Allow me to introduce myself. I am a lifelong son and brother, aspiring husband and father as well as a striving friend and finance professional among other things and in no particular order. Now that we are acquainted I suppose that I will go over some of my interests and hobbies to give you a better idea of what to expect from my posts going forward.

       I would be remiss if I did not first write about my devotion to and admiration of my lovely wife of two years this past June, Sarah. I am going to indulge myself here and dip my toe into the romantic pool by admitting that spending time laughing and talking about our future is one of my favorite pastimes. But, occasionally, Sarah and I part ways to accomplish other tasks (such as this blog or her blog) and to engage in other hobbies. So when I am not with my bride and two month old daughter, Ansleigh, I have four core interests:

I) Reading. I have not always loved to read as voraciously as I do now rather I have gone through periods where I read abundantly and periods where I did not read at all up until 11th grade when I started consistently setting aside time to devote to the task. The first books I can remember  reading were found in The Hardy Boys series. Those books really captured my imagination and allowed me to escape slow days in Mobile, AL where I was raised to join in an adventure with Frank and Joe (I have to be honest here, I googled The Hardy Boys to retrieve their names).

The second set of books was the Chronicles of Narnia, specifically The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I believe it was some time around the sixth grade that my class was assigned this book and my dad caught wind and decided that we were going to read the book together. My dad would read one chapter aloud and then I would read a chapter aloud and so on and so forth until the book was completed. Perhaps it was that my dad was/is always extremely busy, yet he made time for this project, or possibly it was because the setting and actions of reading to another person is inherently a bonding experience but whatever the reason, this set of moments that serve as a special memory with my father have left an indelible and powerful mark on me. I hope someday to share a similar set of moments with each of my children no matter how busy life becomes.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was the next book that really grabbed me and my imagination. I could identify with Scout’s desire for adventure and willingness to set aside safety and reputation to protect Boo Radley’s innocence. Not to mention the book takes place in Alabama and that proximity to my own childhood served as an easy bridge into the pages of the book. I remember finishing the book in the parking lot of a Well’s Fargo (then Wachovia) on my way to Boy Scout camp with my dad coincidentally. If my memory serves me correctly, that was the summer before 8th grade.

With the exception of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey in 9th grade English I scarcely read for pleasure until I stumbled upon Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons on my mother’s bookshelf during the summer going into 11th grade. Dan Brown led to James Patterson and James Patterson led to Tom Clancy and thus began my lasting love of reading.

Since graduating Auburn as an English major in May of 2012 I have, for the most part, set aside my deep love of fiction for the more pragmatic non-fiction genre specifically exploring subjects of finance and history. To get even more granular I have become keenly interested in the history of central banking and its role in times of economic calm and economic tumult. What better way to blend two interests (re:history and finance) than to read about the history of finance. For those subjects I would recommend Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin and Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed. Additionally I have taken to reading biographies of great men and women (to be fair I have not yet read one about a woman but I intend to) chiefly to better understand what attributes are common among successful individuals and how these qualities are manifested throughout their lives.

Armed with a subscription to the Wall Street Journal and a growing list of books on the docket I try to spend my spare moments and allotted time perusing the written word.

In the interest of brevity I will end my debut post here. For my second post I will elaborate on the second of my four interests/hobbies. Thanks for sticking it out if you read this far!