I had just finished reading Robert Fitzgerald's translation of The Odyssey when I wrote the first version of the bio that appears on this site. While I don't claim to be skilled in all ways of contending, I thought to begin my professional epic poem with a reference to the first lines of Homer's work (as Fitzgerald translated):
Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story of that man skilled in all ways of contending, the wanderer, harried for years on end, after he plundered the stronghold on the proud height of Troy.
Several years later, to this day, I've kept this old school shout-out to a goddess on my site and on some of my social media profiles (e.g. @andysolages). Odysseus isn't a deeply resonant ur-hero for me, but the reference felt right. Maybe I had a vague sense of having tarried too long, in the past, with the business equivalents of Kalypso, Kirke, Polyphemos, etc.
And "Ithaca" still feels far.