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TECHNOLOGY Joel's Blog ROCKS Thursday, October 5, 2006; Posted: 7:48 p.m. CDT
Joel grew up in Grundy Center, Iowa. He went to college at the University of Northern Iowa, just 30 miles away. I picked UNI, says Joel, because it was close. I had a lot of fun in high school, but I had a lot more fun in college. What kind of fun? Well, there was a time when it was hard to walk to class without being accosted by someone wanting you to sign their petition concerning the recent tuition increase. I thought that it would be fun to create my own petition and see how many people I could get to sign it. Across the top, in big bold letters, it said "Tuition Petition." It rambled on like all of the other petitions but at the end asked "Why can't we have the same prestige as Harvard, Dartmouth or Yale? We hereby demand an immediate and astronomical increase in tuition." People would start reading the first half, and then skim the rest before signing it. I had a lot of names on that petition. It occured to me to send it to the student newspaper, but I quickly decided that I really wouldn't enjoy having the people who signed it beat the crap out of me for the next few days. College is also where I met my wife, Marlene. You can't have more fun than that! When I went to college, there was no such thing as a PC yet. I picked Marketing as my major and took just one programming class -- COBOL. I remember thinking "When am I going to need THIS crap?" About two-and-a-half years after graduation, I became a COBOL programmer. I spent the next twenty-five years mostly programming in COBOL. I'm currently a contract COBOL programmer. I also teach computer and programming classes at a local college.
In May of 2005, one of Joel's students, Adam Williams, told Joel that he had set up a blog for him and that all he had to do was start making blog entries. Joel was a regular commenter on J-Walk Blog and decided to pattern his blog after that one. Most of the comments listed here are from Joel, but there is another person who commemts on J-Walk Blog from time to time who also identifies himself as Joel. I guess it's my own fault, admits Joel. I should have made up a more unique name to sign my comments. There's still a way to tell us apart, though. If there's a hyperlink on the signature and it goes to Joel's Blog, then you know which Joel posted the comment. The first day for Joel's Blog had a link to The StinkyMeat Project. The second day had a link to Primate Programming. Day three, The Brick Testament. That's just great, thought Joel. After just three days, I've used up some of my favorite links. How am I ever going to find something fun to link to every day? Well, he must have found a way to do it, because his blog is still going strong.
I think some of my better posts are when I see a link to something on another blog and I expand on it. I'm not sure what triggered my interest in Norman Borlaug, but I had fun researching him on the internet and posting the results. That lead to a blog entry on The History of Wheat and the Food Timeline. Now that I think about it, I have enjoyed a lot of the Farming entries. The Iowa Pork entry mentions that there are five times as many pigs as there are people in Iowa. The Iowa Cows entry states that at any given time, there are over a million beef cows in Iowa. Another interesting fact, Iowa ranks third in producing wind energy. That settles it. Joel's life, Farming, and Iowa are the most interesting topics on the internet. Don't forget to have fun! # # #
This is a parody. A spoof. A joke. It's not
real. Seriously, this is not CNN.
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Joel and Marlene have two adult children. The oldest one, Jolene, is going to an Art college and is
nearing graduation. She's an Illustrator and has already had success illustrating an article in a
magazine named 
Sometimes I fall into the trap of just posting a link and copying a quote or two from the site without adding
any of my own comments. Ok, it's quite a bit of the time. Once in a while I get creative. For example, my
blog entry on