"Who am I? Why am I here?"

Some of you may recall Admiral Stockdale generating those queries during a 1992 U.S. Vice Presidential debate while running with Presidential candidate Ross Perot. While the questions became infamous and Saturday Night Live fodder--which was unfortunate because Admiral Stockdale was a hero and being sincere--I think they are more than appropriate for a first blog entry.

So, "Who am I?" My name is Jim Young and I live in Southeastern Missouri also known as the "Bootheel" for the shape of the state's border area here as it dips down into Arkansas. It is also sometimes called "Swampeast Missouri" locally due to the swampy lowlands that were drained off in the early part of the 20th century to make way for mainly agricultural use of what was once mainly a flood basin for the Mississippi river thus the current title of my blog.

I don't spend much time here in "Swampeast Missouri", however. I work for a semiconductor equipment maker based in the Silicon Valley in California and travel extensively for them throughout the country. When I am here, I keep myself busy working in or around the house, workshop, or playing with my junior high aged son. I am a Christian, a member of a local church, and follow a reformed view of doctrine (see my friend Gunny's blog, Semper Reformanda at http://gunny93.blogspot.com/ for more on this subject and a very insightful and entertaining read).

"Why am I here?" Not sure about that one yet. "Everyone" else seems to have a blog, so "Why not?" might be an appropriate answer here. I do have some specific things I will likely touch on in subsequent blogs that might give a clue as to why I am here.

One subject will likely be my recent diagnosis of Young Onset Parkinson's disease (YOPD). When I was diagnosed, I found a few sites where YOPD victims had discussed what they were going through but nothing that really detailed the progression of their disease. The fact that a minority of people get this disease at my age (early 40's) is a blessing but for those who have it--especially those with families, bills to pay, etc.--it can be a terrible discovery. I hope to lend some hope and comfort to those fellow YOPD'ers from time-to-time and share with them what I am going through and how I get by day-to-day.

In addition, I am a huge St. Louis Cardinal fan. Baseball is my main sport though I follow just about anything that resembles a sport. I love movies with dry humor (Mel Brooks, Airplane, Naked Gun--you get the idea). Most of all, however, I love my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Without Him, I would be forever lost and I am grateful that He died for me and all sinners so that we may be saved. You will likely see many references to these topics and more in future posts.

So, that is it. I am in the "blogosphere"!