My friend Dawn asked to know more about me recently, so I thought I’d share with you. For many, I’m just the simple guy. But, oh, I’m more complex than that. See for yourself:
- I grew up on 30 acres an hour north of San Francisco. We had no animals, but we had plenty of fruit trees, a barn, a tire swing, and lots of land to play around on.
- A donkey man lived on our property for almost a year. John Stiles was wandering the country with his two wagons (he slept in one) and a plethora of animals* when we offered him a place for the winter. It ended up being a nine month gig, and he built a third wagon during that time.
- I once looked up gullible in the dictionary to prove a friend it was there. That is not a proud moment.
- In college I started a radio station. As ever, it’s barely hanging on, but it’s still around. Like many things I’ve had a hand in starting, I did it because I wanted to participate, but there was nothing like it.
- I ran a BBS in high school. This is where I earn my geek cred. I built myself a second computer, got an inbound-only phone line, and invited people to connect their computer to mine. I even wrote games for users to play and had a short-lived, but profitable, software company. The name of the BBS? Fallen Chaos, after misheard lyrics (“crawling chaos”) from a Metallica song.
- I’ve never seen The Wizard of Oz. No, I have nothing against it, and one of these days it’s going to happen. The time just hasn’t been right yet. Don’t rush me.
- There is a street named after my family in Windsor, CA. I was the fifth generation to live in the formerly tiny farming town. This year is the 100th anniversary of the DuVander Ranch (now mostly a Raley’s shopping center). When they created the new downtown a few years ago, they honored our family with a few hundred feet of blacktop. Bonus trivia: DuVander Lane is situated in what used to be the field where I first met the Donkey Man.
- I have been in three bands, and each played a version of Sloop John B. I sang in all of them, played guitar in the first two, and switched to bass for the third. I even have a few MP3s hanging about here and there. The names: A.J. (Adam and Josh), The Rash, and trailBOSS.
Your turn: what don’t I know about you?
* Yes, El Guapo, I know what a plethora is. His animals, as I recall: Two mules, 18 donkeys (plus two born while he was with us, minus the two who died from bee stings), three goats, about a dozen chickens, and three or four doves.