About Me
Who am I?
I’ll start out by saying my name is Brian LeCompte and no, I’m not French. I was born and raised in south Alabama. I earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Auburn University, where I met my lovely wife. After graduating we moved to Maryland and despite having a good time and meeting great people we wanted to get back to Alabama.
We moved back to Alabama after a couple of years and ended up where many engineers seem to end up in Alabama: Huntsville. The Rocket City is a great place to raise a family, which is good since we have proceeded to have three fantastic children. It bears mentioning that a grand total of 29 months (2.4 years) separates the first and third child. In other words, my wife, who elected to stay home with them, is a saint.
Contact info
auburn305(at)yahoo(dot)com
Why do I blog?
I started out for the simple reason that I wanted to document news stories and events that mattered to me so that when the time came to hit the voting booth I could review my posts and make an informed decision. My secondary reason was to highlight items that were of general interest to topics I’m interested in so that I can readily locate them if needed to substantiate a point I try to make at a later date.
I have found that, if you so desire, blogging can help to open your mind a little to well formed and documented dissenting viewpoints. If you disagree with me then I encourage you to offer your thoughts. I will respond with due respect. My first rule of blogging/commenting is to not say anything to someone that I wouldn’t say to them in person. Too many people use the cloak of anonymity that the internet affords to attempt character assassination. Not here.
Grammer and speling
Like I said, I’m an engineer not an English scholar. Commas are my enemy. I like to use hyphens as a crutch to mask my weak grammatical skills. I feel like I have a decent vocabulary, but spelling is not my strong suit. By all means, feel free to point out my mistakes - I would rather suffer the indignity of being “called out” than march on in blissful ignorance of my blunders.
Ideology
I usually avoid this topic like the plague because once you associate yourself with a particular political party or ideology people try to use that against you with ad hominem, broad brush attacks. If pressed I admit to being a libertarian leaning Republican (which is still a little elusive). I believe in personal and economic freedom. I love capitalism with a passion. I abhor government programs that attempt to overrule the axiom that there are no guarantees in life.
In order to stay informed I get my news from a wide range of sources. Both extremes of the spectrum have their own takes on the news of the day and the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle. Daily reads: a growing cadre of Alabama blogs (see blog roll), New York Times, AL.com, Nealz Nuze, RealClearPolitics, Wall Street Journal’s Opinion Journal, Drudge Report, MSNBC, and Slate. Daily listens/views: NPR in the morning, Matt Murphy in the afternoons, and Keith Olbermann in the evenings. Yes, I am a news junkie.
Favorite Quote
It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt. — Mark Twain
