Written on: August 31, 2008

I started Your Captain Speaks in December of 2007 after many failed attempts at creating a successful online weblog. I’ve tried Live Journal, Myspace, Subprofile, Facebook and numerous other hosting sites in the past, all which rewarded me with – nothing. No readers, no interest. I decided that the massive social networking sites, such as Myspace, are better kept as a fun, “when you have the time” type of a hobby. While I have nothing against these sites, they don’t offer much as far as…thought freedom. What’s the best way to share your thoughts online? Blogging! Now, some of these sites offer “blogs” – however, they are the basic, bare bones style templates which don’t get much in the way of a loyal audience. And, since these social networking sites can attract hundreds of millions of users – most in their teens - they aren’t practical when you want to keep your messages on a serious level. So, I began my search for a more mature hosting site, which led me to Blogger. I was able to see a few of my friends’ blogs created through Blogger, so I gave it a try. It worked out well until just recently. I was tired of blogger’s inability to “keep up”. In other words, it was getting old, like a tired machine. Blogger wasn’t releasing anything worth using, and they certainly weren’t keeping pace with the new generation of bloggers. So, my journey has taken me here, to WordPress! I know I sound like an infomercial, but WordPress is unlike anything I have ever seen. It gives you the freedom to customize anything you wish, as well as personalize everything to your own tastes. After all, with something as serious as sharing your thoughts with the world, I believe having a well thought out, well organized website reflects you as a person in the real sense.

My current blog started out, as I said before, in December of 2007. It was simply designed to be a place where I’d scribble a few things about my day and call it good. Well, I still find myself doing that on occasion – ok, maybe quite often – but it’s grown to be a lot more than what I wanted it to be originally. After giving it a spiffy name - Your Captain Speaks - I thought about what kind of an audience I wanted to read it. Since I’ve always been one to hang around a more adult crowd, I wanted something that would attract more of a mature audience. You’ll notice that most of the time I choose a design that is more “elegant” than anything. I figured an elegant design will help me keep the mature audience, since serious subjects typically bore the younger crowd. After putting the finishing touches on my blog, I started using it initially to document my experiences while joining the Air Force and other day-to-day activities. People seemed to take interest in the Air Force posts, so I decided to branch it out and try promoting some of my lyrics while I had the attention of a handful of people. Since then, I have released a handful of lyrics using my blog. I also used Your Captain Speaks to share my last days working with my friends at Walmart, who I worked with for 5 years. I’ve shared many other things as well – Air Force basic training, Air Force technical school, vacations, politics, parties, girls, and probably a lot of useless stuff as well. The main point I’m trying to make, is that it reflects me. Your Captain Speaks is always a work in progress, which is why it is almost never the same each time you view it. I work hard to make it reflect who I am as a real  person. Whether you like me or not, this is who I am.

–Kyle Pantermoller–