My name is Patrick McBride, although the people who call me Patrick are typically angry, disappointed, or perplexed with something I’ve done or said; or they just don’t know me very well. I have been referred to as P, P-McB, P Mac, Pastor Pat, Animal, Pug, and Taco. Of course I’ve been called other names but most people just call me Pat. I was born in 1959 (Honolulu), married in 1981 (Camp Hill) and have two children born in 1985 and 1986 (Virginia Beach).

I live in Mechanicsburg, PA where a ‘Wrench’ is allegedly dropped each New Years Eve, although I have yet to personally witness this perennial display of gravitational pageantry. Geographically Mechanicsburg is located between Dillsburg (drops a Pickle) and Harrisburg (a Strawberry). Politically, it is influenced by both guns and Bibles. I have lived here since 1986 and still don’t understand why the ‘Strawberry’.

In 2009 I signed up for an on-line Memoirs 101 course and started writing again. Other than disparate periods of ‘crisis-journaling’, I hadn’t put a pen to paper since the Creative Writing course I took my sophomore year at the U.S. Naval Academy. That was 1979 and I had a crush on my instructor, Molly Tinsley, with whom I recently reconnected via Facebook. Molly is still very sweet. She told me she remembered the opening stanza of a poem I wrote in her class (and frightfully, was published), “A Baracuda, Bad ass and Blue, Cruises the Strand Intoxicated”. Clearly, 1979 was a tough year for the arts.

Tongonpig's Blog started as parking lot for class assignments and has evolved into a forum allowing me to share my life stories. PARENTAL WARNING: These stories are for my children and grandchildren.. I realize my senses of humor, irony, and spirituality as I relate them to my life experiences may not be consistent with your view of parenting. As such, there may be both themes and content which you may find objectionable. This blog may not be for you or your children. Read at your own risk.

Please don't take me too seriously - I certainly don't.

I'm an Aries. I like hiking in the the woods, spalshing in waves, and cuddling. I'm against all cancers and for world peace.