South of Sunnyside

Most blogs start with an introduction—a post that explains the author’s motivations for writing. If and when that author loses said motivations (for whatever reason), most simply fade into the web’s ever-expanding abyss, only to be found in random Google searches.

South of Sunnyside started as an exploration for me; I had blogged before starting here, but not consistently, and without focus. With the crash of the housing market I found myself trying to cope with the loss of value and potential community in my neighborhood, and I needed a way to process all that Kim and I were experiencing. Looking back over the last several months, the posts started to wane as I started to feel more and more like we were fighting a battle we just can’t win. I’ve since turned my attention outside of the neighborhood.

With the New Year comes new commitments: I avoided the typical weight loss pledges and resolved to trim the blogging fat. I’m consolidating my blogs and tidying up my web footprint.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll turn the lights out, and point everything to my latest endeavor, JamesCollier.me. All old links and content will be kept, they’ll just be under a new domain, archived with all of my current thoughts. I’ll do the same with jrcollier.com and a few other sites I’ve dabbled with.

All of this is really so I can focus more on my passions, especially Paprika Studios and TasteFresno (and maybe a new idea or two).

To those who have read and commented, thank you.

It’s good fences, right? That’s what it says in Frost’s poem, at least—though Mending Wall is hardly an endorsement of fences.

Perhaps we should define “good” when using this phrase. If the term refers to privacy, I suppose that depends on the neighborhood, after all.

But privacy isn’t all that a fence provides; it also provides visual boundaries that can used to enhance a property’s aesthetics (think “white picket” here). It can also detract from the aesthetic. Case in point: the modified barrier separating me and my next door neighbor. It’s comprised of the standard six-foot divide that the developer installed, and extended by a variety of boards, all of different heights.

Supposedly, this is to keep the neighbor’s dog from jumping, but given its age and size, I’m a bit skeptical that this feat is even possible (and he didn’t manage it in the first two months of living here).

Nonetheless, I’m at a loss of what to do; I’m not the only neighbor annoyed by the change in scenery, and I hear that I can report this as a violation, but our neighborhood hasn’t really connected as a community, and the family just reclaimed this property from foreclosure.

Perhaps it’s time to grow vines.

Since I haven’t been setting aside time to write regularly, I almost let this slip past, but Wednesday marked the end of my fifth year in Fresno, and the beginning of the next five. (Maybe.)

I could write a book about the things I’ve learned in that time (not to imply that anyone would read it), but there are a few overarching themes/lessons learned:

• No person is perfect; thus, no community of people can be perfect
• You get out of a community what you put into it (somewhere a former school teacher is smiling)
• Success is a relative concept
• Dogs make everything hairier

For historical purposes, I’ll offer a short overview of the move out here:

I was done with school—and with the South; Kim and I had been dating long distance for a year and I wanted to be closer; I had saved enough money to buy a truck, rent a trailer and fuel the 2,211 mile trek. What I didn’t budget for, however, was the expense of two (yes, 2) transmissions and an extra three nights in Elk City, Okla., where the first one left me and my brother stranded.

After five years, I’m proud to call Fresno home. Most of the time.

I’m usually one to skip the birthday fanfare, but this isn’t about me, it’s about something far greater: this blog. Yep, a year ago today I posted the first post, embracing my own quirks coolness personality and sharing with the world my experiences as a homeowner, husband, neighbor, person.

Come to think of it, I’m not sure I do any of those things well…

Perhaps that’s something to explore in the next year. In the mean time, I’ve outlined a few of my favorite posts from the last. Since many are about my awesome bike (see the first post referenced above), and our city leaders are trying to make Fresno a more bike-friendly community, I’m also opening up a photo contest. Details of both are below.

Favorite posts:

• Found: Used underwear
• Boarded Windows Theory
• Things your mother shouldn’t know…
• You’re fat, and your vacuum sucks, too
• When dogs attack (the house) – see here for a balanced perspective
• An open letter to Danil Monteleone – try searching for his name
• Of cities and nose rings
• Skype call girls

Photo competition:

One of the frustrations I’ve found in using my bike for transportation is that many public places don’t provide adequate facilities for locking it up. I’ve had to MacGyver a few, and I’m curious to see what others have done. Email me a photo* of your bike—I suppose it could belong to someone else—locked to something out of the ordinary, and I’ll post it for others to vote on**. The winner will receive a shiny gift certificate to the bike shop of his or her choice.

* By emailing the photo, you’re claiming you have the right to do so, and giving me permission to post it. Please don’t include photos of naked people on your bike.

** If the winner is blatantly obvious, I reserve the right to make the selection. It’s my party, and I’ll blog if I want to.