About
I created this site as a centralized place to write down my thoughts and also communicate to my family on things happening in my life.
If you don’t know me, you might be inclined to ask: “Who is Mike Brinkman, and why should I care?”
There’s probably not any reason you should care, but if you like the things I write, you might be curious about what type of person I am. So here’s me in a nutshell:
- Religion: I am a Christian and attend a Lutheran Church (LCMS). I praise God for His Mercy and Grace He has shown to me, an undeserving sinner, through the sacrifice of His only son, Jesus Christ.
- Family: I have a lovely wife and two wonderful step-children. Most of my extended family lives in Michigan’s Upper Penninsula.
- Politics: Libertarian-leaning independent. I’m conservative on some issues, liberal on others, but for the most part I believe in small government and maximum freedom for the individual, so long as they don’t cause harm to others.
- Computers: At home, I’m a Mac, and at work I’m a PC (and a Mac ;-). I have used both for most of my life, but have a strong preference for Apple’s elegant and user-friendly hardware & software. I have even used Unix & Linux when I was studying computer science in College.
- Education: I have a BS in Political Science (Pre-Law) and a BA in Telecommunications (Digital Media Art & Technology), both from Michigan State University.
- Sports: I’m a die-hard MSU Spartans fan. Mostly I watch MSU football & basketball, but now that I have the Big Ten channel I’ll watch an occasional MSU hockey game as well. To a lesser extent I’m a Detroit Lions, Tigers, Pistons & Red Wings fan, but I’ll typically on watch them when they’re in a championship series (yeah, I haven’t watched the Lions in a long time). Football is my favorite sport, but the NCAA Basketball Championship is my favorite sporting event of the year.
- Pets: We have 3 dogs. One’s a Great Dane/Black Lab mix, one is a Basset Hound/Beagle mix, and the last is a Shih Tzu. We also have a Black-headed Caique Parrot. (Pro tip: Never use your pet’s names as passwords, I don’t!)
- Music: I’ve always enjoyed a wide variety of music, from classical music to classic rock, alternative, heavy metal and even some rap. However, about a year ago, I made a decision that I will only buy Christian music, so now I listen to that almost exclusively. You’d be surprised at how good a lot of it really is.
- Video Games: I’ve been a video game fanatic ever since Space Invaders came out. Now, being an adult, I have a lot less time for my gaming habit, but still find time every once in a while to play. My current favorites on the Mac are Civilization IV & World of Warcraft. I also own a PS2, but the majority of my gaming these days is done on my iPod Touch.
- Other Hobbies and Interests: Aside from all of the above, I enjoy a wide variety of things
- Christian apologetics & theology. I like to read books about them and subscribe to a bunch of different podcasts, including Andy Stanley, Apologetics.com, Ravi Zacharias, R. C. Sproul, and the Lutheran Hour.
- Computer/web programming. I work primarily with HTML, Javascript, CSS, PHP & MySQL at work, and I’ve studied C, C++, Java, Objective-C, and even Visual Basic. Right now, I’m trying to learn how to program for the iPhone.
- Sci-Fi & Fantasy books and movies, especially Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, super hero/graphic novel movies, etc. I’m a fan, but not a fanatic.
- Exercise. I’m overweight, so this is something I’ve taken more of an interest in lately. I like to get up and go for a walk either in the morning when I wake up or at night before I go to bed. Some times I’ll take one of the dogs with me. When I get really motivated, I’ll do crunches & pump some iron too.
- Foreign Language: I also occasionally enjoy studying German & Spanish. I’m not fluent in either but my German is much better than my Spanish.
So that’s most of what there is to know about me, but it’s not everything. You’ll have to keep reading my blog if you want to know more ;-)