Hi! I'm Michael. Nice to meet you.

Right out of the gate, I love my girls. Candi (my wife) and Cami (my daughter) are the sun, moon, and stars to me. And I love Jesus. There is no higher calling than to love and follow Him. I'm unworthy of that calling but so grateful He loves me anyway. He calls you and all of us to Himself. If you don't know what I'm talking about or just think that's nonsense, ping me. Let's chat about that.

So... "The Happy Pyro"?

Yeah, well. I love fireworks. And other stuff. So here's a little bit of what makes me a "happy pyro".

I started this site when I was doing an annual fireworks display for the neighborhood where I live. For several years on July 4, we would essentially block off the culdesac and I'd rig up scores of fireworks using various types of fuses and then we'd all sit back and enjoy the show. I haven't done it for a while now because it was frankly getting too expensive on my own and, well, Candi appreciates not losing the living and dining rooms to fireworks and all the supplies for the weeks leading up to the 4th. Still. It's a lot of fun and I might do it more in the future.

Any pyro worthy of the title would have to love BBQ. I mean, what's not to love about meat cooked low and slow over a heaping pile of wood and charcoal to the point it transcends the pitiful label of meat and becomes something spoken of in whispers and half-forgotten dreams? So, indeed, I love BBQ. I'm pretty good at making it and some folks say my KC-style BBQ sauce is top notch. But I also enjoy finding good joints and trying them out. I've had the privilege of trying BBQ from all over the country - literally coast to coast. I wouldn't say my experience has been comprehensive but I've eaten my fair share; that's for certain. Today, though, if I had to pick only one place to call the best, I'd pick Killen's in Pearland, TX. Dude. Just...dude.

You know something else that a happy pyro likes? Firewood. It's kinda weird just how much I enjoy chopping firewood. My buddies like to tease me because when I get interested in something, I'm all in. I can kinda get obsessive in my interests at times. (probably what makes me good at troubleshooting and reverse engineering stuff in my day job) That may be why I have 6-7 different axes. I may have spent several days reading about axes and buying different kinds until I found the most amazing splitting ax ever. (the Fiskars X27, if you're interested) Maybe it's because I don't have to chop wood to survive but when my buddies and I go out, we have a good time. It's a physically challenging day but so satisfying at the end of it to see all the wood stacked up and waiting for pleasant evenings to come.

I also enjoy shooting sports, particularly clay shooting - trap, skeet, sporting clays (though I've only done sporting clays once). I got into shooting when a friend took me to Bull Run Shooting Center to try trap shooting for the first time about 5-6 years ago. From the first pull of the trigger, I was hooked. It took me about 2 weeks to convince Candi to let me buy a shotgun and then find one I could afford. I've done my fair share of pistol and rifle shooting since then as well but shooting at paper is just not as fun and satisfying as shooting clay targets. There's nothing quite like seeing a clay target disappear in a puff of dust when you hit it perfectly. Yeah. Good times.