I write you all today on the brink of a new and exciting responsibility that has lovingly come into my life. Blame it on those lonesome nights with just my computer and a coke, or seeing all my peers one by one get their own little darlings, or maybe my biological clock, just seconds away from striking 40, tipped my previously balanced/slacker lifestyle over the edge, into that sea of commitment. You who have precipitated the engagement know the joy and trepidation I feel. I know what you are thinking, "do we really need another one those in the world", or "is it not a little late in his spring to be starting over like this." Let me tell you, it was not an easy decision in these times of war and disease, poverty and realistic stock prices. I had to look deeply into the lexicon, but finally I made my decision. I created my own domain, and I named it...

For those of you I don't see often, the kids and I are doing well. Another ten years and I am sure they will be ready to boot me out of the house, here in this idyllic inland valley of central Marin. Until then, and for now, I ply my trade writing software in the small town of Rohnert Park for a large, multi-national conglomerate. Rohnert Park is an interesting place. A town built around a golf course, where ALL the grass is green and manicured, on and off the links. I think it must be a zoning regulation. The police force is called a security patrol, and I read recently in the local rag about a huff caused by people and their overpowered golf carts roaming the courses. I think they were going to post new greens rules, I mean city ordinances, to address that problem.

Of course, golf is a business now, and RP is growing even in these tough times. Not everyone gets to experience sprawl, but I can watch it right out my cube window, as the Starbucks and Panda Expresses and Costco's join the Targets and MickyDee's and Starbucks. The power of specialization in retail seems overpowering. Shared marketing and supply and distribution management, low prices and common items and quality. Not a bad end game if you can live with the product mix… or lack of. Oh, almost forgot, they recently erected a giant, ~25 foot TV next to the freeway that bisects town. I am not sure why it is there. It is hard to read and breaks down a lot, but somehow it does give one that sense of place, that feeling of home, that buttress of connection that keeps us linked to one another against the soul of loneliness we are given when we enter this cold world. Of the local towns, Santa Rosa has its Redwoods, Healdsburg its Vineyards, Petaluma its River, and now Rohnert Park has its towering, steel encased, low resolution, Television Set.