Who am I?

So you’re wondering who I am?

My name’s Josh Blackshire. I’m a 23 year old property caretaker from Piqua, OH. I graduated from Piqua High School in 2004, attended Upper Valley JVS from 2002-2004 receiving a certificate in Computer Information Technology, dropped out of various colleges over the next few years, and went back to Upper Valley JVS – Adult Division from 2007-2009 receiving another certificate this time in HVAC&R (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration).

As you can see from my photo, I’m an outdoors person. I love to find and photograph wildlife, especially reptiles…I also own a small handful of them and I run the website HerpFamily.com. Obviously, I’m quite interested in computers and technology as well considering I’m running this blog. Shortly after I graduated, my friend and I opened up a computer shop together here in town. Due to personal differences, I chose to leave the shop in order to maintain our friendship. I also serve on the Information Technology Advisory Committee for Upper Valley JVS.

I’ve had an interesting life compared to some folks. I lost my mom to cancer at the age of 16 and while it honestly helped turn me into the person I am today (a much better person than I once was), I’ve had to watch it literally tear my family apart–some of them can no longer cope without mind-altering prescription medications, some have become alcoholics, and others have gotten hooked on nearly every hard drug known to man. For me, however, it brought me closer to God…I once claimed to be a Satanist and was certainly on a path to nowhere good, but just three days before my mom died, I accepted Jesus into my heart. My mom was baptized that day as well. Her dying wish was for me to accept Jesus into my heart so it always makes me feel good to know she was able to witness me accept Christ before she died. I am also very active in the Relay for Life. I don’t do much for the one here in Piqua, but I raise money and travel back to Decatur, IL for theirs, which is where almost all of my family is.

So what do you expect to see here? To be honest, I’m not sure… the best assumption I can make is, a little of everything. I have decided that since I’m actually investing time into customizing this a little bit, I’d like to focus more on meaningful blogs, poetry (yes, I like poetry…and occasionally have been known to write some–is it good? I’ll let you be the judge), etc. I’ll save the random surveys for MySpace/Facebook.

At the very least, I hope you can leave this site with a smile on your face or with your mind running a mile a minute deep in thought.

Thanks for visiting,

Josh Blackshire