(#1) Wed. Jan 19th, 2022 - So it begins

I guess this begins my ramblings on the internet. Or is it self-administered therapy? Who knows for sure? Not I, that's who. I've dabbled with blogging and Twitter in the past but nothing ever took. We're trying Listed now only due to its integration with Standard Notes, which I'm writing this in. Looks good so far I suppose. I like the idea of near-zero effort blogging with no distractions.

Let's see if I can write for 100 days straight. I don't expect to amass a following, in fact I'll probably be one of the four people that ever find and read this. Hey me from the future! Go to bed, you probably need it!

Last year I started an ISP with my friend, then co-worker at Facebook, Tristan Taylor. You're probably going to hear about it quite a bit here. Anyone that's known me since high school will tell you that it's been a long-standing goal of mine to operate a server hosting company or ISP. Many small ventures over the years with the odd acquaintance or friend led me to December of 2020. A random, winding conversation led to:

Tristan: Man, I wish the internet in Fitchburg wasn't so damned terrible everywhere. This town would be great if people could afford quality internet.

Me: Yeah totally, wanna start an ISP with me?

Tristan: Uhh.. yes?

Me: Great, let's get started.

Obviously paraphrased, the sentiment remains apparent here. I dove headfirst into a business venture with a stranger that shared my passion. It turns out Tristan is a pretty alright guy so somehow we're still doing this thing today. Coming from the tech side, I'd always sort of beat around the bush on the business side of things. In the past I'd constantly overlooked the bureaucratic waiting games that would inevitably plague us in Fitchburg. I'd often trivialize the effort involved with building scalable networks. Needless to say it's been a learning curve for us both.

With nary a customer online yet, we've weathered the storm for a year now and we've built some pretty cool things that we believe are going to help us bridge the digital divide in Fitchburg.

We can't wait to meet and support people and small businesses in the city and we're so thankful for the opportunity to actually make a tangible difference not only in peoples' bottom lines, but in outcomes too. It's no secret that those without access to technology simply aren't afforded equivalent opportunities to those with access to it. A wide range of factors could contribute to this, but to us none of them seem like hurdles impossible to clear. Fitchburg Fiber is, first and foremost, for the people.

Dear reader, thank you for doing so.

Live well.