Hello World

Let’s take a moment to talk about and recommend the blogs of all of my close personal real life friends:

Friends from various times in DC:

• Fletcher, whom I met on the first day of freshman year back in Washington, DC. A fierce competitor on sporting greens of all varieties, a student of document archiving, and a wagon-jumping University of Texas fan. He can grow an adorable, if patchy, red beard.
• Lauren, a tiny crusader for the rights of the underrepresented (or something–I’m not totally clear on what she does at work) with a passion for offbeat reality TV and fancy restaurants. Has been known to drink a margarita or two.
• Phil, who hasn’t written a damn thing since January. He has fancy glasses, a west coast attitude and an appreciation for dive bars. One Halloween, he wore a boxed wine costume.
• Katie and Ruth, who use their blog primarily to communicate with each other (although they haven’t touched the thing since October). Katie and Ruth were both classmates of mine in high school. They were cooler than me but kept me around for ego-boost purposes.
• Britt, another high school classmate, who is currently in the vicinity of Winnipeg studying the natural grace and beauty of birds up there. Something like that. He is very wise and rowed crew once upon a time. We both follow DC sports (Britt with an emphasis on hockey I once shared but have since, sadly, lost).
• Drew, who I met on the ultimate frisbee field. A Syracuse fan with a background in economic and social policy and a very good breakmark flick, he’s currently traipsing around Africa and documenting the voyage with lots of pictures and insightful commentary. I’m hoping he ends up in Boston sometime soon.
• And, of course, my friend Evan, who’s in Baghdad working on the Saddam Hussein war crimes tribunal and taking time off to travel all over the Middle East. He writes periodically and artfully about the fascinating experience he’s having, giving special attention to the cultural and socio-historical differences he’s seen but taking the time to note funny quirks that have made his time abroad so fun and interesting. As you may have noticed, I didn’t put a link on his name. That’s because for some crazy reason he doesn’t have a blog. GET A BLOG, EVAN.

Friends from college:

• Nate, my famed jackass roommate from college and a full 25% of The Quad. This firebrand/rabble rouser/aspiring demagogue writes passionate political diatribes from a far-left (borderline communist?) perspective. He has good taste in music and writes poetry, ladies, so if you’re in the Bay Area I encourage you to get in touch with him. He’s desperately lonely.
• Molly, New York fashionista with a piercing narrative style and a flair for photoshop. And look out, because she is not afraid to don a wig.
• Kjell, the first man to ever grow a beard (to hear him tell it). Kjell is big and strong and funny and way ahead of the indie music curve. Also, one day he may be your doctor.
• Ji, whose real name is actually Ji, is a Baltimorean in NYC, taking life a day at a time and loving every minute of it. Honorary member of The Quad and master of the narrative pictorial.
• Noah and Alex and Becky and some other people have a blog that pretty much defies description. A lot of media stuff, with plenty of pop culture and commentary. Good times.
• Kolsky, another former roommate and the least senior member of The Quad. A Chicago native recently returned to his motherland, K-dog writes about sports, sports, sports, hip-hop, and some other stuff. He also has an NBA blog that I don’t read. Maybe you would enjoy it, though.
• Paige, a nice gal who dated a few of my friends in college but has her own identity thank you very much, has a blog that as of yet is primarily concerned with her life on the dole and the ridiculous antics of our most absurd celebrities. She’s an upstart but has already been featured in Gawker. Save up for her erotic tell-all memoirs, expected to be released in the Fall of 2008.

Friends from law school:

• “otrain” pops his collar without apology, plays Super Smash Brothers shamelessly, and blogs sporadically. He writes about those activities and sports, pretty much, and he is a funny guy.
• dan is a Villanova alum (you remember them, they choked in the Elite 8?) who sometimes makes a fool of himself in public and occasionally shows up to class on time. He writes about television and stupid people on public transportation.
• “Boston Legal” is from Ohio and cares about women’s rights. She likes Pikachu and music and George Clooney.

So that’s it. I think that’s everyone (let me know if I missed you). Check them out, they’re fun and interesting and excellent ways to waste a few minutes you should be spending on work.