Well, after a long debate with myself (for some reason, I always seem to lose the debate), I have decided to begin a blog to express my experiences, my opinions, my feelings – generally, whatever flotsam seems to come to the surface.

Today is an introductory posting – who am I? Well, many of you will know me from John Heald’s Blog http://johnhealdsblog.com/- I am the poster who is continually changing his name, resulting in torment to John. I have been know as Missingthesmokefreeparadise (and I still do), Lookingforwardtothenearlysmokefreecarnivalfreedom, Bloggerscruise2009herewecome (or something like that), and, no doubt, other identities that I have now forgotten.

I am 53 years old and have been in health care my entire life. I joined the U. S. Navy out of high school and proudly served this country for eight and one-half years before getting out honorably for medical reasons.

These days, I am a finance officer for a safety net hospital in Philadelphia, where I have worked for the last fourteen years. What does safety net hospital mean? Let’s just say that the almighty dollar has a new meaning to me in trying to meet the needs of our community. We serve a population that is uninsured or underinsured, have significant health issues that tend to not be addressed unless they choose to use our Emergency Department as their primary provider.

My wife, Mrs.Missingthesmokefreeparadise, is a wonderful, lovely woman who, for whatever, reason, has put up with me for some 28+ years (I think). Before you woman all go buggaboo, the date of our marriage is the source of a joke between the two of us. In another blog, I will relate the tale of our wedding, but suffice it to say that we have to pull out our marriage certificate to be certain of the actual date of our anniversary. It matters not to the Mrs. that I do not know the exact date – if that is not proof of her love for me, I do not know what is.

We have a wonderful daughter who still lives with is – she has her entire life ahead of her and I wish nothing but happiness for her. The three of us will be cruising together at the end of May for the first time – I am excited, as we will be visiting two of the Mrs & my favorite ports, Old San Juan and St. Thomas, as well as visiting two ports we have never been to – Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk. Seven days of heaven on the Carnival Liberty – the only thing that would make things better is if John Heald were to decide he needed to be CD for this cruise. Regardless, I am certain that we will enjoy our balcony cabin for those seven days.

In my spare time, I love to play golf and read. As a golfer, let’s just say that I am a great golfer in my own mind – but I love getting out and walking the course. In fact, I walked nine holes this morning, shooting a 44 – it was a practice round, so I can’t post it for handicap purposes, but I don’t think we are into the posting period for USGA handicaps right now in this area anyway.

As for books, I am a history buff, particularly military history, so give me any good book on a historical issue and I am likely to devour it. My favorite military history book of all time is Samuel Elliott Morrison’s “The Two Ocean War” regarding the naval battles of World War II. I am also a devotee of the books of Tom Clancy (Patriot Games being my favorite), Dale Brown (Flight of the Old Dog) and Vince Flynn (Transfer of Power).

So, now I have introduced myself. I hope that you will consider returning to hear my views on aging, my golf game, cruising, healthcare reform and whatever else I decide to ruminate upon.

See you soon.

Just Jon