Hello. This post is to inaugurate my blog. I'm probably about the 800 millionth person to have their own blog, and the last thing we need in this world is more people shooting off their ill-informed mouths. Still, I've been wanting to write more frequently, and it is more fun to work in front of an audience. The minutiae of my life are probably not spell-binding, and my own ill-informed opinions will probably infuriate some, but here goes.

First, a little bit about me. I live in a medium-sized town in Northern California, where I moved a little over a year ago with my wife in order to find affordable housing. And not a moment too soon, I might add, since our 2-bedroom house has appreciated, on paper, to the point where we could not afford it if we tried to buy it now. My wife and I both work in social services, for two different non-profits in another medium-sized Northern California town. My wife is currently about 6 months pregnant, most likely with a boy, who will be our first child.

Right now it is 107 degrees where we live, and we're afraid that the air conditioning won't hold out much longer. Should have had it serviced before the heat wave. As a precaution, and to insure that we can sleep tonight, I have installed a portable air conditioner in the bedroom. This setup is imported from our last rental, where I jury-rigged a system using a home made wooden frame (actually just two-by-fours crudely nailed together) and a piece of foam insulation. I've never been able to find an insert to adapt a horizontally sliding window to accommodate portable air conditioners. You'd think there'd be a demand for this sort of thing, but I guess not.

We've been drinking lots of liquid and keeping inside, but I'm still hot and sweaty, and my wife probably feels worse, what with being pregnant and all.

As for my interests, I enjoy PC gaming, especially Neverwinter Nights, Warcraft, and Civilization, although I'm not a fanatic about any of these and am a little frightened by those who are. Gaming is my way to unwind after a hard day of fighting social ills at work. I also enjoy reading (right now I'm plowing through Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Trilogy); the local library is one of our favorite haunts.

All-in-all, a rather pedestrian existence--about right for an ex-hippy in his late 30s. I like to think that my past is far more interesting than my present, but I could be deluding myself...


Coming up next: the story of how I became Captain Bathrobe. You won't want to miss this.