(1) The oldest circle are friends I have in my birth state of Michigan. I don't see them often, but it's good to see them when I visit the Wolverine State.

Victor "Tory" Konstant
"Sin is in, and so we begin..."
Victor is getting both a master's degree and a law degree at the University of Michigan; he is connected to the European Union Center at the University of Michigan. Technically, Victor is my oldest friend; he and I were pals at two years of age. (We had to be told by our parents that we were friends.) We lost track of each other when my family moved to Florida, then we reconnected in May 1997. Victor is the only person I know who has received a violation notice from the Federal Election Commission. That and he keeps kosher too!

Dan Harold
"Your heart is free... have the courage to follow it."
We're friends primarily because his dad and my dad are such good friends. He's a lawyer at Morganroth & Morganroth, due to graduation from the University of Michigan Law School in 2000. We love football...

Jeremy Weiss
"Macintoshes aren't that bad!"
Again, I'm friends with him because his dad and my dad are such good friends. He's a dedicated and loyal white Republican banker [my emphasis, thanks to George Carlin] at Michigan National Bank, and both of us love the Detroit Red Wings.

(2) In a twenty-year span, I grew up and went to college in Florida, and so I have many friends in the Sunshine State.

Ben Ostrowsky
"Nathan Hale said it best when he said, 'I regret that I have only one * for my country.'"
He's been an English major, a math major, a published and paid author of smut, and my former roommate at the University of Florida, where he received a bachelor's degree in linguistics before getting a master's degree in library science from the University of South Florida. He is a vegetarian, a geek, a bibliophile, a married man, an employee of the Tampa Bay Library Consortium, a pacifist, and an ordained minister. He aspires to be a librarian, a bastard operator from hell, a chef, and a 900-year-old cyborg. He's called me a raconteur: one who tells stories and anecdotes with skill and wit. I appreciated the comment. Both of us developed an interest in a cappella music, independent of each other; I guess great minds think alike. (Then again, stupid minds think alike too -- because very little runs through stupid minds in the first place. But I digress.) Ben was my best man at my wedding, and he returned the favor; he asked me to be a groomsman at his wedding in June 2004. I said yes, natch. The wedding was a lot of fun.

Michael de la Peņa
"Epic Burritos!"
A video game junkie with a computer science degree and a musician's heart... he loves to listen to electronic music while living and working in Los Angeles. Just don't ask him how to dial a special 1-800 number to get all your long distance for free.

Todd Vierling
"I wanna be an astronaut!"
His news about the computer industry is so fast, it scares me. He can write Perl blindfolded. Todd's a great person; he has demonstrated to me what true friendship is. I will never forget the terrific trip I took with him to Houston for Spring Break in 1996.

Adam Marcus
"What's that joke about people never remembering anything?"
The only technical writer I know who loves Less Than Jake. (Then again, I don't know many technical writers in the first place...) It's funny -- we both gave up the Jewish faith, but he still walks into a synagogue once a year due to family pressures... and I don't even do that anymore (unless I'm invited to a bar/bat mitzvah or a wedding). He finished graduate school at Georgetown -- Hoya Saxa! -- and is busy as hell at Santa Clara University School of Law.

Debby Rostorfer
"Anything is possible."
A sweet and poetic sprite of an artist -- not to mention a running addict. Debby is a good friend from my Gainesville days... a Gemini workin' girl at SAK Comedy Lab in downtown Orlando. Merci!

Marty Gold
"FloridaFloridaFloridaFLORidaFLORidaFLORIDAFLORIDAGEORGIA! Woo-hoo!"
Marty is a remarkably kind, accomodating, and thought-provoking music addict. Marty did a LOT of traveling before college... and then he joined the University of Florida Fightin' Gator Marching Band! Additional travel for football road games and basketball tournament games; hearing "ROAD TRIP!" ain't new to him. After his Bachelor of Music Education, he earned a Master of Music from Indiana University, and... get this... JOINED THE ARMY. (Well, he auditioned for an army band... and he was accepted!) After several weeks of hell in boot camp, he is thinner... and plays bass clarinet for the U.S. Army Concert Band. He recently bought a house, and he just got married!