Introduction

Dictionary.com defines blue-collar as "of or pertaining to wage-earning workers who wear work clothes or other specialized clothing on the job, as mechanics, longshoremen, and miners." That's all pretty manly-sounding, and as much as I may like to pretend I'm a tough guy, I am a web applications developer working in an office. It's about as white-collar as you can get.

The only kind of mining I've done is data mining, so why pretend?

My buddy Steve and I have both done blue-collar things growing up. We've put in drywall, hauled trailers full of trash to the city dump, wired up electrical systems on houses, dug up front yards to install sprinkler systems — basically, lots of other things like that. But to us, "blue collar" is also a mindset: rolling up your sleeves, doing the work, clinging to the idea that you've got as good of a chance as anyone else to rise up, and not feeling bad about it when you achieve success — because you've worked for it.

Thomas Edison once said, "Opportunity is often missed by people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." With this sobering thought in mind, our aim is to use this blog as a place to share our insights and to organize our thoughts with others who are willing to roll up their sleeves and put in the work. Let us know what you think, whether you agree or disagree, and maybe we can figure out how this ever-changing world works.