albert
Albert is "the little boy" aka "the grumpy old man". He is our 11 year old Boston Terrier who considers himself the big man of the house (when I'm not here) to keep the bitches in line. Albert is also an award-winner with multiple titles in Obedience and Agility. He's pretty proud to have his own website too. Albert is just about the best dog to ask for: smart, intelligent and like me, motivated by food. He spends most of his days like this: sleep-eat-play-sleep-sleep-play-sleep-bark-eat-sleep-play-sleep. Pretty cushy if you ask me... Albert was named after jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler.

gypsy
Gypsy is "the big dog" aka "butthead". She is our 10 1/2 year old Doberman Pinscher and although her ferocious bark tries to prove otherwise, is a real creampuff. That doesn't mean that she won't bite you in the ass or any other appendage she can reach if you break in to our house, but once she knows that you're "ok" then she'll be like Velcro™ and stick to your side. Gypsy is suffering from a weakened heart muscle (which is sometimes inherent in Dobies) and spends a lot of time sleeping and being a couch potato. 24 months ago, the heart vet gave her 6-8 months to live. He was delighted to see her still going strong a few weeks ago. Gypsy was named after the Gypsy on Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

maggie
Maggie is "my little baby" aka "Cujo". She is our 3 year old Boston Terrier. Because she was an only puppy and had to grow up with 12 full-grown Boston Terriers, she has somewhat of a survival mean-streak sometimes. The first few weeks of having her here resulted in much band-aid usage (ours, not hers...). She gained her Championship a fw months ago and now she's truely the "Princess" of our dog family. She is now tackling Obedience and Agility much to Janet's chagrin, at times.. She is also a burrower and we often find her underneath the covers at the foot of our bed. We think that she might be an alien that doesn't need air to survive. Maggie and Albert tolerate each other. Gypsy and Maggie are best pals. Maggie was named from her registered name which is Abba's Magnetic Attraction.

the big show, whine, rena and she who shall not be named
Our motorcycles. The 2001 BMW K1200LTI, the 1993 BMW K75S, the 1982 Honda V45 Magna, and the 1991 Kawasaki Ninja 250. The K1200 is an 800 pound bike...'nuff said. The K75 engine tends to whine a bit and her fairing is wine colored. Rena is named after "renal failure" which is how I felt riding her with her old shock absorbers (she has new ones now). Janet's bike's name is still a mystery but it make her butt look like it's going fast.

howard
I have known Howard since college, in other words, a long time. I consider him one of my small handful of best friends. We have a lot of things in common most notably cooking, food, motorcycles and loud, fast music. Oh and tattoos. We used to put out a punk rock fanzine called "Forget It!", we've been to countless shows by The Go-Go's (who the fanzine was named after) and used to hang out in the pits at the sprint car races at a local speedway.

les
Les and I used to do a radio show, on KFJC-FM in Los Altos Hills, called The Hellfire Club. We met at the radio station and became pals read quick-like. As with Howard, we have a lot of things in common. Music is on the top of that list and The Hellfire Club was a celebration of the most out-there "music" possible: music that challenged the conventions of what was "alternative" but ultimately bland. Les lives in LA and works for a major record company. We took a trip to Tokyo in the fall of 2002 together and I showed him a good time by playing tour guide.

bill and palma
These are my parents and really, I couldn't ask for cooler ones. They put up with me while I was growing up and managed to keep their sense of humour about them through pierced ears, black hair dye, punk rock and motorcycles. They're both retired now and live close by which is, as you could imagine, a blessing and a curse.

kimiko
Kimiko is Janet's mom. As with most moms, she provides us with plenty of interesting experiences. 'Nuff said. We (her and I) practice English and Japanese on the phone which leads to some hilarious hi-jinks.

tom and carol
Tom and Carol both work in the computer industry and I have worked with both of them at a few different companies. Tom's hobby used to be programming but it turned into a job so now his hobby is semi-professional cooking. And damn, does he do his hobby well. He spent 6 weeks at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) a few years ago. Although he was a great cook before going to the CIA, he's even better now. For several years I have served as his sous-chef for the two large parties he has each year in which he cooks for his friends: in the summer and around his birthday in December. I always look forward to cooking at these events--they are always lots of fun and filled with hard and satisfying work. Check out http://www.poubelle.com/birthday2000.html for some photos of one of his events. BTW, that lamb dish was prepped, cooked off and plated by me!
Carol and I have photography in common. For about a year now, we've been threatening to start working together as soon as we can find a well-lit (sunlight) barn or old Victorian mansion. Maybe we'll do an exhibition some day...

neville and jane
I met and worked with Neville at WebTV (who was then bought by Uncle Bill and the Evil Empire) as co-managers for the WebTV Japan project. Neville is my main link to aikido as he introduced me to it and encouraged me to give it a try. Both Neville and Jane have been doing aikido for many years and are very experienced. Jane has been teaching classes in aikido as well and in fact, I look forward to her classes at our dojo. Neville teaches too but in the style of his (and my, albeit unofficial) sensei, Takeda Yoshinobu Shihan who has his dojo in Higashi-Totsuka (near Yokohama) in Japan. Neville holds a "study-group" twice a month at a local dojo which I sometimes attend. Neville's favorite saying is, "ii-naaaaa" (say eee-nahhh) which means "oh that's great isn't it" in Japanese.

soma-san
When I first met Soma-san, I only had the chance to get to know him for about 10 minutes. Two years later, I was highly and strongly recommending him to be the manager of QA at WebTV Japan. Why? I just knew that he'd be great. And he was. Since we kind of reported to each other (I was his counterpart here), we became good friends. Soma-san is pretty laid-back though and not too much fazes him. He's hilarious in a usually unintentional way which makes him a joy to hang out with. He and his wife Kazumi are rabid X-Files fans (as am I) and so I used to send him tapes of freshly aired episodes (which his local video store in Japan doesn't get for 9 months after the season is over...). They also love cold weather and made a semi-legendary trip to Alaska a few years ago which yielded some excellent photographs. Although we both no longer work for WebTV and have remained best friends. We always have a great time together whether here in California or in Tokyo.

kaba
I worked with Kaba (Kabata-san) who also worked in the office at WebTV Japan. She was Donna's counterpart (see below) in Tokyo until she left the company. She lives and works in Tokyo, with her husband Tai, as a usability specialist. Kaba and I have had some amazing conversations as she knows tons about Japanese history and a lot of other things too, plus she's real fun to just hang out with. She speaks perfect English as well and cuts me a ton of slack when I try to speak Japanese, which I don't do very well yet. She is my partner in crime in the "cool places to go" in the Japan section of the turbine.com website. Kaba and Tai are among my best friends in Japan and I jump at the chance to see them whenever I can.

andy and suszi
I met Andrew Todd McFadden when I worked at WebTV. To me (and many others) he is known simply as "Fadden" (which bugs the hell out of his mom). At first Fadden scared the hell out of me because he is so freakin' smart and really doesn't put up with any crap...but after I got to know him, he has become one of my best friends. We also braved the "reality distortion field" together by working at a company called "Rearden Steel" (aka MOXI) for over two years. At first it was a blast but by the end we were both glad to be rid of it. We ate one hell of a lot of lunches together during those two years and we both did buckets-full of commiseration (some of which ended up in Brutal, imagine that...) We also have martial arts in common: he a jiu-jitsu practitioner and me an aikido-ka. We used to teach each other moves at work just for grins. Now Suszi is the love of Fadden's life and they recently were married--hey, and I got to be one of the groomsmen...nice. I'm not sure Suszi knew what she was in for when we all met for the first time but I do remember the word "porn" being strewn about with reckless abandon. I'm sure she was shocked beyond all belief. Since then, we've grown to be good friends and just the three of us have so many common interests (and just as many uncommon ones...) that it's always a blast to get together and just chat the night away. And more often than not, the work "porn" is quickly mentioned and then we move on...

don and amy
I met and worked with Don at Apple Computer in 1990. We spent the next 10 years following each other around to different divisions and companies. In the Apple OS group, to the Newton group, to WebTV, to Rearden Steel and back to Apple. We have shared offices, shared lots of laughs and shared our share of frustrations, tears and..., um, layoffs. Don was the first friend that I even had to layoff and he was so incredibly gracious about the whole even to the point of having lunch with me (and Fadden) the same day and telling me that "things would be ok". Don and I also share a love for BMW cars although he chooses to learn how to race them; I'm simply content to avoid CHP radar but drive as fast as I am comfortable in them. Aw hell, both of us drive fast. Period. Amy is married to Don and at one point we all worked at WebTV which is where I met her. Amy is quite the adventurous cook so we have quite a time talking about cooking and eating food. Like Andy and Suszi, it's always a blast to get together with Don and Amy. It's even better with the six of us.

shelley
I met Shelley on one of my many trips to Japan. Shelley spent five years teaching English in Japan before returning to the UK where she was born. I was introduced to her by my former business partner Juntaro. Much to his chagrin, Shelley and I hit it off famously. So famously that she did a music/dance performance with me as my live debut (and first-ever live show) in Japan. Go here and read about it. Shelley lives smack in the middle of the UK with her friend Richard and works at a university doing editing.

donna
I also worked with Donna on the same Japanese product at WebTV. Donna is a usability expert and sees an endless parade of people fiddle, fuss and try to figure out what her company's interface designers are up to. Donna is one of the coolest people I know and is very patient and levelheaded even when I phone her up ranting about this and that. It stands to reason that her advice is usually spot-on and she has bailed my psyche's butt out of more than a few jams. She is married to a poker-playing, all-around nice guy named Andre.

brian
Brian works in the computer industry, as do I, but I met him at the radio station. He, Les and I tended to gravitate to one another there. Brian is just plain fun to hang out with. Brian and I are quite adept at working the crap tables in Vegas. especially at 5 am in the morning. We also "eat like men" (don't ask...) on a semi-regular basis. When Les joins us, it's like a bacchanal.

dana and barbara
I met Dana through my friend Dan. Dana has been a musician for quite a long time and was in a few local (San Francisco) bands. One of his claims to fame is starring in a porn movie in a non-sex role. He played in the band playing at a night club where a scene took place. Barbara has been with Dana for many years and they recently got married. Barbara speaks and cooks French. She even answers the phone in French and sometimes I think I'd just call them up to hear her answer the phone. Dana and Barbara moved to Oregon (where Dana grew up) from San Francisco a few years ago. Check out Dana's website at http://www.braintransfer.org.

jonna
I met Jonna while working at a startup company 10 years removed. She worked in Human Resources and I was the manager of a somewhat troubled QA group so we spent a lot of work time together. After I quit twice (!) in the same year, we became good friends. Jonna's an interesting person because I think that she is one of those people who, at first glance, looks very by-the-book proper but is a real wild person inside. Jonna and I have perfected the art of whining and going out for conversation over dinner.

pam
Pam was my first manager at that company named after a piece of fruit. Once I moved to another group and did not work for her any more, we became good friends. Not that we weren't good friends before--I just put the work relationship first in those cases. Over the years, we have become quite close, confide in each other and see each other at least once a month to eat Persian food. Well, sometimes it's not Persian but you get the picture. Pam started her own consulting company from scratch and still works in the computer industry.