Might as well start out with a joke:

An AT hiker was running along one day when he came to a river in Maine. Seeing another hiker on the other bank, he called out, ‘Hey, how do I get to the other side?’

The other hiker looked carefully along the bank to the left, then carefully along the bank to the right, thought a bit, then called back, ‘You are on the other side.’

I may be stretching the analogy a bit too far, but this blog is all about perspective. I started it because I want to take the time to think about where I’m going and be able to look back at where I’ve been. While the focus is ostensibly about hiking, a major reason I’m writing it is that I want to get back into the simple act of blogging. I used to have a research blog but I had to give up for work, (you can still see my old posts at http://reusablesec.blogspot.com), and Facebook really doesn’t cut it. So basically this is my journal. Now that the mission statement is out of the way, how about my bio?

Name: Matt Weir

Trail Name: Haven’t earned one yet

Age: 34

Planned Hiking: NOBO through hike of the Appalachian trail starting Feb 2014

Occupation: Computer Security Researcher, (soon to be unemployed)

State of Origin: Little shady… Will claim Hawaii,  Massachusetts, Virginia, and Florida while denying Maryland. Soon to be homeless.

Reason for hiking the AT: That’ll have to be saved for another post.