It seems everyone has a blog these days, so maybe I’m just jumping on a bandwagon. Only in my case, the bandwagon started rolling about ten years ago, and I’ve jumped on and fell off more than once before.
I’ve started a blog three times now. Like a lot of things I try, it never sticks. I can’t keep up with it. I don’t have time, I have a daughter, I have a job, and I have a life. And, frankly, often what I have to say isn’t all that interesting. Sure, I read good books, like to eat good food, travel occasionally. I also take out the trash, clean dishes, and eat microwave burritos. Given my rather dull life, I’m not sure who would want to ever read this blog. But as times have changed, and I want to try a different, more pointed, direction.
Ad Punctum
This blog used to be called Rash Elvis Chants, an anagram of my name. I was first toying with another anagram, Elvis Snatch Rash, but that seemed just a bit too gross. No matter, these were childish names.
I renamed the blog in 2017 to Ad Punctum, Latin for “to the point.” I wanted to rework the blog as an act of personal resistance to the anti-intellectual tone in America today, exemplified by a duplicitous grifter placed in office largely by people fed a steady diet of Faux News.
What can you expect to find here?
Opinions, book reviews, observations, and occasional technology tidbits that I run across. At an earlier time, I was focused on books, and things here in the Triangle, but times change, and so have I. As I say in my tagline, everything here is 100% organic, pesticide-free, cruelty-free web content provided by yours truly. No bullshit. If I state an opinion, it will be labeled as such, and facts will be referenced.
Who is Chris van Hasselt?
Short answer, me. Longer answer, just a guy, an IT worker for an international public health non-profit based in Durham, North Carolina. When I am not working, I eat, watch bad tv, play guitar, and sleep, not necessarily in that order.
Essays
In 2010, I joined a Toastmasters group at work. I joined because, as FHI 360 (formerly FHI) grew, we expanded into two buildings. As a lowly IT guy, I rarely get to see people in our other building, where most of the action is. While I only see a few people, it has been a great chance to meet more of my colleagues. I decided to add my speeches to my blog just so readers might learn a little more about me. Where possible, I’ve modified the speech slightly to make it a more reader friendly writing sample, rather than a speech. I’ve tried to edit the speeches to make them less “speechy” and more like true essays.
Since I first posted these speeches, FHI 360 has moved into a posh downtown Durham location next to the Durham Bulls ballpark, and I quit Toastmasters.
