Greetings and salutations and welcome to Grain of Salt, a place I would call "my own little corner at the edge of the blogosphere" were it not for the fact that spheres tend to be spherical and hence lacking in corners. Regardless, you are here -- wherever here happens to be -- so please make yourself at home.

Grain of Salt is my work-free zone -- well, that was the plan anyway. I wanted a place where I could write about the things I find interesting and/or amusing and/or even somewhat disturbing, and be able to do so casually, without having to worry about getting it "perfect." The plan was sound. I suppose it still is. What has changed since GOS' inception, however, is my insistence upon blogging anonymously.

The reality is that I am a workaholic. And, like any good workaholic, I devote a significant portion of my "personal" time to projects connected peripherally (if not directly) to my career. More and more I found myself refraining from blogging about the things I care about for the sake of preserving my anonymity. It was getting to be too much, even for this paranoid privacy freak. So I decided to "come out."

So who on earth am I? My name is Joanmarie Diggs. I'm an Assistive Technology Specialist, Orientation and Mobility Specialist, and Vision Rehabilitation Therapist – all of which boils down to this: I teach folks who are blind or visually impaired. I've been doing so for, gosh, nearly twelve years now and I wouldn't do anything else. Most of those years have been spent working for the Carroll Center. I don't think I'd work anyplace else. Which brings me to the all-important disclaimer:

Grain of Salt is my personal blog and is in no way affiliated with the Carroll Center for the Blind, its board, management, or staff. Nor is it affiliated with any of the projects in which I participate or any of the organizations of which I am a member. The views and opinions expressed here by me are strictly mine.

Phew! Now where was I?

• I'm a self-described geek living in Nashua, New Hampshire. I love the state, but could do without the traffic associated with being in a city this close to greater Boston. Fortunately, I get to telecommute nearly 100% of the time.
• I used to be a librarian; I'm still a vegetarian; I'm currently in my mid (okay, late) 30s.
• I'm a yellow-dog Democrat, which means I would sooner vote for a yellow dog than a Republican. This is not a joke. If a Republican is running unopposed and you can get your dog on the ballot, I'll vote for your four-legged friend -- even if he/she isn't yellow.
• While I am completely non-religious, I fear that the end of the world is upon us because nothing says "Horsemen of the Apocalypse" like Wal-Mart and the RIAA. Talk about evil incarnate. They must be stopped before they form an unholy alliance and file John Doe suits against people whose cars were allegedly spotted in the Target parking lot. I hope the Apocalypse will be a catered event. (Did you remember to read the disclaimer?)
• My motto is "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that people are not out to get you." These are words to live by. I think there is also something to be said for the claim that "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" as long as you remember that it also probably hurts like hell.

As for solving various and sundry things with potatoes....

It took me a while to come up with a name for this blog. I considered a number of things that reflected the fact that I am a vegetarian. And while I do write on the topic of vegetarianism, that's not the focus of this blog. I also considered several titles that reflected my silly and self-deprecating humor, such as "The Ritalin wears off around 2:00" (because it does!) or "Non Cogito ergo Poof!" (because I have a B.A. in Latin and tend to act rather air-headish). But the former didn't seem to capture the flavor, and I had visions of people writing me to point out the logical fallacy of the latter. Yawn! Had I known then that I'd give up anonymous blogging, I would have gone with "Driver Reads Braille." Oh well, it's too late for that now....

"Grain of Salt" seemed sufficiently apropos for the title, but it lacked the vegetarianism and silliness that make up a large part of who I am. I needed the subtitle/description to reflect at least some aspect of that. Being a Douglas Adams fan.... It was he who said, "It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes." It's the opening sentence to Chapter 24 of Life, the Universe and Everything. If you're looking for something to read and haven't read his five-volume "trilogy," I highly recommend that you do. Anyway.... I adopted that line as the description of my blog and it stuck for quite some time. Then one day Janice Brown came along and designed an entire collection of banners for me. Thanks to Janice, there's no telling what I'll be attempting to remedy with spuds next. You'll just have to visit often and see! Regardless.... That is why the reference to potatoes is in there. If that makes sense to you, then you've come to the right place, and I'm sorry.