30+ years ago. Sigh.

A good beginning for anything usually sets the tone for what’s to come; like the first chapter to a book or an opening sequence for a movie or TV show, and so forth.

There’s a lot of pressure to keep an audience engaged so that they’ll come back for more, even more so when the creator is a newcomer and needs to build trust with the audience as well.

While I’m not new to building websites or blogging, I am new to capturing an audience while I earn and keep trust of readers for a website with a more specific goal in mind: writing.

This website will be used to share stories and other written works by me first and foremost. I will also post things of interest to myself that I wish to share with readers, whether it’s a link to another site or just some ramblings that may not have anything to do with writing specifically.

With that said, this is just the beginning of what’s to come. Sort of a rough first draft, if you will. So, bear with me while the dust settles.

Comments are definitely welcome and encouraged but let’s not abuse that privilege. Earning trust works both ways, and I will be working hard on my end to earn it from readers.