It’s no secret that I love to laugh, and Jason’s blog often makes me do just that. In browsing the archives today, I discovered a page dedicated to the 1980s – the “decade that molded Jason’s thinking, or at least his fashion sense”. If you’d like to have an incredible laugh, read the post about his exciting trip to an Izod store.

I’d also like to share two of my other favorite posts.

In You Look Like, Jason compared himself and his family to their celebrity look-alikes. The photo resemblances are uncanny – and extremely funny!

SOCAL Sunset contains some of the most beautiful, breathtaking photos I’ve ever seen – taken from the beach near Jason’s home.

How Did I Get Here? does contain lots of interesting and humorous posts, but it’s also a real-life diary of a very honorable man who has been serving our country for 21 years. Jason will be soon be leaving for an unaccompanied tour in Saudi Arabia, where he will be training the Royal Saudi Marines. He chose to take this assignment so that his family would not be uprooted once again. He plans to retire once he returns to the States.

Just last week, Jason wrote one the most beautiful, touching posts I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Titled Bravo Indeed, it told the story of how he had worn his USMC Service “B” uniform for the very last time. After removing it, he drove to the cleaners. If you’re wondering why he’d take a shirt he’ll never again wear to be cleaned, I’ll let Jason tell you. “Of course I’m going to clean it before I put it away for the last time. Call it respect or whatever but it will not finish its duty as a dirty, khaki heap somewhere in the back of my closet. It will be hung with care and appreciation as the Cloth of the Nation by a grateful man proud I was allowed to wear it with pride for over two decades.” Those words make me tear up each time I read them.

I have no doubt that you will love Jason’s blog just as much as I do. And I hope that you’ll take a few minutes to visit and wish him the very best of luck and a safe, speedy return from Saudi Arabia.

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
If you look at opinion polls on the jobs/professionals that average consumers trust the most, the “usedcarsalesman” ranks dead last (even behind politicans and lawyers). I thought I’d call my blog “usedcarsalesman.com” (since I had the domain) and have a little fun spinning the public’s perception of the name. With Usedcarsalesman, I attempt to provide frank and occasionally novel opinions on a variety of matters ranging from business, politics, the entertainment industry and military affairs.

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
You Still Have to Buy a Political Party’s “Whole Album” To Get That One “Favorite Song”

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
Conservative adherence to an editorial/essayist style of post that really isn’t much different than what you might find on the Op-Ed page of a major City Newspaper. Its not as exciting for people as reading a new post every 15 minutes, but it allowed me to keep a consistent publishing pace since November 2004.

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
Blogging started to get a little main-stream press in 2004. It seemed a natural progression for me to stop with the hand-written journals and write in this new, more reader-accessible format.

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
I had some exposure to the internet in the mid-1980s through BBS like Compuserve. I like how the Web/Internet has matured a bit in the ’00s, as the 1990s information-superhighway thing made me nauseous.

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
If we are talking service, then I’d say TypePad.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
Warren Buffett. Only because he just purchased a large stake in the CarMax, used-car business and his input on that venture would be an attention-worthy topic of discussion given the name of the usedcarsalesman.com blog.

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
Most people have ideas in the course of day-to-day affairs. In years past, these may have simply dissipated or perhaps found themselves entered in to a journal. But they did no public good either way. I suppose blogging has made me a better person by providing me with an avenue to express whatever beneficial thoughts I have to the world. I guess it is an additional raison d’etre for me.

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
Write down your ideas as individual drafts as soon as it is convenient for you. If you are posting on a weekly basis, then you will always have a diversity of ideas that you can select from to develop as needed.

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
I am a fan of BlogMaverick.com (though I think Usedcarsalesman.com is actually a more diverse and interesting read). Its unusual for the public to be able to have such direct access to the thoughts of a wealthy tech entrepreneur/trader and NBA franchise operator.