Good Afternoon,

I can't explain how excited I am to have my hand in the near final touches on this comprehensive site. I have been spreading myself far too thin managing a MySpace Page, a Flickr Account, and Google Documents - while leaving behind a LiveJournal that I haven't looked at in months. (I have to get back to it and see how my life has changed - my first post was Aug. 2nd, 2004 | 01:23 pm.) This doesn't include the five (5) email accounts that I will continue to check daily.

My FIRST "BLOG" is to discuss my gratefulness for my dear friend Bruce - a man who has worn many hats throughout my development and holds the esteemed position and all rights and responsibilities of being my Big Brother honoris causa.

In terms of that age-old aphorism - in that one can pick their friends and does not have the ability to choose one's family - I am the antithesis of the norm. I don't have a brother by birth and while Duncan may be my brother from another mother...we get each other into too much trouble [read: have too much fun] for him to be my Big Brother. Bruce is the Best Big Brother I could have chosen and while he won't qualify for social disability, as a result...he's always available and I know that his benefits package isn't adequate to his outlay of self.

Speaking of these hats! This is a short list of the prominent roles that he has filled since I was the wee age of 13:

• Etiquette Coach - in all aspects - including and not limited to social, professional, political and general life skills.
• Career Advisor
• Technology Expert
• Web Designer of this site.

Bruce (and his partner Chris) and I have many stories to share and one of my favorites is about my Dad and him, just around the time that I met Bruce. Some time, ask me about the story of my father's enlistment of Bruce when they were "seeing into my future."

I am extremely proud of him and his work - here and in helping me grow - and the knowledge that was employed in order to get to this point in our development. He's truly an artist and I am happy to be, in many important ways, one of his works in progress.

Stay tuned.

AJ