About Exit78

The blog

This blog—and website—is intended to be a vehicle for self-publishing material related to things I’m interested in. I generally post several times a week. Some of the topics I will (may) be posting include:

• my photography
• interesting images from the past
• blogging and related topics
• travel
• camping
• climate change
• internet income (I’ve de-emphasized this considerably)*
• internet ethics (spam, comment spam, splogs, phishing, etc.)
• on occasion, topics from outside my comfort zone
• and other topics as they occur to me

The name for this blog and website comes from Interstate 40 exit 78 in Arkansas. For most of my time at my last job, I crossed the Exit 78 overpass on my way to and from work. Because there were no entrance or exit ramps on the east side of the exit, I used an access road instead of the interstate.

Several years ago, the state did a lot of road construction, including reconstructing Exit 78 with a new overpass and entrance and exit ramps in both directions. The construction also created a new, spectacular view of the lake at the highest point of the exit. In the weeks before creating this web log, I tried to come up with an original name for it. I wanted a simple name that would be easy to remember. I didn’t want it to be too corny or to immediately place it in a category it wasn’t meant for.

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*I’ve de-emphasized discussions of internet income on this blog. In my view there is way too much information – or disinformation — on this on the internet and I have little to add, so I won’t often include anything on this other than occasionally mentioning my own modest efforts..

Mike

I like to put stuff together on the web — blogs, photographs, public domain material that’s already online, just somewhat hard to get to, and more.

I don’t generally write about myself—because this blog isn’t about me; it’s about things I observe, things I enjoy, and things I enjoy sharing with others. If I’m going to be a serious blogger, though, it probably wouldn’t hurt if my readers could learn a little bit about me—if they so desire.

• Retired after nearly 35 years in nuclear power, 27 years as an instructor.
• After retiring, I worked as a contracted instructor about 1/2 the time from 2007 to 2018—doing the same job I had previously done.
• Bachelor of Science degree in industrial technology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and an associate’s degree from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Arkansas.
• Licensed reactor operator – 1982 to 1984.
• Senior reactor operator – 1984 to 2007 (an instructor with an operating license).
• US Navy, December 1971 to September 1980.
• Have lived in Nebraska, Texas, California, Illinois, Idaho, Connecticut, and Arkansas.
• Married since June 1972.
• Two daughters, two grandchildren, several siblings, lots of in-laws

Update September 2026

I continue to do interesting stuff online, just as I have for over a quarter of a century.

Wikipedia—I’ve been editing Wikipedia articles since September 2004. As of September 2026, I have over 3500 edits and have created four Wikipedia articles.

Artificial Intelligence—Although I didn’t actively start using AI as a tool until a year or two ago, I now use ChatGPT regularly as a tool for research, writing, and imagery.