Blogroll

My friends are a lively, interesting, and amusing bunch. Some have taken to the web, and have blogs of their own. If you look in my sidebar you’ll see a section labeled “Blogroll”. This is where you can find links to their pages.

But who are these people, you ask? I’m glad you asked! Let’s go down my list, shall we?

Austin was a punk-ass, teenage kid when I met him. In fact, I don’t think I liked him much at all at first. But hey, he was 15 years old and I was 25. He probably didn’t like me, either. But now Austin is a man (baby, yeah!). He lives in SoCal, born and raised.

Bill is a damn coastie. He joined the Coast Guard a few years back. After his tour of duty in Kodiak Island, Alaska he up and moved on to Hawaii. He’s a sailor of the seven seas. A young man with a dream. And that dream? To grow mustaches and wear funny hats. And drink in Irish pubs.

Corey is the coolest motherfucker you’ll ever meet. He’s also the mayor of Belmont Shore. OK, not really. But he is a shoe-shufflin’, hustlin’, movin’ and groovin’ Lord of the Dance. He’s been a video game tester, a video game designer/developer, a fiber-optic guru, and PC god.

Corey has a gal, this gal named Gina. Put the two of them together and they ooze crazysexycool.

Dave is one of my oldest and bestest friends. We met in my first class on the first day of my first day of high school. And he hasn’t been able to shake me since. Although he did recently move to Hawaii. I miss him terribly, but am soooo happy that my friend has found peace in his paradise.

Dawna is a friend from high school that doesn’t update her blog any more!

Lainey is the coolest chick on Earth. We met through mutual friends up in good ol’ Chico. She’s a techie and a dreamer and a smart gal. She moved to Australia a few years ago and married a great guy, and now they are Two Birds and have adventures Down Under.

Mark (Midnight) doesn’t update his blog any more, either! We met at PlanetQuake’s Beatdowns. Throughout the years we’ve always managed to meet up together in what ever online game we happen to be playing at the moment. Last I checked he still lives in SoCal and still works for Cisco.

Mark (Smitty) is the Godfather of Snow Crash. If he weren’t for Mark and his generosity, linux prowess, and all-around tech god-ness I wouldn’t have half the friends and/or experiences that I have today. Mark lives in SLO still (I think).

Owen = meme. Loves baseball and cats and Clutch. He drinks Jack and Coke and listens to 311. At least, he used to anyway. Bay Area born and raised, but relocated to SoCal. Temporarily. He’ll be back, oh yes he will.

Phil. What can be said about Phil? He’s part Smade. He loves monkeys. He drives an hour and half, sometimes more, to get to work each day in stop and go traffic. He is a music snob but I mean that in a good way. Phil is my favorite victim. I love this guy.

Sierra lives in Chico and I’m jealous. She rarely updates her blog.

Stef is my surf cuz. She had a child last year and stopped blogging.

Vanessa is a SoCal girl that met Tet-motherfucking-suo and moved to Arizona, because she loves him *that* much.

Vito is an old PlanetQuake Beatdown veteran as well. He has my dream job, senior UNIX systems administrator/analyst. Pak!

So that’s all I got. If you have a blog and you’re not listed here, let me know and I’ll give ya a plug!

Yet another site redesign–featuring donkeys!

I’m using the new version of WordPress. And I finally figured out how to use widgets. But I’m still using the same header image, because last time I changed it Dave got mad at me. And I like tagging my posts. Overall there are a lot more gadgets for me to play with, and that makes me happy.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, a picture of a donkey.
Um, hello.

While we’re on the subject of donkeys–did you know that donkeys are my favorite animal? It’s true. When I was a little boy my favorite donkey was Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. And last time I went to Disneyland (6 years ago) I saw some worker-person dressed up in an Eeyore costume. I flipped the fuck out, dropped my things, and ran towards him/her shouting “Eeyore!!!”

Remember the Shrek movies? My favorite character? Donkey!

And when we were kids our parents would take us over to the stables in Yosemite Valley. I always wanted to ride donkeys, not horses.

Best donkey commercial ever.

Best YouTube donkey ever.

When Yum and I moved into our new apartment I happened to look over the fence. What did I see? Two miniature donkeys in a field! It was a sign. I was meant to live here.

I love donkeys, and I don’t care who knows!

The road to fun

When I was a kid, highway 80 was the road to fun. I would get sooo excited when we made that turn off 680 north and onto 80 east. Because I knew that we were on our way to do something really cool. I knew that we were going to Walt’s cabin in Truckee, or we were going skiing, or going to visit mom’s family in Sacramento.

When I got older, highway 80 was the road we took to No (Reno). “I wanna go to No, dude!” Dave or Scott would say, in a drunken stupor at 2 in the morning. Reno meant gambling and drinking and hotels and skiing and more stories to make and tell and retell.

When I moved to Chico, 80 was the highway I took when I was going home. Home, meaning *back* to Chico. Because for the short 3 years that I lived there, Chico felt more like home than any other place I’ve ever lived. And highway 80 meant that I was leaving the Bayarrhea, and that always feels good.

Highway 80 still means the road to fun. It means that Yum and I are off on another adventure. Walt’s cabin, Truckee, Lake Tahoe. Now I live in Vacaville, and I’m a stone’s throw from highway 80. It means that I’m now less than an hour’s drive up highway 80 to Scott and the boys in Roseville.

I take 80 every day to work. While I’m driving I think of all the fun times and good memories that highway 80 reminds me of. I’m thankful that I’m so lucky, that I get to live in such a great place. I arrive at work feeling peaceful and happy.

Thirty six years of driving highway 80 and I still get excited–every time. Because finally, I *live* on the road to fun.