Hello World!

I don't know if that's the standard opening line for a Blog, but as a former computer programmer, that's the standard opening line for me.

Anyway, I'm still trying to get this whole blogging thing figured out (e.g. how to get it all set up the way I want), so please excuse any construction mess you may see.

So, who am I and why the long name?

The name is Jewish Deaf Motorcycling Dad (JDMDad for short). I tried to think of the things that make up who I am and what I am. A lot of people define themselves by their jobs, or specific field. "Hi, I'm Joe, and I'm a mechanic." That's nice, but WHO are you, really? So I tried to think of who I really am, what makes up my core elements, at least as of March 21th, 2007.

The answers, in no specific order (well, the order that sounded best when I verbalized the 4 terms):

Jewish: Born and raised Jewish. Now becoming more and more observant of my religion. I don't know if I'd label myself as "Orthodox" or Baal Teshuva yet, but I'm heading in that direction. Keeping kosher, observing Shabbos, etc.

Deaf: Well, there are varying degrees of deafness. With hearing aids on, I can actually hear pretty well. Not that I would ever pass for a hearing person. But it definitely has made its mark on me. Especially when my company (and work will NOT be a focus of this blog) has problems with scheduling an interpreter.

Motorcycling: After I graduated from college, I finally went out and
learned how to ride, then got myself a bike. (note the order!) I'm
very active (sometimes too active) in several motorcycle groups, including a Deaf motorcycle group, and a Jewish motorcycle group. At first I was going to use the term "Biker" but that has too many negative connotations. Plus you'd probably imagine someone in leather, riding a chopper, no helmet, etc. Definitely an incorrect image.

Dad: The biggest and best change of my life came when my first daughter poked her head out and said "WWWAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" I now have two daughters, and now fully understand why you never get between a mama bear and her cubs.


Why a blog? I've been reading some other blogs, mostly Jewish related, and posting some comments. But I started to have a little bit of blog envy and wanted to give it a whirl myself.

Why an anonymous blog? Really, I'm more than willing to be open about who I am. But my wife is concerned about the crazies out there. So I agreed to try to do this anonymously. With two little girls, I understand her feelings on this, and since I don't want to endanger my kids or my marriage, this is it. Thus the kids will be getting alternate names for the blog (and my wife picked one for herself as well). I'm sure within a month I'll be totally confused and calling them by the wrong name to the dinner table, earning strange looks from the kids and my wife. I'm also pretty confident that if anyone who knows me in "real life" looks at this blog, they'll peg me in a minute. That's fine. Just don't pop out and give the info to everyone else, m'kay?

The names of my girls (in chronological order) start with a T, then an A. So after my second one was given her name, for a few days, I used to refer to them as "T & A." Then I thought about that hard for a minute, and no longer use that term.

My oldest daughter (Currently 3 something) is Tikvah.
My youngest (currently 2) is Ahava.
My lovely wife (age is irrelevant if I want to survive) is Laya.

And I'm your host, JDMDad, Jewish Deaf Motorcycling Dad.

The things that I have in mind to write (some have already been written, and are just floating around my computer with no place to go yet) cover my 4 identity points, some separately, and some in combination with others. And of course some things will just be totally off the top of my head. How often will I post? Will this be one of those many deserted blogs? I don't know. I'm figuring this out as I go along. (Literally! I have a copy of Brad Hill's "Blogging for Dummies" next to me, and several "Blogger.com" help pages open as I type this).