Welcome to my new blog experience – “A Blueprint in the Chaos”.  As an engineer, I have been trained to follow the blueprint – the plan – that is presented to me.  The blueprint usually is thorough and easy to follow.  Sometimes it contains just enough information to point you in the right direction, allowing you to make informed, educated decisions concerning the next step.  And then, sometimes, the blueprint may be so confusing that you can’t make any sense of what it seems to be saying.  All of these statements have been applicable to my life at one point or another, and I suspect that they also may be similar to yours.

My name is Jonathan Hasson and I’m a man on a mission…a mission to discover as much as I can of the blueprint that has been prepared for me.  So far, the blueprint has held many surprises, some tears and many blessings.  It’s taken me to a place today where I sometimes refer to myself as an engineer with a creative side hiding inside, dying to escape.  That’s probably an exaggeration (I’m not a trained artist, but I do love art and design – and I no longer practice engineering, but I am a register Professional Engineer), but in many ways it does describe my life today.  

I am Civil Engineer working in the water and wastewater industry.   I’m the fortunate and blessed husband of almost 17 years to a wonderful woman, Mardi, and the father of two beautiful and wonderful 11 and 5 year old girls.  I’m an evangelical follower of Christ, conservative political junkie, lover of good music, coffee and other libations, as well as an aspiring photographer.  I am the operations manager for a leading environmental technology and services company in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.  I’m the third child of a Southern Baptist pastor and elementary school librarian.  Childhood was one of happiness, fun and family.  However, it was not a life of luxury or riches; it was more of hard work and frugality to help sustain a family of 5 on a pastor’s and teacher’s income.  Later in life, I have come to realize the impact this has had on my view of religion, culture, politics, personal accountability, finances and work.

We currently live in Parkton, MD, the not-so-famous home to oenophile and editor of The Wine Advocate, Robert Parker, Jr.  That’s about all that’s famous about Parkton.  However, life has given me the opportunity to live, work and play in various locales – proud to have been born and raised in Mississippi (’68 to ’74, ’77 to ’87), lived for a while in Indiana (’74 to ’77 – lost much of my Southern accent there), schooled at Mississippi State University (BS in ’90, MS in ’92) – Go Bulldogs! – started my career in Atlanta, GA (’93 to ’98), found my career springboard and love of the beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico (’98 to ’01), back again to Atlanta where I made the jump out of engineering to management (’01 to ’03), had my idea of living transformed in Orange County, CA (’03 to ’08) and now live the “country” life in Maryland.

I believe creativity, design and artistic expression are just as important to one’s makeup as are logic and reason.  The Lord created them all for our use and enjoyment as well as for His worship and praise.  It is my hope to delve into these ideas in this blog.  I need to express my inner artist.  I need to develop this inner writer that I think is hiding somewhere in my psyche.  Why “A Blueprint in the Chaos”?  Because I believe that this is my life.  God has a blueprint for me.  He has since before I was a twinkle in my parents’ eyes.  His blueprint is my guide in the chaos of life.  If I can tap into and learn from the blueprint He has laid out for me, then He will help me navigate the chaos of life today.

So, I welcome you to come along for the ride.  I’ll share some of my photographic endeavors.  I’ll share my finds from the design and art world.  Writers, books and music will be explored.  I’ll link up and hopefully introduce you to some of my favorite artists, writers, bloggers and creative friends.  And, yes, I may even satisfy the engineer, logical and reasoning side of me with posts relating to my career, personal finance and science.  I probably will open myself up for great challenges and debate in politics.  I hope you’ll enjoy this as much as I.  It promises to be a fun time.  Thanks for checking it out!