Yesterday, something amazing and wonderful happened to my best friend. His internet forum got its millionth registered user. Considering that this forum is in a small country (Serbia) and that it started with a free domain and web hosting back in April 2002 in his bedroom, it’s come a long way, baby.

I am so proud of my friend and his accomplishment with this forum. Through the years, eight and a half long, grueling years, maintaining this forum as it grew to monster proportions has taken its toll physically, mentally and emotionally. But he’ll admit, maybe, that it’s all been worth the ride.

In fact, it was his essay in an online community that first caught my eye, that first exposed me to this amazing man. From that fateful post:

You get a chance to start, with your basic web skills, some website. Someone decided to award you with domain and hosting, [so] you give it a try. You create an internet forum so all your friends from all over the world can meet and talk to each other…. Your community grows[;] you build some reputation among IT people…. [Y]ou start spending enormous amounts of time working around your community[;] you place all your energy in that one spot [] and finally make something good. [S]till no one says good about your work but you know that your users are grateful for every second you spend helping them.

[I]t grows[;] it becomes the biggest free cafe forum in your country[;] bigger than all those who had all kind of support…. [Y]ou work to cover expenses and then work to help it grow…. Your forum reaches abnormal number of visits and … users for a country in which [only] 2-4% of people use computers…. [E]ven though you are considered Don Quixote[,] just this time fighting web windmills….

From a recent article about this milestone (loosely translated from Serbian to English):

Internet community Burek.com yesterday welcomed its millionth member after nearly nine years of existence. Burek.com since 2002 successfully combined web space of the former Yugoslavia with the idea that its members freely share their experiences without cultural or historical barriers….

Topics that are represented in the forum include the internet, information technology, digital art, telecommunications, gaming, music, current events, television, politics, religion, history, psychology, art, literature, science, military, sports and more….

Since 2005, Burek.com has been available on mobile phones and is among the most visited mobile destination in Serbia with the trend increasing.

To me, one of the most amazing things about this is that my friend was merely 16 years old when he started this forum. And through all those years, he’s tended it, made it grow, shed countless drops of blood, sweat and tears, promoted it, felt like throwing in the towel on many occasions, and yet, he persevered. And has much to be proud of today. Ivan, I am so proud of you, your forum, and all that you have accomplished and will continue to accomplish. But more than that, I am so very proud to be your friend. Good work, old chap. Keep it up!

The greatest works are done by the ones. The hundreds do not often do much, the companies never; it is the units, the single individuals, that are the power and the might.

~~ Charles H. Spurgeon

I didn’t write about this when it first happened because quite honestly it really bothered me. But Friday before last (December 10 to be exact), when I was coming home from the office around 11:15PM, I hit something on the freeway. Jesus please us, it sounded like I ran over a cinderblock. I thought sure my car was jacked up from whatever it was. Just minutes before that, on the freeway interchange heading onto the Gulf Freeway from Jefferson Street (it’s a bit of a leg of freeway that goes up and around the freeway, then dips back down to a Y intersection and you can bear left to head toward the Univ. of Houston or bear right to enter the Gulf Freeway), I saw the signs ahead illuminated. I looked in my rear view mirror to see a truck behind me in traffic with his bright lights on. I briefly thought, “What’s he doing that for?” when BAM! I hit this cinderblock. As soon as I got onto the freeway (which was the only thing I could do at that point), I took the first exit. The car seemed fine, so I made a U-turn and got back around and up onto the freeway so I could see what the hell it was that I hit.

Parts of the freeway were under construction (as they always are in Houston) and we’ve always got big rigs (18-wheelers) going up and down the freeways. They’re always losing tires and you see those tire remnants all along the highways. Depending on how they come off the truck, how big they are and what kind of car you have, they can be very dangerous — even deadly. I figured that had to be what I hit.

It was dark and I don’t have the best eyesight, especially at night, and I couldn’t really see what it was. It looked like a duffel bag or a medium size dog. (Thankfully it wasn’t a human — we have a lot of idiots who attempt to cross our freeways here, always without success.) It made me sad to think that I’d hit an animal. And I chided myself for not paying better attention, for looking back instead of ahead. That must have been why the truck behind me put his high beams on.

When I got home, I got out of the car and walked all the way around it, certain there would be SOME telltale sign of damage, a dent, hair, blood, something. Nope. Clean as a whistle. When Monday night rolled around and I was again on the way home, as I drove by, I noticed the damn thing was still on the side of the road. That’s really odd, because the City usually cleans up roadkill pretty quickly. And every day that week, as a testament to my carelessness, I drove past that spot, and there it still lay.

I told Robert about it and also told my co-worker. I thought it was weird that it was still there after so many days. I kept telling myself to go back there during the day to see what it was. By this time I was thinking maybe it wasn’t a dog. Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me. After all, I didn’t hear anything when it hit. No yelp, no nothing. It literally felt like I’d hit a cinderblock.

So every night that I worked (up to and including last night), the thing was still there on the side of the road. This is a busy section of freeway. Why hasn’t the City been out? So on the way home from the doctor’s office yesterday, I had Robert in the car with me. I deliberately took a path that would lead me down that stretch of road to get home. I asked him to check as I drove by. This was killing me and I had to be sure what it was that I had hit. With him riding shotgun, he had a better vantage point — and much better eyesight. And it was daylight.

So we drove by and sure enough, it was a dog. A dog about the size of that bull terrier we fostered a few months ago. But then Robert mentioned something else to me. He speculated it was already dead when I hit it. That would explain the way it felt when it went under the car, that there was no screaming or yelping, no blood, no fur. So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I was reading Robert’s owner’s manual for his new wheelchair. When I came to this section, I just knew I’d be mentioning it here. There are actual instructions for how to pop a wheelie, and extra instructions for an assistant to help the wheelchair rider to learn to do something like that. But first, some preliminary checks. Directly from the manual:

Doing a “wheelie” means balancing on the rear wheels of your chair, while the front casters are in the air. It is dangerous to do a “wheelie” as a fall or tip-over may occur. However, if you do it safely, a “wheelie” can help you overcome curbs and other obstacles.

The manual advises a person should “[c]onsult your doctor, nurse or therapist to find out if you are a good candidate to learn to do a ‘wheelie.’”

That nearly made me burst out laughing. I told Robert there’s one test to see if you are a good candidate for a wheelie, and it’s this:

1. Look down.
2. Do you see a pair of balls there?
3. Then you can go ahead and do the wheelie.

Nuff said.

Anthony Adams, a former California State Assemblyman, was quoted as saying salvia can make you do incredibly crazy things. And on the heels of the Miley Cyrus bong scandal (which seems to have everyone in a dither except Miley herself), he’s now renewing efforts to get legislation passed in California to make salvia a Class I Controlled Substance, along with LSD and marijuana. That bill was voted down in 2007 and Adams compromised on selling salvia only to adults.

To all this I say to Anthony Adams: You think salvia can make you do crazy things? Think of all the crazy and deadly things people have done — and continue to do — under the influence of alcohol. Where is your righteous indignation there? Take a look at the title of this post if you really want to know what I think about it.

Every time the new year rolls around, I am naievely hopeful. Hoping that the coming year will be better than the one before it. Generally they are, as all forward movement is usually a good thing.

But I can honestly say that when I ring out 2010, I will be kicking it’s ugly behind right out the back door. This was a year of quite a few profound losses for me. My cat, a few web design clients and an old beau. The economy is still slumping, and while I’m glad I still have my job to whine about, there were more cutbacks there as well. So 2011 by default has gotta be better than 2010.

Goodbye, 2010, I won’t be sorry to see you go. But I am sorry to see these folks gone…

• My beloved cat, Sunny
• My old beau, Leighton
• Michael Rowles, a Pixelita client
• John Martin, a Pixelita client

First of all, I’ve resurrected my holiday skin, which I call “Deck the Blog.” And here’s some music to get you in the mood.

I haven’t talked much about this to anyone until now. I have been coasting along for at least the last two years pretending I don’t have diabetes and while that was going on, I was thumbing my nose at it, thinking that if I deny it I don’t have to deal with it, it doesn’t exist, I’ve beaten it. And nothing is farther from the truth. The truth is, it’s kicking my ass right now. When it gets to the point that Robo is concerned, and I’m even concerned, seriously, then I need to do something. So … I called my insurance company this afternoon to switch to Robo’s primary care doctor (who treats his diabetes). The upside to that is we can both go and be seen at the same time, AND I am assured that I will at least see the doctor twice a year if not more often. I have a co-worker who is also diabetic and she’s been nagging me nearly to death. But the kicker was the condition of one of my toes, and the fact that I have been pretty much unable to wear all the cute shoes I have because I cannot feel my feet in them (the slides, platforms) and will likely tumble out of them, and the others (closed toe shoes and pumps) just don’t fit anymore. Now I’m not going to be happy if I have to wear old lady shoes, but I’ll be less happy if I have no feet to put any shoes on — ugly shoes or otherwise. So it’s time for my reality check. It’s time to stop indulging my very bad eating habits. To start taking this disease seriously. I kicked a disease once (cancer), and I will do it again.