Where does cliff538 come from?

My first “real” flying job was with Cape Smythe Air Service in Kotzebue, Alaska (The third flying job I made money at). The office people didn’t necessarily know your name; they knew everybody by their employee number. Mine was 538.

Excuse me while I go out into the garage and dig up some ancient boxes to find some ancient flight logs… ( “Four hours later,” said with your best French accent)

The earliest one on these log pages is from 1991. I would just mark it with Cliff 538, or sometimes just 538, that was enough to ensure you got paid, which, you know, was the most important thing. 😁 Becasue at that age you still couldnt believe people would pay you actuall money to fly airplanes, it was the coolest damn thing ever.

I think it was Cindy in accounting who would walk by you and say, “Hi, 538.” Right around that time, the internet was just spooling up for us up North (remember AOL and dial-up modems), and I needed a username, and it just made sense to use Cliff538. That’s what it’s been since I’ve been online.

What’s the category “Scratch-Pad” all about?

In aviation, we enter our flight route into a Flight Management System (FMS). We first enter things into the Scratch Pad and then line-select them into the appropriate area. We use the word scratch pad many times throughout the workday. It only holds 24 characters, so it’s like a small notebook, hence the word scratch pad. I thought it would nicely describe little thoughts I had that you would typically jot down on a scratch pad.

Why do you blog?

Andy over on his excellent blog explains this better than I could: Why Blog If Nobody Reads It?

There is a hidden value in blogging. There’s an old Zen saying: “Chop wood, carry water.” You do it not for the applause but because it needs doing.

Blogging forces clarity. It makes you structure your thoughts, sharpen your perspective. You stop writing fluff because — let’s be honest — you’re writing for yourself. And if you can’t keep yourself interested, nobody else stands a chance.

When you write, you think better. When you think better, you create better.

So, who’s the real audience?

You’re not just writing for today’s invisible audience. You’re writing for:

• Future you. Your posts become a time capsule of your evolving mind.
• One right person. Maybe one day, someone stumbles across your words at exactly the right moment. And that changes something for them.
• The work itself. Consistency beats virality. A hundred posts with depth will outlast a single viral hit.

Andy nails it.

A couple more items: I’m always talking with friends about what I’m reading and what I’ve read. Now I just point them here, and they get to see everything with nice links to purchase anything they may want.

It’s also a great spot to share my photography passion, I have a daily photo blog and I highlight other photographs that I find inspiring under the category Expose To Light.