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March 31, 2004

Mad About Al

Note: What's really funny is that I edited out most of this post, then I suppose I forgot to save the edits. The hell with it, I'm leaving it as is!

This is an official Virtual Friend Appreciation Moment.

There's something about Al.

I've come to know a bit about him since the day I asked his permission to link to a bear photo on his site. I've no idea what it is, but Al is my kind of guy. Don't misunderstand, I mean that in a nice, friendly way and not in a teenager/crush/obsessive/fatal attraction manner. He strikes me as someone you instinctively know you'd get along with in person. Al isn't about playing the blog game. He's not interested in the whole A-Lister brouhaha though he's certainly up on all of it and he isn't an A-Lister-Ass-Kisser. He's no-nonsense, intelligent, and when the spirit moves him, he spins out stories that leave me wanting more.

Al's site changes like the seasons of the year. Recently I noticed yet another iteration of Al's personal site at the fulton chain address. I've followed the changes and have developed a true appreciation of his aesthetic applications, variety of layouts and technical know-how. He's helped me out of many blogjams in the time I've come to know him. (As I stated in a post last year: Al, you da man!)

I'm forcing myself to stop this before I begin to sound like a blubbering idiot or worse, a love-struck puppydog. Here is just another reason why I'm such big a fan of Al's -- he tells it like it is.

"You're not going to see links to other weblogs who are linking to other weblogs who are linking to the NY Times (read the Times yourself). You're not going to see the weather in my town (you donít care and I can look out the window). What you might see is some truth. Not the truth about the war in Iraq or the latest tech fad, but the truth of what it is like to raise three children in an absolutely gorgeous community in the middle of nowhere. This personal site is going to become a lot more personal and for most, duller than watching grass grow. But I may learn something along the way and thatís what Fulton Chain is really about. Me."

Cindy