About Me — Todd Nelson
Trying to see the big picture by digging into the details of the past. Also, bikes, because they can save the world.
Bio
Long ago, I heard the phrase “what you are is where you were when you were 10” — at least that’s how I recall it. The idea is attributed to Morris Massey. If I knew I’d eventually be writing About Me, I’d have done something more interesting back in 1973. So apparently, I find other people’s stories more interesting to write about.
I am a midwestern transplant to northern California where I share a home with my wife — also from Michigan — and occasionally our twenty-something son. I studied engineering, spent time in management, and worked for an abnormally small number of companies, but now I’m retired.
Several years ago, I started blogging as a creative outlet, here and here. I mostly write about history. I like the idea of becoming a better storyteller. Blogging gave me practice and Medium gives me a larger audience with better feedback.
I’m also a cyclist. For years, I commuted to work by bike — rain or shine (it doesn’t snow here). In a typical year, I will ride more miles than I drive. I think bikes are part of the answer to a lot of civilization’s problems. That might be more than a five-minute read!
I hope you enjoy what I write.
Next Up
What’s going on? Nothing. I dropped out of Medium in 2022 because of their updated policies that limited what my non-subscribing friends could do.
Featured Articles
(Updated: 14 Jan. 2024)
- Beneath Our Feet (StoryMaps version) A story of Native American burial sites underneath the city that I live in. This version has more than twice the views as the same Medium version.
- Silicon Valley Genealogy I used the StoryMaps platform to embed a different platform, Kumu.io, which does an amazing job illustrating causal diagrams — in this case, the famous story of spin-offs in the early semiconductor days.
- Downing Rode I just love this story! It’s a story of the Downing family, for which Downing Road is named. Some of the Downing descendants were world-class cyclists. The StoryMaps format takes you on a cross-country tour.
Top Articles
(Updated: 14 Jan. 2024)
- 40 Years Ago — Linear Technology Corporation, Business story on some of the predictions the original founders made.
- Clover: It’s Not a Weed Anymore, Formerly one of my least popular but inexplicably growing steadily as if an algorithm were pushing it.
- The Last Native American Village in California, A story about an Ohlone tribe that lived where I live now.
My cocktail party explanation of my job was “talking to really smart people, then telling other really smart people what they said. Fortunately, it made sense to them and our company made money.” So, in keeping with that theme, I stole this format from JL Matthews who gave credit to Zulie Rane, Danny Forest, and Violet Daniels. In this case, however, I’m talking to myself and writing for you.
