Ken Ratajczak (Joe Andover)

I have found being a member of Hub Pages a pleasurable experience. I strive to express my thoughts in a clever and humorous manner. That's because I make people laugh in my every day life outside of being a Hubber. Yet, I find myself usually writing about serious or thought provoking topics. In the long run, I hope that I will provide entertaing topics for all to read.

It'd be fair to say that I have always had a way with words. I actually developed this God given ability when at the young age of 17 years old, I joined a Top 40's horn band. My trumpet was my ticket to becoming a member of that semi-successful group, but my true passion came from writing lyrics for some of our original songs we created. And when we were trying to build a name for ourselves and performed popular tunes of the day, I loved rearranging some of the songs to make them a bit more distinctiveto our style.

For reasons that I don't quite remember, I let a friend talk me into adopting a pen name: Joe Andover. It had something to do with combining my middle name with the name of the street I grew up on.I totally wish that I had never done that. It remains a mystery to me why I did and I'm sure only serves to confuse thouse of you who wish to read some of my hubs.

I try to write about a wide range of different topics to appeal to a diverse audience. Some subjects just pop into my head. Other times, I use the internet and the trending news at the time for ideas./ I am very passionate about family, cooking and sports, so there might be a tendency for me to lean towards those topics more often. On occasion, I like to get a bit more creative and write about things in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

I am blessed more than even my words can descibe to be married to the girl of my dreams, Marcia, for nearly 43 years. I am immensly proud of my three children, son-in-law, daughter-in-law and two grandchidren. I am reminded not to take my family for granted and cherish every day that we have together. And on a personal note, I have written my wife an original poem or humourous anecdote for every anniversary that we've celebrated and birthday that she has had. Of course, special events such as Valentines Day are also included!

All in all, I truly enjoy writing and want to try to keep active as a hubber. I want to stay flexible and write about an array of different things. I'm glad to be back.