Welcome to Warrrreagl's Reasons to Live in Alabama

*cue Whitesnake*

"Here I go again on my own..."

Welcome to my incredibly self-indulgent presence in the blogosphere. I don't know why anyone would want to read what I write, but I know that I enjoy writing. Although writing is hard work, I love doing it, and I can't deny its soothing properties for me.

I think some history would help. Way, way back "in the day," my wife and I were captured by the Yankees and held prisoner of war in Iowa for three years from 1994-1997. I worked three jobs (Iowa State University, Ames Community Schools, and Cochrane Realty) and my wife worked three jobs (Iowa State University, Ames Research Park, and Murphy Family Farms). We worked all six of those jobs simultaneously, because it was one of the main things we could do to avoid going completely nuts up there. The only contact we had with the outside world was this new thingy called "internet" and we actually PAID for the software from Wal-Mart to sign up for America Online, or AOL. From AOL, we were able to have extended, intelligent conversations with other people about things that truly mattered - SEC football. My wife created the online account with AOL, and she was forced on the spot to think of a screenname with 10 characters that would serve as our permanent account name. She came up with "warrrreagl" which is a corruption of the Auburn Tiger Battle Cry of "War Eagle," and she spelled it with four "r's" because she needed all of them to make up the 10 characters. And warrrreagl was born.

Our next stop along the levels of hell took us to Starkville, Mississippi for 7 years (1997 - 2003). While there, I became a nearly-charter member of an online community called TFP - the Tilted Forum Project. I found TFP through Fark, and I became a member of TFP in its second iteration. The first version was created in 2002 and crashed, and I became a member of the second iteration that crashed in April, 2003. Then, I made sure I signed up for the third iteration, which began life in April, 2003 and has been going sort-of-strong ever since. On TFP, my screenname was warrrreagl, and I loved the shit out of that site for several years. Over time, the site owner jumped the shark, and brought in a veritable Mariel Boatlift of batshit crazy newbies, who quickly proceeded to chase off all of us old-timers who built the site to its classic greatness. During my time on TFP, my wife joined up as Grancey, and we moved to the Promised Land of the great state of Alabama, where we remain to this day. Grancey is still online at TFP, by the way.

When I left TFP, I found a new home called Listverse (originally List Universe), which was a site of daily Top 10 lists that contained a forum as part of the overall structure. Although I hated the comments portion of the Top 10 lists, I loved the forum. It was fresh, new, and reminded me a hell of a lot of the old TFP with its vibrancy and terrific sense of humor. I created a journal of sorts called "Top Reasons to Live in Alabama," which was a take-off of one of the Top 10 lists that might be submitted to the Main Site. Eventually, it was renamed "Sweet Home Alabama." Over time, the most colossal wet blanket I've ever encountered anywhere on the internet named "Randall" slimed his way onto the Listverse Forum and began looking for reasons to become outraged. He found a good one in me. Since I am Southern, he got lathered up about an image of the Confederate flag that I posted in a thread I created about flags. Sadly, the site owner at Listverse was too impotent to take a stand one way or the other as Randall's character assasinations mounted and fractured the cherished family at Listverse, and the nastiness festered openly. So I left.

I tried a return to TFP, because I needed a place to talk to people and write, but you can't go home again. So I left TFP again (Grancey is still there, though).

After six months of wandering in the wilderness, I am here. Many of the things I wrote about on TFP and Listverse will probably be repeated here, but I don't care. The Reasons to Live in Alabama never get old to me. They are precious each time around.

And I am home to stay. Welcome.