If you tell someone you're writing a book, immediately you're filled with the illusion that you are already an accomplished writer. I walked into a co-worker's office one day, this is how I remember it:

"I'm writing a book."

“Why?”, asked my co-worker.

"I'm going to call it "If I Created the World"

"Why?” asked my co-worker again.

"It's going to be a collection of life experiences, some humourous, some sad that I've always wanted to put to paper."

"Why?", she asked once more. Short pause. "Are you going to have it published?"

"Geez, I haven't started writing it yet."

I walked out of that office as the next great writer of our time, just days from the New York Times Best Sellers' list. I learned something that day...determination wins out over doubt. No matter what my co-worker had said to me, I was going to write my book. She asked a good question though, why? Why am I writing a book? It's not an easy answer. I don't know why. I guess a part of me has always wanted to talk to people about life and what it is all about. I should rephrase that. I guess a part of me has always wanted to tell people about life and what it is all about. A book lets me reach more people, in a shorter period of time, and I don't have to defend myself in a book. I believe I am the greatest motivational speaker that never was. I have something to offer the world, and this it…my book. I'm not a literary giant. I'm not even a literary midget. I'm not very old. I haven't done a lot of traveling in my first thirty years, in fact, I don’t really like to travel. I'm pretty simple, not complex. I enjoy life's pleasures, whatever they may be. I'm not a religious person; I don't even think I believe in God. I don't think I'm atheist, so I guess I believe in God a little bit. I have but a few close friends and a lot of acquaintances. I'm married, no kids, no plans to have them yet. I'm university educated, although I've never taken a course in philosophy. I hold a management position in marketing with a small public transit company. I've worked for everything I have and I've got some things I can't afford. I guess I'm like the majority of the people roaming the earth - I'm not always going to wow you, but I won't always put you to sleep either. I guess I'm a lot like everybody else. Hardly the foundation of a good writer; hardly the foundation of a good book.

So what makes me think I have the credentials to pass on to others my views on the world and how it should be different? Opinion. That's it, opinion. If you're human you have one. If you have one then you have something to talk, or write about. What you are about to read is not a self-help, do-it-yourself guide to a better life. It won't change your life, nor did I intend it to. It is not right, or wrong. It's a collection of opinions, observations, and experiences, some of them fun, some of them sad, some of them weird, that I have accumulated over the years and have always wanted to capture in words. This book has been a long time coming. The idea has sat just below the surface of my brain for many years. A recent series of events has forced me to sit down and bang out the letters necessary to complete this work. Life does not go on forever and I don't want to be on my deathbed thinking about my one regret of not having written 'my book'. So with that pressure aside, here it is…my book. It is my view on the world and how things might be different if I had had a say in creating it. I hope you enjoy my book, or at least I hope you can stay awake long enough for the next few nights to find your way to the end of it.