Omigod! I haven't written one of these columns since March. Here's a quick rundown as of today, June 4th, 2013.

HEALTH, DIET, EXERCISE: I waited two years after losing over 30 pounds to buy any new pants, and I did that yesterday. (Not bad, either . 3 pairs of Target's "Merona" brand dress slacks at $15.00 each. I think that's less than the same type cost when I last bought some four or five years ago.) Size (drumroll please) 34-30!! I've been wearing older 40-30 pants belted to the nines and some REALLY older jeans slacks that I hadn't been able to fit into for years. Today I'm going into work with some really comfortable new slacks. Next up, some medium shirts to replace all the large shirts I purchased back in 2009 when I ballooned up to nearly 200 pounds. Reason I waited till now to buy the pants....I was so afraid I'd gain the weight again, and would feel stupid not being able to fit into clothes I just bought. 

I've been going out to restaurants every other weekend or so, and sometimes I tend to gain, but I don't eat the mammoth meals I used to. I've trained myself not to stuff myself, which wasn't really an easy thing for me. I'm cooking more. In fact, my "Cooking With Mike" series of recipes always get a few "likes" on Facebook. I don't eat three meals a day, but I do have a definite "lunch" and "dinner" time now. I'm going "out" for lunch at work, taking my lunchbucket to the park nearest where I work, and enjoying some instant noodles, sandwich, and banana while I read my Kindle. Dinner is usually one of my salad concoctions. 

I'm getting ready to upgrade my weight training again. This will be the third time since I bought the bench and began training in earnest in February. Next year, when I finally have enough money to build the screened in porch at the side of the house, I'm going to get more gear. The bench is stuffed in my smallish living room right now. I'm using 30 pounds for my calves/thighs, 40 pounds for the barbell, and 15 pound dumbbells. My regimen includes eight exercises. Each exercise contains 15 reps (repetitions) in two sets, with a 30 second rest step between sets. The whole regimen takes about 90 minutes, including the power walk for cardio and the stretching exercises. 

I still have quite a bit of a "spare tire" and will hopefully be seeing my abs (The Mikester with a six pack, oh my!) sometime this coming fall or winter.

WEALTH: I hate to say it. I've accumulated some more debt, but it's manageable. For a couple of months, I was able to pay off my two credit cards down to zero each month, but I "splurged" a bit on my vacation. (Hey, you only turn 60 once in your life, so have some fun, eh?) I've been buying some blu ray DVD box sets, which even on sale, and in multiple quantities, add up pretty quickly. Then there's those Kindle "books" which seem to cost about $12.00 each. I'm at a "frugal" point right now, and my payments for each CC are way over and above the minimum payments. That 40 grand consolidation debt I've written about endlessly, which was established in 2007, is down to under $8000.00 now and will be completely paid off by March of next year. 

SOCIAL LIFE: Still single. Still alone. But not usually lonely. I almost thought I had "reconnected" with an old friend from my druggie days back in the early 70s through Facebook when I got another "friend request" from someone I hadn't thought about in years, but like most of those reconnections I get on FB, the person doesn't "update" and hadn't posted anything on their wall in ages. I am collecting a few more "internet friends" through the FB site, and I'm posting more over there (I actually use Facebook more than Xanga, if I use the internet at all for social networking these days.) I'm still getting my financial world in order, and once that's done (the magic year of 2014, if I don't die or some other unforseen circumstance first, LOL) I'll try to concentrate on perhaps finding a mate or at least a buddy to hang out with.

XANGA AND THE INTERNET: If the Xanga service survives, my archives will stay online. If they don't I'll eventually port them over to another service. Anyone who "reads" me already knows "where" to find me on the internet. (Last time I googled myself, I came up with 25,000 results!) Unlike most bloggers, my Xanga blog has always been pretty much a "storage facility" for numerous artistic and creative endeavors, posted as they're created. I'm not really too "active" like folks who never seem to "leave" the blogging world.

I already suffered the "loss" of my 8000 photos stored on Webshots when that site went belly up. I've got a Flickr account on which I'm slowly reposting my themed folders, but it takes a lot of time I'm just not too interested in investing. (I posted an entry earlier this week here on Xanga where I listed a lot of the failed website communities with which I've been involved over the past decade.) Unlike most of the bloggers on Xanga I've read who seem to feel as if Xanga closing down is akin to having their home town being blown away by a tornado (the "image du jour" seems to be the sinking of the Titanic) I'm of the mind that it's just another website to me.

I did look over the idea of perhaps learning wordpress (the program, not the blog hosting service) and re-invigorating my personal website (which has been pretty much a "legacy site" with no updates for two years, even though it costs me $250.00 a year to keep it online. It would take too much time to invest at this point in learning how to code another platform. Website tools cost money too. I can (techspeak coming up) create a MySql database on www.allthingsmike.com, but again, I'm not sure I want to spend a lot of time learning another language, as it were. The program I used to create allthingsmike, by the way (Dreamweaver), cost me over $500.00 back in 2003. I can't even use it anymore. In fact, upgrades to my video editing program need at least Windows Vista, and I'm still on the creaky XP system. 

PHILOSOPHY: Events in life are like a series of rows of dominoes. Each time you tip the first one over, the rest in the row fall down. Then you have to place some more dominoes in a row, and tip them over.

Over and over again.
If you just keep tipping over short rows, all you have is a bunch of fallen dominoes.
Or you can build a massive single or connected row of dominoes, which takes a long long time. It's a massive undertaking, and when you tip the first one, they eventually fall too, but it looks fantastic, and you feel as if you have a sense of accomplishment.
The end result is the same, of course. Now you have a LOT of fallen dominoes.
My domino rows have always been the massive long interconnected types. I've seen quite a few fall down. I'm still constructing my latest massive string of dominoes. They're not ready to fall yet.

Posted: June 04, 2013 7:38 AM

 Parody Xanga Front Page: Created Sept. 24, 2012

Parody Top Blogs for 2019: Created Friday May 6, 2010

Today's Top Blogs 2019  Not sure what to write. Then copy/paste a "featured blogmeme"

Snore. Is this thing on? Heck, all I have to do nowadays is just type. qwertyuioopasdfghjkl...

 Look, I'm the best thing on here. I've been here for over 14 years. I can still write, dance, sing, no scratch that, still can't sing. But I write poetry, make videos, and I post lots of past entries from my vast collections. I'm creative. Some people even think I'm talented. And I'm old. I write the best comments on Xanga. Srsly. And I do it NAKED. I had 421 of my comments recommended. But no matter how many people visit, I seem to whine endlessly about not getting comments. Isn't it getting stale by now????? Hell no. Drop by sometime, and don't forget to leave a comment. 

 

 

Most of this was originally posted on 5/20/2009. 

I'm going to take you on a "short history of Xanga" (in it's own words, so to speak.) The Xanga beta came online in late 1999. This was just a few short months after my own website, the inimitable AllThingsMike came online, but they got lots more visitors. Believe me, if I'd known about Xanga, and their capability for comments, back in 1999 I would have joined immediately. All the images and content in this entry were obtained by searches through The Internet Archive. Check out the links if you have time. Some of them work, and they're taking you to the past.  MFN/ppf

---

From 1999-2001:

  

Can't wait to get started? Join Now!

Expect visitors! Whenever you add new content to your site, you'll be featured right here on the front page. Other Xangans love to see what new members are sharing with the community. Visitors to your site can mean more than just flattering feedback. Links to products such as books, movies, and music can make you money! If you write a great book review and your visitors click through the link and buy the book you can make a 15% commission on every sale. Xanga is Passion. What's your Xanga?   We've eliminated the tedious technical hassles of publishing to traditional homepages. Forget about HTML and FTP, you will be publishing your first post within a minute! And Xanga is all yours. You can Customize your Weblog by selecting unique fonts and colors, and even design and upload your own header! Check out all Our Features.

John  view entire profile Friday, December 08, 2000

I was just thinking, "Where are all my eProps coming from?" And then Brendan reminded me that there's a page where you can see just that! And another one where you can see comments on your posts, and another one where you can see the latest subscribers to your site! You can find all these links inside the modular called "Current Site Data", located on the left side of your private Xanga Site.   Many Voices, One Topic - Xanga BlogRings! Join an Existing  BlogRing! Featured Content (November 14th, 2001. Check out RiottGyrrrl and you'll think you're visiting the blog of any popular Xangan even today. The link to "more featured" shows you what the "featured" page looked like back at the turn of the century.) RiottGyrrrl 9:48 am myblueheaven 9:21 am JackrabbitDaddy 8:10 am smartass_83 7:23 am wickedce 2:06 am more featured content

Featured Content is back up to 100 entries!  We had to trim it down to 25 entries for a while, but monsur was able to make it a lot faster, so now it's back up to 100. Here's what happened... The Featured Content list used to get updated every single time any Xanga Member looked at the page. It's a popular page and it's got a lot of info on it, so all the updating made the page really slow (or totally inaccessible). Now it gets updated just once every minute (and then cached). Heh, so now it'll be slow only for the very first person to...       Wednesday, July 24, 2002 Xanga Personals!?  Marc explains... Take a browse and let us know what you think - both about Xanga Personals and the new Xanga Frontpage Have 3:27 pm Xanga News Friday, August 13, 2004 NEW BLOGRING FEATURES Attention all blogring leaders: you can finally delete abusive blogring members with a single click.  In addition, you can use our new Member Approval feature to stop unruly members from just joining the blogring again. More from john 3:10 PM Check out mindlessWh0re below. Funny stuff. The entry you see might not necessarily be the entry from the link, cause the archive only took a picture of the URL at the time.  MFN/ppf Featured Content: December 29th, 2004 CaKaLusa 11:52 AM LolaLovely 3:26 PM luckstuh 8:55 PM eFairy 9:13 AM mindlessWh0re 10:20 PM more featured content Click on the profile pictures to go to the blogger's site at the time. Some of the secondary and tertiary links on the archive don't go anywhere. MFN/ppf Featured Weblog Entries From: Xanga Premium Sites 1. unpleasant types of sleepers there are 5 main categories of... Total eProps: 206 | Total Comments: 107 Posted by wutuwaitn4 - 5/23/2005 at 9:08 PM   2. Conjunction dysfunction, what time's the luncheon? Besides t... Total eProps: 200 | Total Comments: 102 Posted by CaKaLusa - 5/23/2005 at 7:54 PM

2005-2006

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Remember when we lost all our comments. From John's blog in 2005:

Then, sometime in late 2005, a new blogger appeared who looked a bit like C.S. Lewis. His "Theologian's Cafe" almost instantly became the Xanga site to visit, and the Featured page started to look different, well, I mean the same, since this single blogger sort of took over the page after a while. (And wouldn't mind telling you exactly how he did it either!) MFN/ppf

1.

Question of the day: Were the Berenstain Bears Jewish? Kids... Total eProps: 296 | Total Comments: 156 Posted by CaKaLusa - 12/6/2005 at 12:51 AM

2.

I have been wondering to what degree was the 9/11 attacks su... Total eProps: 208 | Total Comments: 114 Posted by TheTheologiansCafe - 12/5/2005 at 6:14 PM

3.

I am taking a rare day off work today for sickness. I woke u... Total eProps: 198 | Total Comments: 119 Posted by TheTheologiansCafe - 12/6/2005 at 9:31 AM

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

1.

Are we as a society too quick to give our opinion? Total eProps: 298 | Total Comments: 167 Posted by TheTheologiansCafe - 8/20/2006 at 1:39 PM

2.

I was reading a post by RaVnR and it made me think about ice... Total eProps: 254 | Total Comments: 139 Posted by TheTheologiansCafe - 8/19/2006 at 8:43 PM

Hmmmmm. MFN/ppf

Friday, October 20, 2006

Another content module appeared on the front page in late 2006:

Boosted Content

• Top Boosted Content…
• More Boosted Content…

2007-2009

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Xanga News

Vote for the best. Help give a star award by voting here!

2008 brought us the Featured Question:

Would you confront your best friend who talked about you behind your back ?

submitted by Abstraxcity

67 answers - blog now!

Xanga is the latest casualty of the social networking wars of the mid teens. 

Haven't I been around this racetrack before? I've been online since 1997, over fifteen years.

1997: Before social networking and blogs. Before websites even, we had message boards. I frequented the Classmates.com boards. I frequented the Classmates.com message boards that is, until the site, which had been free to subscribers, changed to a paid subscription model. I didn't want to pay. The internet had always been "free'. I began writing articles about "the death of the free internet."

1999: I created my own website on the Homestead hosting service, which offered "free websites" and an easy to use content editor. My website grew to seven sections, each with hundreds of pages, including my poetry, prose, photography, and artwork, when Homestead couldn't pay the bills and switched to a paid subscription model. I was able to pay to keep my site online, but thousands others couldn't, and a great disturbance was felt in the force when most of the planet Homestead was destroyed by the Death Star of Profit.

2000: Yahoo used to have a vibrant clubs/groups infrastructure. I joined nearly a dozen writing groups, poetry groups, and friendship groups. When the moderator of one popular group closed it down, I resurrected my own dormant poetry group, ElectricPoetry, which, with almost 100 active members, became pretty popular. 

I used Geocities for the HTML pages I created in Microsoft Frontpage. Yahoo bought Geocities. Soon Yahoo shut down the site. (Let's see what they do with Tumblr!)

2001: I purchased my own domain, www.allthingsmike.com, and began a major redesign of my "electronic experiment in art". I paid over $500.00 for the Macromedia Dreamweaver open source website construction  software. Soon I dismantled and unsubscribed from my Homestead website. I joined webring and listed my site with multiple literature, art, and friendship rings. For a while, my website "space" cost me $60.00 a month. One of my early MikeVideo streams was so popular, I had to pay an extra $500.00 one month for excessive download times. (The internet was a lot more expensive with less space and speed in those days.)

2002: I created blogs for each of my website sections on the Blogspot service. Some blogs I let them host, and some I hosted myself. 

2002: I had stored my photo collection, which eventually grew to 100 themed folders, and over 8000 high quality photos, on Webshots, first a part of Excite, and eventually purchased by American Greetings, the greeting card company. I was listed as the #7 user posting photos of the state of California. I paid $35.00 a year for a subscription until last year, when the site converted to a paid instagram style site called Smile.

2004: Tired of moderating my Poetry group, which took quite a bit of time, I shut down the ElectricPoetry group on Yahoo, but not before joining Xanga, a blog service on which people could leave comments, which hadn't been introduced on blogspot as yet. I consolidated all my blogs into WhenWordsCollide, which has pretty much maintained the same formula of offering news and notes, photoposts, video blogs, poetry and prose, and my ever ongoing memoirs and autobiography since 2004. I paid for a "lifetime premium subscription" to Xanga 

2005: I began posting my videos to YouTube. Xanga introduced a video section a while later, but never upgraded to HD, so I stopped posting videos to Xanga for the most part. I joined "blogrings" on Xanga in order to make more connections. The Featured Grownups, Socrates Cafe, and Kween of the Queens blogrings offered Xangans a chance to garner lots of subscribers, readers, and friendships in the days when "featured" content only had five entries by the real popular bloggers. My own blogring, The Internet Island, was pretty popular itself for three years.

2008: Although I never gained true "Xangalebrity" fame, I maintained a solid core group of readers and subscribers, and was well known around the Xanga site for my novel sized comments, as well as for my entries, some of which (usually the parody Xanga entries) even were able to knock The Theologian's Cafe from Top of Top Blogs.

2010: I stopped updating my personal website AllThingsMike, although I still pay over $250.00 a year to keep it online. I created both MySpace and Facebook accounts  when those sites started to overcome Xanga as social networking sites. I still posted occasional blog entries on Xanga. 

2013: I make a commitment to my readers on Facebook that I will make a more concerted attempt to post more regularly. Instead of massive photoposts like on Xanga, I post one to three photos at a time. Instead of long detailed "magazine article" style entries, I post short humorous "observations" which begin to get comments. A lot of my readers/friends on FB either are still my readers/friends on Xanga, or are readers/participants from past endeavors like Classmates.com message boards, Yahoo groups, webrings, or blogrings.

Xanga announces it may perish.

I never liked what my late ex roommate used to call the "roundy round" races, where cars continually go in a circle. I preferred either drag races, a quick jaunt down the quarter mile, or road races, which took the driver through closed off city streets or along a long road course. My history of subscribing to sites, only to see them shut down, reminds me more of the roundy round races, where the sites, like the cars, and the caskets in the graphic above, race around and around until they crash or otherwise drop out of the race.

I already paid $100.00 for Xanga. I don't know if I want to pay an additional nearly $50.00 a year, on top of paying for my own website. I'm thinking of downloading wordpress software, and perhaps just establish my own blog on my own website. 

Then again, after a fifteen year internet "race" where all the sites seem to eventually die before I can finish alongside them with my massive content collection, maybe it's time to call it a day as a social networker. I do have my FACEBOOK TIMELINE HERE,  please friend me, but let me know your "Xanga username" if you have a different or real name for your FB profile. I have been more of a "presence" on FB than on Xanga for a while anyway. 

The list of people I actually think of as "friends" is much too long to post. Thank you to everyone with whom I've made a connection over the past 9 years. I'm going to keep posting archived Xangacentric posts and Xanga history/memorial posts for the next month, no matter what happens. The most updated amount Xanga has raised on the "Relaunch" campaign is over 15 grand and they're going for 60 grand. I'm pretty sure they'll make it. I just don't know whether I want to pay again since as far as I'm concerned (and I thought as far as Xanga was concerned) I was a "lifetime member" already.  

The graphic is a modified version of "Racing Caskets" one of my composite images and the title card to the "Dead Bodies" essay from the old Featured Grownups group blogring on 2/06/2007.

 XANGAPEDIA © : collected and edited by Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool (Xangaversary Date:5/2004). Image of John and modified Xanga logo used without permission.

This is a compendium of two entries, each one was a featured top blog. The "first edition" was posted on March 27th, 2008. The second edition on November 23rd, 2009.  I posted some thoughts about the possible demise of the Xanga service, and included a link to the "kickstarter" style campaign site on my Facebook page HERE. Throughout the next month,  I plan on presenting some of my Xangacentric entries from over my nearly decade long association with the Xanga site. MFN/ppf/true/lifetime

This is the first edition of the Xangapedia, a compendium of all words Xanga. Extensive research has gone into this effort to identify, list, and define the many real and unreal "Xangisms". Hours of websearching, copy/pasting, research (whoops, I already said that) and typing has gone into this particular entry in hopes that it gets lots of stars, recommends, eprops, comments, referrals, rereadings, and chuckles, and eventually ends up in the top five on the main page of Xanga in order to increase my readership and make me lots of new friends. (No, that's not it. This is an academic exercise engineered to help Xangans utilize proper speech.) The Xangapedia doesn't recognize AnY weiRd TyPiNg whiCH alTeRNateS caPital LettErs and LoWer CAse in OrdEr to driVe thE rEaDer BlinD. Entries are listed alphabetically. (In case any one is wondering, I couldn't figure out a good way of writing "Xangdictionary" and "Xangapedia" rolls off the tongue a bit better. (For those old enough to remember, just picture Jiminy Cricket singing "X-a-n-g-a-pedia")

Xanga / xang·a [ZANG-uh] {colloq. zan-GUH}
– proper noun, plural: s
1. blogging website at www.xanga.com
xanga / xang·a [ZANG-uh] {colloq. zan-GUH}
– noun, plural: s
2. one of the 40 million blogs on the service.
3. (etym.) Xceptionally Awesome Ninja GangstA
–verb
4. to write or post an entry on Xanga
"Real life keeps getting in the way of my xangaing."

xangadocious / xan·ga·do·cious [zang-guh-DOH-shuhs] 
–adjective South Midland and Southern U.S. rel. xan-ga-do·cious·ly
1. thorough; blatant; unmistakable: a xangadocious gossip.  
2. remarkable; outstanding: a xangadocious entry.  
3. audacious; bold or brazen. 

xangaholic / xan·ga·hol·ic [zang-uh-HAW-lik, -HOL-ik]
–adjective 
1. of, pertaining to, or of the nature of Xanga.
2. one whose online status on Xanga never dims.
3. a blogger obsessed with blogging or leaving comments on Xanga.
4. suffering from xangaholism 
5. pickled in Xanga.
–noun 
6. Pathology. a person suffering from xangaholism.  
7. a person addicted to blogging on Xanga. 
8. someone with no real friends.

xangalebrity /xan·ga·leb·ri·ty [zang-uh-LEB-ri-tee]
–noun, plural: ies
1. a blogger on Xanga who has gained noteriety, fame, and lots of comments, eprops, credits, minis, etc.
2. having fame or renown on Xanga.
"Fame is sometimes fleeting for most xangalebrities except for Dan (The Theologian's Cafe)"

xangalicious / xan·ga·li·cious [zang-guh-LISH-shuhs] 
–adjective 
1. highly pleasing to the senses, esp. to sight and sound: a xangalicious blog post.
2. very pleasing; delightful: a xangalicious sense of humor.  
3. sacastically disgusting, but still funny.
"Daniel (Drakonskyr) has a xangalicious sense of humor.' 
ant. xangawful
–noun 
3. (initial capital letter) a red or yellow variety of xapple, cultivated in the U.S.

xangasphere / xang·as·phere [zang-UHS-feer]
–noun, plural:s
1. the gaseous envelope surrounding the Xanga website.
2. the social networking substructure of the blogging site Xanga. 
3. Astronomy. the gaseous envelope surrounding Xanga. 
4. Chemistry. any gaseous envelope around Xanga. 
5. a conventional unit of pressure on websites, the normal pressure of the air at sea level, about 14.7 pounds per square inch (101.3 kilopascals), equal to the pressure exerted by a column of mercury 29.92 in. (760 mm) high. Abbreviation: xangsph.  
6. a surrounding or pervading mood, environment, or influence: "a xangasphere of impending rants"; "a junior high type xangasphere", "a euphoric xangasphere."

xangaversary / xang·a·vers·a·ry [zang-uh-VUR-suh-ree]
–noun, plural: ies
1. the yearly recurrence of the date a blogger on Xanga first opened one's blog.  
2. the celebration or commemoration of such a date.  
"Before my fourth xangaversary arrives, I hope to make the top five spot at least once more."
–adjective 
3. pertaining to a xangaversary: a xangaversary gift. Abbreviation: xangav.

xangawful / xan-gaw·ful [zang-AW-fuhl]
–adjective 
1. extremely bad; unpleasant; ugly: xangawful profile pic. 
"I can't understand why some bloggers remain popular when they have such xangawful blogs!" 
2. inspiring fear; dreadful; terrible: a xangawful cacophany of youtube vids and audio jukeboxes. 
ant. xangalicious 
3. solemnly impressive; inspiring awe: the xangawful majesty of Michael Nyiri's (baldmike2004) blogs and websites. 
4. inspiring great reverence.: "John might not know it, but he has a xangawful responsibility to millions of Xangans."
–adverb 
5. Informal. very; extremely: "He did a xangawful good job of commenting."
colloq: xangawdawful

xangduh! / xang-duh! [zang-DUH!]
–interjection 
1. used to express annoyance at banality, obviousness, or stupidity.
"No wonder I can't connect with anyone. I never comment and I have friends lock on all the time. XangDUH!"
2. an utterance at a blog entry so obvious it writes itself, filled with self-evident remarks.

xangism / xang·ism [ZANG-iz-uhm]
–noun 
1. words having to do with the website Xanga.
2. any word or part of a word utilizing the term "xanga" or "Xanga" or parts thereof.

xangpost / xang-post [ZANG-pohst]
–noun, plural:s
1.a post on xanga. 
2. xanduh!
–verb (used with object) 
3. to enter text, graphics, video, or audio in a Xanga blog.
"Some of my favorite bloggers haven't been xangposting that much lately."

xangsta / xang·sta [ZANG-sta]
–noun, plural: z
1. an organized group of bloggers and blogring created by Spidey(theblackspiderman) and Steff (Steffs_Confessions)
2. a member of an organized group of xangstaz
–adjective
3. pertaining to the xangsta lifestyle
"Some of us homies were kickin it listening to xangsta rap."

xangtimonious / xang·ti·mo·ni·ous [zangk-tuh-MOH-nee-uhs] 
–adjective 
1. making a hypocritical show of religious devotion, piety, righteousness, etc., either in posts or in comments on Xanga.
"The Xanga community in toto resented his long bible passage ridden xangtimonious comments."  

xangule / xang·ule [ZANG-yool]
noun, plural:s
1.a movable module in themes
2. a separable component, frequently one that is interchangeable with others, for assembly into units of differing size, complexity, or function. 

xanquil / xang·quil [ZANG-kwil]
–noun, plural:s
1. a pill that can be taken when a Xangan is thinking about one's blog day and night to help one get to sleep. 
"I couldn't sleep so I popped a couple of xanquils."
–adjective 
2. when it seems that the xanga community is "quiet" for some bloggers. 
3. free from commotion or tumult, peaceful; quiet; calm, dead
"It sure is xanquil in the xangasphere today."

xattoo / xat·too  [ZA-too]
–noun, plural:s, verb, -tooed, -too·ing. 
1. the act or practice of marking the skin with indelible images of the Xanga logo by making punctures in it and inserting pigments.  
2. an image of the Xanga logo, so made.  
–verb (used with object) 
3. to mark (the skin) with xattoos.  
4. to put (xattoos) on the skin. 
"Remy (porcupinesol) xattoed her wrist in order to show her allegiance to Xanga."

xanger / xan·ger [ZANG-ger]
noun 
1. a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong committed on the Xanga service.
2. Chiefly British Dialect. pain or smart, as of a sore. 
"I got a bad xanger when I dropped the computer on my foot."  
–verb (used with object) 
3. to arouse xanger or wrath in: a xangry blogsite filled with vitriol.  
–verb (used without object) 
4. to become xangry: "He xangers whenever he visits that site." 

xangratiating / xang-ra-ti-a-ting [xan-GREY-shee-ey-ting]
–adjective 
1. charming; agreeable; pleasing.  
2. deliberately meant to gain favor.
"Baldmike2004 has reached xangratiating heights with the Xangapedia blog entry."

XANGAPEDIA © 2nd EDITION  : collected and edited by Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool (Xangaversary Date:5/2004). Image of John and modified Xanga logo used without permission.

I can't believe (come on, repeat after me) it's been over a year and a half since I created The Xangapedia, by far the most popular entry I've ever posted on this service. It was March 27, 2008. A lot of folks thought that my "dictionary" of all words Xanga was a real list of terms, and not some stupid idea I had while stuck in traffic on the 405 freeway on my way home from work. (which it was). Some people began quarreling about etymology in the comments section. Whoa. It's a joke, son. Well, it's been a long enough time, I surmise, since I posted the first one, and I promised a second edition, so here goes. If I used a word that someone suggested from the first edition, I do attempt to give credit.  So what are we waiting for? Oh, and have a Happy Xangksgiving!

Xangan / xang·an [ZANG-uhn] {colloq. zan-GUHN}
– proper noun, plural: s
1. person who blogs on www.xanga.com
xangan / xang·an [ZANG-uhn] {colloq. zan-GUHN}
– noun, plural: s
2.blogger for the Xanga service

xangalegend / xang-a-leg-end [ZANG·guh·lej-uhnd]
–noun 
1. a nonhistorical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from xangearlier times and popularly accepted as historical because it's in the wikipedia. 
2. an inscription, esp. on a logo, or profile picture, under a jpeg as a caption, or the like. 
"With ease, he whipped multiple xangalegends for his photoblog." 
4. a table on a map, chart, or the like, listing and explaining xangology.
5. a collection of blog entries written by an admirable blogger.  
7. the person who is the writer of such blogs.
"Lord Pineapple was a xangalegend in these parts.", "When the fact become xangalegend, blog the xangalegend."

xangapoo /  xang-a-poo  [ZANG-uh-poo]
–noun Informal.
1. the crap some people put on their blogs
2. excremental content on Xanga blogs
3. uninteresting copy/pasted junk from the web inserted into a Xanga blog entry
–inransitive verb: pooed, poo·ing, poos
4. the act of putting crap on one's blog "I didn't have anything to write so I xangapooed."
suggested by Cynthia (http://closethippie.xanga.com/)

xangellish / xang-el-ish [zang-EL-ish]
–verb (used with object)
1. to decorate one's blog with blogthings, graphics, jukeboxes, animated gifs, etc.
2. to lie about a fact while blogging on Xanga. "Some Xangans cannot help but xangellish their entries."
Related forms:
xang-el-lish-er, noun

xangarelic / xang-a-rel-ic [zang-uh-REL-ik]
–noun
1. a longtime blogger on the Xanga service
2. a blogger having interest simply because of their age or association with the past, not current: "He's such a xangarelic that he doesn't even know what an ish site ish,er, is."
3. a surviving trace of something in the xangasphere
4. xangarelics,
a. remaining wit of an old and in the way Xangan
b. the remains of a dead blogger on Xanga
5. something kept in remembrance, a souvenir, "My Lifetime premium status may soon become a xangarelic."
Related forms:
xang-a-rel-ic-like, adjective 
suggested by nfp (http://notforprophet.xanga.com/)

xangabilly / xang-a-bil-ly [zang-uh-BIL-ee] 
noun, plural -lies, adjective
–noun
1. often disparaging and offensive: a backwoods Xanga blogger who uses bad language and grammar, and usually isn't well read nor understood
2. a Xangan who likes country music
3. a type of country music performed by backwoods Xangans
–adjective
4. of, like, or pertaining to xangabillies
Synonyms: xankin, xangyokel, country xangan, xick

xangicide / xang-i-cide [ZANG-uh-sahyd]
– noun, verb, -cided, -ciding.
1. the act of shutting down one's Xanga blog
2. destruction of one's own interests regarding blogging. 
"He was so upset he nearly committed xangacide, but privatized his Xanga instead."
3. a blogger who shuts down one's Xanga blog.
Synonym: xanga-kiri
– verb (used without object)
4. to delete one's Xanga blog.
– verb (used with object)
5. to kill (one's blog)
suggested by nfp (http://notforprophet.xanga.com/)

xangicide note / xang-i-cide note [ZANG-uh-sahyd noht]
– noun
1. a mass message sent to subscribers and friends right before one shuts down one's blog.

xangify / xang-i-fy [ZANG-uh-fahy]
– verb, -fied, -fy-ing.
–verb (used with object)
1. to make an idea clear or intelligible while blogging, to free up from ambiguity
2. to put a Xanga blog in a blender and hit the puree button
3  to free the mind from confusion in one's Xanga posts. "He knew he didn't have to write a novel in order to xangify his thoughts on the matter."
–verb (used without object)
4. to become clear in an entry. "That bloggers political stance xangified."
Related forms:
xang-i-fi-ca-tion, noun
xang-i-fi-er, noun
Synonyms: 
xangucidate, xangilluminate

xangitude / xang-i-tude [ZANG-i-tood, -tyood]
–noun
1. the quality of feeling grateful for having a blog on Xanga
2. the quality of feeling grateful for getting comments and friends on Xanga
3. the act of blogging about other Xangans, leaving links to their sites, and giving thanks that their blogs are so insightful and fun
Synonyms: xangappretiation, xangfulness
–noun
4. the quality of having a snide or obnoxious manner 
5. manner, disposition, feeling, postion, etc. with regard to a person or thing: "a negative xangitude"
5. an attitude of superiority: see : xmartalek
6. Ballet: a pose in which the dancer stands on one leg, the other bent behind, while posting a blog entry on Xanga.
Related forms:
xang-i-tu-di-nal, adjective
Synonyms: xangaspect, xangpose

xangophile / xang-o-phile [ZANG-uh-fahyl, -fil]
–noun
1. a person who loves or worships Xanga 
2. a person who collects content they copy/paste from Xanga blogs.
xang-oph-i·lism n., xang·oph-i·lis-tic adj.
suggested by Katie: (http://ktandie.xanga.com/)

xanimal / xan-i-mal [ZAN-uh-muhl]
–noun
1. any member of Xanga who walks about on all fours and snarls
2. a Xangan who is a living thing but not human
3. the physical, sensual, sexual, or carnal pleasure of human beings who blog on Xanga; xanimality: the xanimal inside the typical blogger.
–adjective
7. of, or pertaining to, or derived from xanimals: xanimal instincts, xanimal farts.

xoo / xoo [ZOO]
–noun
1. where most xanimals should be locked up

Xangksgiving / xangks-giv-ing [ZANGKS-giv-ing]
–noun
1. the act of giving thanks for the Xanga service
2. an expression of thanks to the Xanga Gods
3. a public celebration in acknowledgement of xangdivine favor
4. a day set aside for worshipping Xanga
5. (initial capital letter) Xangksgiving Day
6. a day set aside for eating xurkey

xangtitute / xang-ti-tute [ZANG-ti-toot, -tyoot]
– noun, verb, -tut-ed, -tut-ing.
– noun, plural: s
1. a Xangan who ingratiates themselves in order to get visits and comments.
2. a person who uses their blogging talents in a base or unworthy way, usually in order to get visits and comments.
– verb (used with object)
3. to offer oneself up as a xangtitute
4. to put to any base or unworthy use. "She xangtituted her natural talents by posing naked on XTV."
Synonyms:
xangcommentwhore, xangesan; xangollop, xumpet.

xanxiety / xangx-i-e-ty [zang-ZAHY-i-tee]
–noun, plural -ties.
1. distress or uneasiness caused by a shutdown of the Xanga service
2. A feeling of dread caused by not connecting to one's blog for an extended period of time
3. Psychiatry: a state of apprehension and psychic tension occurring when not blogging on Xanga, sometimes causing mental disorder

4. A Xanga comic by baldmike2004
Synonyms:
xfear, xforeboding, xworry, xisquiet
Antonyms:
xertainty, xerentity, xangquility
suggested by Jurgens (http://zeal4living.xanga.com/)

xmartalek / xmart-alek [ZMAHRT-al-ik]
–noun
1. one who blogs with sardonic or sarcastic humor
2. a liar or iconoclast in the xangasphere
3. an obnoxious or throroughly conceited xanga blogger
Related forms:
xmart-al-eck-y, xmart-aleck, adjective
Synonym:
xangass

xangexhaustion / xang-ex-haus-tion  [zang-ig-ZAWS-chun]
–noun
1. the act of getting tired after composing a rigorous Xanga blog entry like this one.
2. extreme weakness or fatigue, resulting in blurry vision, and the inability to type correctly
–verb (used without object)
3. the total consumption of something in the xangasphere: "I've xangexhausted my supply of xangawords for today."
suggested by Jason (http://jandjinjapan.xanga.com/)

"His Smile"
Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
May 22, 2013 9:15a.m. pdt

I met him soon after he passed an age I recently passed
I was much younger,
and felt his wisdom shine
through his smile.
He was smiling that knowing, all encompassing smile
A smile which told me he'd had a grand life
He'd enjoyed great joys
(if perhaps he suffered great traumas and loss,
nobody could know,
because his smile overcame all obstacles.)
I will never forget his smile.

Soon after we met, I lost a livelihood
He offered me another, and became not only employer,
But mentor, teacher, and friend.

He became surrogate father to my fatherless existence.
He could pave the way with reason,
and he could light the world with his smile
(Oftentimes burying my own depressions with his mirth)

He was a massive man, towering over most he encountered
He was a titan in the industry he represented
known and loved by all
Watching him in action was a joy to behold
His encouragement and joie de vivre overflowing
As I age, I hope to be as vibrant as he remained
even as the decades between us advanced.

He never grew old, only accumulated more experience
Smiling through everything
and though personal strife could rip one in his orbit nearly in twain
his smile wouldn't allow that to happen
and it never did when he was present.

He was present in my life, during almost half of it
and now he's gone.

I shall grieve his loss and I shall celebrate his influence
(and of course his smile)

What does one say about the loss of a life,
The loss of a man, and his thoughts, and his worth?
What meaning can mere words relate of ninety full years,
The culmination of a grand wonderful existence bursting forth?

The moment passes after the shock subsides
And it never really subsides, knowing even the moment
will become as months and years until we too, pass
from this mortal plane

The tears fall silently, or perhaps in a raging torrent
As the shock settles, and the moment lasts seeming forever.

The longer one lives, the more lives seem to lose their footing,
Other lives, other realities, other universes of circumstance.
One believes one is inured to death and dying after some time
And questioning "who died" becomes just another greeting
after a while

but this isn't true
Because the shock and the moment, the grief, the tears
Are always waiting around the next corner,
accompanied by the Reaper, grim as ever,
as he cuts down another life,
relaying another shock.

A friend passed into the universal consciousness this morning.

A father figure, a mentor, a hearty, hale, and jolly fellow has died.
The grand figurehead of a large and loving family
Always noticed immediately in family photos,
always smiling
always ready with a hearty laugh.

The head of the family has been cut, after almost half a decade
of suffering and pain, caused when a stroke hampered him greatly
but never seemed to tarnish the eternal sheen of his sweet smile

He smiled through his incapacitance
He smiled through the trips to the doctor, the hospital stays
The relegation of his once vibrant and creative mind to the
shadows
He suffered greatly in the end, but the suffering
never seemed to appear through the smile
and now the suffering has ceased.

I will remember the extended dialogues,
the grace always given me,
His repeated pleas "Don't go yet" when
an attempt was made to leave his office.

I want to scream "Don't go yet" but it was time
In time we all have the need to go
It doesn't stop the grief, it doesn't stop our tears
He has faded from his earthly stay
leaving a large and loving family
both familial and familiar
leaving a world a bit more lonely without him
and
leaving,
Chesire catlike, a smile
which shall never fade from memory

BEHIND THE POETRY: Jack, the President and CEO of the company for which I work, passed away this morning. We were all called into the conference room, which we still call "his office" even though he has been absent from "his office" since he was felled by a stroke about four years ago. It's almost lunch time now, and I began writing this poem on and off at 9:30am as soon as I left the conference room. Here is a photo of Jack and me at the 2010 company Christmas party.

EDIT 5/24/13 noon: Thank you everyone for the wonderful and consoling comments. As many of my regular readers know, I don't blog about work. However I have mentioned Jack in some of my "reminiscence" essays. F'rinstance: During the time I estranged myself from my ex girlfriend Pat after we broke up, but before the lease on our house expired, I had no transportation, but spent weekends back at my old digs in "the Frat house" with my (late) friends Bob and Joel. On Friday afternoons after work, I'd "carpool" to "the Frat house" with Jack and he'd pick me up on Monday mornings to take me to work. Jack's family have all read my poem and have thanked me for the sentiment. We are having the memorial at Jack's church on Memorial Day, no less. (He's a veteran of WWII) After that we're going to the family home for a "party". Our 4th of July work parties are legendary, and instead of mourning, we'll celebrate the life of this fantastic man in the manner he would most enjoy. We'll all pledge allegiance, like during the 4th of July parties, and I'm sure we'll hear Jack's booming voice joining us from the heavens. MFN/ppf

Posted: May 22, 2013 12:06 PM

 These photos were taken on my birthday, May 1st, in and around Big Bear Lake, in the San Bernadino Mountains of Southern California. The titile card shows Boulder Bay, at the south end of the lake, and superimposed on the right is one of the ubiquitous chainsaw carved bears which one finds in front of almost every shop, dining establishment, bar, and even as sentries in front of the driveways of private homes. 

 I'd been staying in my boss's cabin in Lake Arrowhead for a couple of days on vacation, went exploring, took a couple of hikes, and spent my birthday eve at Papagayo's Mexican Restaurant drinking margaritas. (Only two. I had to drive back to the cabin in the dark on twisting mountain roads.) After a pleasant warm night, I drove down to Rim of the World Highway and began the 28 mile drive, which ascended another 2000 ft up, to Big Bear Lake. This is the view of misty mountain tops from the first turnout.

On the video I took these grasses are whipping around violently in the wind, and I had to be pretty careful, lest I fall down into the abyss. I even left my cap in the car it was so windy in this area. I didn't want to lose it!

 Sorry for so many shots of this turnout area, but it was quite breathtaking. Wish the photos could give a hint of the experience of actually being there.

Along Highway 18, I pulled into the parking lot of "Rim of the World High School". I thought it was really interesting to see a high school up so far and with so great a view. Some of the vehicles in the parking lot (It was Wednesday, a school day) were neat, like this antique raised VW bug. 

Took me a couple of hours to drive the distance to the lake. (Of course I'm stopping and taking photos every 10 minutes or so!)  Here I am 10 miles away. You can barely see Big Bear Lake dead center in the photo, far in the distance. 

I turned right on Highway 38 to make a loop around the lake. Big Bear Lake is pretty big! And it was a stunning blue, with somewhat choppy whitecaps, because of the wind, which was dying down a bit. This is the south end of the lake.

I got right up next to the water, as close as possible, without falling in. I had a thought of perhaps renting a boat. Perhaps next time I take the trip. 

At the northwest corner of the lake stands the small (and I do mean small) town of Fawnskin. This shot was taken on the "main intersection" if one could call it that, between North Shore Drive and Rim of the World Highway.The building is a lodge, now shuttered, which thrived in the 20s. The fawns aren't real, just in case you're wondering. 

Across the street is Fawn Park, fronted by this covered wagon, and filled with statuary and artwork. 

Excuse me, officer. This is one of the statues in the park, from the back. 

And from the front, ready to take aim at anyone who forgets to pick up after his dog. It's a neat park, really small, like the town, but quaint and interesting. 

I shot this lakeside by the Lighthouse Trailer Park. I met a couple walking along the sand who asked me if I knew if there were any trails in the area. "First time here myself" I proclaimed. "This looked like there could be some access." We both had found one of the few areas where you don't have to pay for an Adventure Pass or parking to get lakeside. 

Here is the bridge across the lake to the City of Big Bear Lake. During the spring and summer tourist seasons (which officially began a week after I visited) this bridge is filled with fishermen. At the end of the bridge is the first stoplight I'd seen since turning off the freeway in San Bernadino a few days earlier. Big Bear Lake is a very popular tourist destination, and is the home of the Snow Summit ski resort. (which looked rather strange without snow on the ground, BTW. I neglected to snap any pics.

As you know I go out of my way not to show people in my nature shots. The fisherman is back over to the right relaxing. I asked him if anything was biting. No luck yet.

There were still some snow patches. But the weather, though a bit windy at times, was maginficent for my birthday trip. We're 7000 feet above sea level. 

An fallen log frames the lake.

In my next post (hope ya'll aren't getting tired of logs, lakes, and mountain living) I'll present some photos of these chainsaw carved bears which appear all over the place. This is a real estate office. (Lots of those in mountain resort areas.)

I had my birthday lunch at the Big Bear Sizzler. (One of the establishments at which I wanted to eat didn't take cards, only cash (although they had an ATM machine inside with a hefty service charge) and the other wasn't open except on weekends. After lunch, I drove around the remainder of the lake. This area is called Boulder Bay.

I don't know if you can actually get out to this "rock island" in the middle of the south end of the lake, but it served as a great backdrop for some photos. (The ducks got out there with no problems.) You can see the complete set of about 1000 photos I took on my "birthdaycation" on my Flickr Photostream HERE. 

Posted: May 16, 2013 7:32 AM

 This is the second batch of photos from the photo expeditions I took during my "birthdaycation" in Lake Arrowhead, CA, high up in the San Bernadino mountains. I did indicate in my last post that I had lots more photographs to siphon through, and at least two more PhotoPosts to feature these pics. (Even though I said I'm not making any promises.) We left off on April 30th in the afternoon, as I was hiking the Little Bear Creek path. These photos were taken later in the afternoon, during my second hike, to Deep Creek.

 I couldn't find a "waterfall" photo from Little Bear Creek, looks like I took one, here it is. Still about 10ish in the morning. I had to turn around, and hike back UP the canyon trail, this time I wasn't taking pictures, and I got back on the road right before noon.

 I pulled off on a turnout at the north shore end of Lake Arrowhead for a series of shots across the lake. When I got "home" to the cabin, I was tired from the first hike, and wanted to rest up for my second. I had a quick bite to eat, and then, like Goldilocks, sampled the various beds in the cabin, which can sleep up to seven. (11 including the queen sleepers in the living room!) The most comfortable place was the daybed at the top of the landing, and I settled in for a nice long nap.

My nap lasted about an hour longer than I'd planned, and as I took off toward the Deep Creek trail, which began in the general area of the first trail, except farther out in the boonies, I realized I would probably have only a few hours of daylight, depending how long it took me to get to the trailhead. It's nearing 5:00p.m. (notice the long shadows) as I pull off at the uppermost part of Highway 173.  The "road" (usage of the word is questionable) to the trailhead is only partially paved, and is one of those single lane roads where the guy driving downhill has to back up to the last turnout if he encounters someone coming up the road ahead.) "Scary" is a better word. The scary up to the trailhead was located behind one of those road size gates made of 4" pipe, with lots of chains and locks. It was open.....now, at least. I looked around. There was a cabin a ways down the street. (The photograph shows a construction site at the end of the "residential" street right before turning on to the "scary". ) So if I got back to this road from the trailhead road and the gate was locked, I could park my car on the other side of the locked gate and walk over to the cabin. (Somebody was home. I noticed when I drove by.) I'd ask if I could call (911? My auto insurance company? The forest rangers? Dudley DoRight of the Mounties?) for help. 

The construction site had this classic car at the gate. I sure hope it wasn't the remains of the last guy who found the gate to the trailhead road closed! 

It wasn't even a mile up (and down, sometimes in the same few feet) to the trailhead. This is the fork where "standard two wheel drive vehicles" go to the left and "four wheel drive and mountain vehicles" go to the right. There was nobody around. I had the dirt parking lot all to myself. I positioned my six dollar Adventure Pass on the car's mirror, locked up, slid my water bottle in my back pocket, my camera bag over my head, checked the sun's alignment, such as I could, said a small prayer, and hit the trail.

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. But here is my car in the trail "parking lot". A guy in a big pickup who I met coming out (at 7:30pm as the sun was about to set) seemed surprised that my car had gotten over the road to get here. I have a manual transmission, and never shifted out of second on the mile road in. I was in first most of the time.

The trail to Deep Creek begins off the creek, with this footbridge. 

There were lots of neat photos to take at the trailhead campground. I was amazed at the landscape. This area had almost no tall trees at all. 

The sound of the creek was very soothing. 

Looking northeast. I was standing on a small sand beach.

On the bridge shooting into the canyon. 

On the bridge looking the other way.

This photo is out of sequence somewhat. I took it crossing the creek to get to the bridge, which by the way, I didn't cross to get to the trail. I shot some photos from the bridge, my trail was to the left, and followed the creek around the canyon wall to the left, or northwest.

 Walking down from the trailhead, oak trees are alongside both sides of the trail. It's almost parklike at first. 

The sun is way over on the other side of the mountain I'm walking alongside, so these photos are pretty dark. It was an exceptionally nice time to hike. Not hot at all. The sun isn't baking overhead. However, I do like to stop every ten minutes or so to take photos, so walking 2-1/2 miles alongside the creek canyon took a bit of time. 

I loved the rock walls, and outcroppings.

 This area looked more familiar to me, more like the Angeles forest, than the pine rimmed San Bernadino forest. The hiking guidebook pointed out the disparity in landscapes in this area. Almost more of the high desert, which is further along in the north, than the "alpine" like forests of Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake. 

This outcropping I dubbed 'cap rock' since it looked like it was wearing one. 

Here I pose in my cap alongside "cap rock". 

Nobody out here landscaped the area....except for God, that is. 

Looking far down into the creek canyon (using a zoom lens) this area is called "Devil's Hole". You can't go down there. 

 If I hadn't been racing the sunset hiking into a canyon to which I'd never been, I would have been rewarded at the end of the trail, with an actual creekside area, where the guidbook proclaimed one could fish and swim. I never got down to the creek, however. Every turn had another turn around the next bend, an endless seeming hike along the side of the canyon, but I never did seem to go down into it. 

This rock reminded me of one of those Easter Island statues. 

Yet another rock outcropping. 

At one point, I stopped walking alongside the canyon wall, and the trail made a beeline right through this serene meadow. I thought maybe I was close to end of the trail, but after this, the path went up alongside the wall again, and the creek receded in the distance.

I was quite aware there were not going to be any streetlights going on after dark, so without ending the hike, I did turn around pretty near the end, packed up the camera, took another slug of my water bottle, and began walking back. Even though the Deep Creek hike was rated more advanced than the Little Bear Creek hike I took earlier in the day, it seemed easier, because even though the trail was alongside a deep canyon, the walk was pretty much horizontal and didn't have any sudden ascents or descents.

As I drove back to the cabin, I noticed there were a few clouds in the sky, and we were having one of my treasured "pink sunsets" for my "birthday eve."

I caught the last rays of the sun, casting familiar pink glow on the clouds rimming the lake. 

Just to round out the post to 30 images, here is a preview of the next Photopost. Big Bear Lake shot on May 1st, 2013.

In 2012, Catalina Cruises offered free travel to and from Catalina Island on your birthday, so I took a "birthdaycation" to Catalina when I turned 59. The trip was free but the hotel and meals still cost money. On May 1st I turned 60, and in February, our controller at work, who is a part owner of the company, asked me what my plans were for my birthday this year. I hadn't really made plans at that time, and she offered the use of the family cabin in Lake Arrowhead if I wanted to spend my birthday in the mountains. Sounded good to me. I was handed the keys on Friday, April 27th, and on Monday morning, April 29th, I began the 100 or so mile trip up into the San Bernadino mountains for a week relaxing among the tall trees.

I shot over 1000 photos (on two different cameras) and recorded about a half hour of video. I still haven't gone completely through or posted all my photos online yet. My Flickr Photostream is HERE and there are currently three themed "sets" online. Facebook allows easier photo insertion in their program than the ancient Xanga editor. When I returned on Friday, May 3rd, I immediately began posting some of my photography to my FB "Timeline" HERE. I received some instant gratification and a lot of "likes." Xanga is more problematical these days, and it takes time to create one of my "walk with me" Photoposts, but here is the first, themed to my first days at the Lakeside resort, and contains photos taken on the first of two wilderness hikes I took up into the mountains. The first photo here was taken on a turnout on the "Rim of the World Highway" (CA18) right after I got off the 210 freeway and started the ascent into the mountains.

Rolling meadows, magnificent trees, misty mountain tops.

Same turnout. Same tree. Different angle.

A boulder thrown in for good measure.

The cabin is a standard 60s style A frame. The family I work for doesn't rent it out, but lets other family members, close friends and acquaintances stay for a while. I took the whole week, returning Friday, May 3rd. This is the view from the living room area out to the deck. I like to spend time at home sitting in one of my ariondack chairs outside the mobile. I always call the area (I don't have a deck or porch) my "second living room". The weather was great, about 72 during the day and only 60 at night, so I kept the windows and doors open and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Some people live full time in the Lake Arrowhead area, but it's mostly a tourist spot during both the winter and spring/summer season. I was up there during the "off season" but it was almost summery. A perfect time and place for a week off.

Here's to ya! My first late afternoon on "my" deck enjoying a cold Corona. The deck is about 15 feet off the ground, and is fronted by spruce, pine, and fir trees. There are so many trees on the property that one can't even see the cabin from the street.

This is the front door to the cabin. Before our CEO had his stroke, he used to take "weekends at the cabin" quite a few times during the year. Now it sits empty most months, and his wife is thinking of selling it. 

The living room area right after I settled in. I hadn't yet "Mikeized" the room, moving furniture around, etc. Before I left, however, I put everything back where it was. I don't take lots of trips (yet, that is, I'm paying down my debt substantially, and plan on traveling a lot within a couple of years.) but when I do, I like to stay in one place for four or five days, so that by the end of my vacation, I'm quite familiar with the area. This really helped in the mountains. The streets are twisty turny winding up and down, and it's easy to get lost if you don't know where you're going. (I'm "old school" No GPS for the Mikester.) In no time at all, I was driving around town like a local, enjoying both my day trips, hikes, and my time "at home" in the cabin. I did take my blu ray player and a few boxed sets of movies with me, but forgot to pack the remote, so couldn't get past the menu on most of the movies. This didn't bother me, since I don't go on vacation to watch TV anyway. Between the photo trips, restaurants (I have to lose a lot of weight now!) and quality time with my Kindle, I didn't need TV.

Here's one of my first shots of the actual Lake. I visited the three major lakes in the area. (Arrowhead, Gregory, and Big Bear) I only saw one sailboat, but this was "off season" so not a lot of tourists. 

Although this looks like it could be the shoreline of a park, I'm actually shooting photos from the edge of the Lake Arrowhead Village, which is the major shopping center, with outlet stores, restaurants, and entertainment ( the stage opens next weekend, darn). Nothing like a major shopping center in Los Angeles, however. We don't have lakesides in L.A. 

Not a cloud in the sky. The vessel far out in the lake is the "Arrowhead Queen" which is a tour boat resembling an old Mississippi riverboat

After dark the first night, I took some photos of the trees alongside the deck, using only the camera's flash as a source of light. Got some interesting "art shots"

Spooky, ain't it? I didn't take any photos of the night sky, but I'm not used to seeing as many stars as one can view 7000 feet above sea level down in the Los Angeles area, that's for sure.

Here is the main street in Blue Jay, which is the closest town to Lake Arrowhead. Other towns in the area are Twin Peaks and Rimforest. A block from where I stayed, which is next to the golf course, one can still see fire damage from the 2007 Rimforest fire, which thankfully didn't get down into any of the towns of near the lake. 

 On Tuesday, the day before my birthday, I decided to take a hike. (I actually took two.) The remainder of the photos on this particular Photopost were taken while hiking the "Little Bear Creek trail" which goes right through one of the areas scorched by the 2007 fire. At first, coming out of the North Shore Campground (which was still closed, since it was off season, and was eerily vacant and serene, leaving me alone with God, nature, and the trees) the path seems like any parkland, wide and shadowy. Since the park was closed, I parked my car in the hospital parking lot across the street, and began my hike. One needs to purchase an "Adventure Pass" for $5.99 which only lets you hike for 24 hours. I took two hikes (10 miles total) that Tuesday. It was a nice day, so I wore a short sleeved shirt and jeans, but had my thick soled hiking shoes, long billed cap, bottle of water (Arrowhead brand, natch) and of course my camera bag.  

After descending a bit into the canyon on the way to the creek, the landscape suddenly gets quite strange.

The fire was six years ago, so there was new growth, partially charred trees, and trees which miraculously escaped damage. Forest rangers had cut down trees which impeded the trail.

I can remember one bus tour through Central California I took with Pat back in the 90s where the tour guide told us it is quite natural for chaparral to be destroyed by fire and revived by nature every decade or so. I remembered this as I walked along this hiking trail, which although not in the same area, gives pretty much the same kind of natural revivification. The only reason fires are deadly in California is because people build their homes in these naturally fire threatened areas. (In an almost frightening moment Thursday night, after not using the internet or reading any newspapers, I turned on the news just to see if I was missing anything of importance, and every channel was showing the Ventura fire.)

The magnificence of tall trees cannot be denied. (When I showed a selection of my photos to some of my workmates, almost everyone declared "You really do take some nice photos." 

Look one way and there's regrowth and missed destruction, and the forest looks fine.

Turn around, and it almost looks like you're on another planet. (I placed my camera on a fallen tree to get this shot.)

Each hike was 2-1/2 miles each way, or 5 miles round trip. (The only way to get back to the car is to go back up the way you came!) It took me over two hours to take each hike, but I stopped repeatedly to position my camera and shoot photos.

I'm always looking for contrasting textures in my photography, and this photo gives you lots of them. I also have a knack for shooting nature and architecture without people. (However I would at some time like to try my hand at portraiture, there is a lot of expense incurred in getting lights, shades, etc, and I don't even have a DSLR camera yet! Interesting to note that I mainly draw portraits, and photograph nature/architecture.)

On this particular hike, I think this is the most interesting tree I saw. All around is desolation and bare branches. The top of this "Christmas Tree" was miraculously left unharmed, and is majestically awaiting the return of his cousins and friends. Notice the absence of bark on the white tree to the left of the Christmas tree about an eighth of the way up.

A look upward at the same tree.

The complete inside of this hollowed out trunk was missing.

 A splash of color appears as if out of nowhere, closer to the creek.

After hiking for what seemed like most of the morning (actually roughly an hour or so) I heard, and finally found the creek, which was pretty meager, but it was amazing how there was grass and growth all around it. There were even a few small "water falls" (although for some reason I can't find my photos of them this moment, and want to get this entry posted, since I worked a good time on it, and Xanga wouldn't let me post last night.) I won't make any promises, but those of you who still follow me here might be interested to know I'll be posting more photoposts within the next couple of weeks, including my second hike, later that afternoon, to Deep Creek, which took me farther into the wilderness next to a place called "Devil's Hole", my birthday day trip to Big Bear Lake, and photos of the chainsaw carved bears one sees everywhere, created by local artists. Until then, I bid you adieu, and want to remind all of Xanga, even though I use the much easier Facebook to instantly post my photos nowadays, and even though my 8000 photos in over 100 themed folders on Webshots disappeared along with that website, I will still post these "walk with me" photo tours with commentary in the "pages" of Xanga, as long as I'm taking photos and as long as Xanga sticks around! 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Lake Arrowhead History, Lake Arrowhead Fire Reports from 2007, Full Photospread of my Little Bear Creek Hike on Flickr

Posted: May 10, 2013 7:04 AM

Two home made bombs exploded in Boston, Mass.,USA, on Monday, shortly after the Boston Marathon ended, killing 3 people. Almost immediately, with only the event and no information concerning either perpetrator(s) or motive(s), the occurrence became the latest fusilade in the "war on terror" in the U.S.

Even President Obama vowed "justice" would prevail, and the evil terrorists would be caught, tried, and punished.

It's difficult to escape the "news", speculation, and punditry two days later. Although the only real news we have is that the event occurred. Everyone has an opinion. Condolences are going out to the victims and their families. Photos of wounded bystanders blanket the internet news feeds. The phrase "Not since 9/11..." has been bandied about interminably.

Not so coincidentally, I haven't watched "TV News" since the 9/11 attacks. The tone and tenor of "the media" disgusts me. I prefer to investigate events myself using the internet as a tool. (although a lot of BS has to be waded through to get to facts.) Yesterday morning someone at work had the TV in the break room turned to more opinions and speculations on one of the morning "news" shows. I passed by without listening.

In the hours surrounding this widely reported "terrorist attack" in Boston, the world turned as usual, and the usual events kept happening in other countries, but the "media" is still reporting every conjecture they can record with their microphones and visualize with their cameras.

If I watched TV news, I'd probably be afraid to walk out the door. As it is, I keep seeing the same photos and reading the same "sound bytes" on the internet.

Bombs don't usually explode in public places in the U.S. of A. This is "news" to those of us who live here. The day of the Boston "attacks", over 30 people were killed in bombings in Iraq, and over 15 in Pakistan, but those stories are pushed to the back pages of the US media. Over the years, I have shuddered with pessimistic chagrin at the pictures of hollowed out shells of once great cities all over the world. In countries with similar sounding names, forgotten grand human achievements are destroyed daily. Two or three generations of people live (if one can call it living) day to day with the threat heavy in the air that they could be instantly killed at the bus stop, in the marketplace, or sitting in their easy chair in their own living rooms. This "way of life", or more correctly, "way of death" is business as usual for a great many in a great many places all over this earth of ours.

It's a big country here in the USA, and lots of "news" concerning "evil" intentions, individuals, and ideologies is ever present. The same day that somebody or some group planted shrapnel bombs along the route of the Boston Marathon, a guy in Orange County, CA decided to plant a bomb in his own house. His explosive suicide was trumped by the Boston events, however. It probably would have been more newsworthy if the bomb had more power, and the people next door had been killed or wounded.

So far, our great American cities haven't been reduced to the rubble one would encounter in other parts of the world, where sectarian violence, civil war, clashing ideologies, infighting, coups, etc. etc. etc. serve to create an atmosphere of continual terror and destruction. Pundits, internet philosophers, and supposed "newspeople" are always quick to tackle stories like the Boston Marathon Bombings (and supply mountains of conjecture about the causes) because they still mistakenly believe "it can't happen here."

Throughout history, one great civilization after another has grown too big for it's britches, tried to police the known world, gather it's resources, and make a place for itself in the history books. Throughout history, those civilizations have succumbed eventually to failure because of sectarian violence, civil war, clashing ideologies, infighting, coups, etc. etc. etc.

One step forward for mankind, and another two or ten steps back.

And it can happen here. It can happen anywhere. "Evil" is a part of human nature.

In the USA, bloggers and journalists are wondering who planted the bombs in Boston. We're on the edge of our seat. Some are already laying blame. Does it matter? Of course it matters that any human being who performs such a heinous act. But it ultimately doesn't matter "who" is to blame, because we might as well say "human nature is to blame." The media will continue to spotlight and endlessly dissect news events such as this, even though there are lots of good things going on in the world as well, and there are lots of neighbors in many countries around the world who actually get along with each other and help each other out.

Hopefully the perpetrators will be caught and punished. Hopefully evil will disappear in the world. However, if the first happens the second most probably won't. I may even state with possible certainty that evil will never disappear. What upsets me when I listen to the voice of reason is that the endless reporting and dissecting of evil on such a monumental scale by the media seems to incite conflicted and confused individuals to try doing the same kinds of things in order to insure they go out with a "bang" in the media. The U.S. is forever embroiled in arguments concerning the safety of it's citizens. Are there too many or too few gun controls? Should we start banning more books? Are our leaders going to help us? How about God?

It all boils down to disputed territoriality and ideologies. It always has. It always will. And each nation, each civilization, which mindlessly and unfortunately attempts to control everyone and everything in it's view, will eventually crumble from both without and within. It's happened before. The Fall of (any given) Empire is a time tested tale. The view is getting a lot larger in scope, too, when you consider how many "drone aircraft" are "targeting" "evil insurgents" in countires foreign to the U.S. (And oftentimes garnering "collateral damge" as killing innocent civilians is called nowadays.)

I don't have answers. I hope the crazies with the guns and the crazies with the bombs don't aim anything at me. But it could happen. And the voice of reason tells me it is more apt to happen when humans either can't or won't get along and consider reasoned discourse over sensationalist news reportage, biased opinionating, and quarreling with each other.

I'm sure I'll read somewhere that now marathon runners should be armed. I find it somehow ironic that initial news reports identified other marathons which were going to go on as scheduled. Terror doesn't repeat itself exactly, and evil can show up at any time.

Three people in Boston die in what will probably turn out to be an isolated incident "perpetrated" by some crazy. Big news. All over the TV.

30 or 40 people die in one of those similar sounding countries Americans hardly pay attention to and nobody notices. Business as usual.

When the media, the intelligentsia, the pundits and the duly elected leaders of the world are able to find the connecting thread between these events, then possibly the world can come to some kind of understanding. The voice of reason tells me this is still possible, even as I age, and even as the reports I receive from "the media' seem to tell a different story.

(First entry from me in a while, eh? Tx for the rex) Posted: April 17, 2013 10:15 AM