cast of characters

people are going to be woven in-and-out of this story in the same way that they're woven into my life. here's who's who in continual car land:

automotive fascist: friend of my brother.

b1-67er: my brother, the world's best mechanical engineer.

birdhead: former employee, current conspirator, polterzeitgeist productions insider. coding genius.

cap'n happy: former employee, misanthropist, self-proclaimed expert of everything.  he also has his bad points.

chickory: silicon valley insider whom i know from the (f)red dinner. exceedingly nice and soft spoken -- both extremely unusual traits in silicon valley long timers. probably due to the fact he's a vegetarian.

dear hunter (sic): sexy cousin of an old college roommate and therefore an ex-girlfriend. former chrysler employee. current chrysler hater (and power mustang driver).

fat paulie: former co-worker at apple. now handheld electronics millionaire. he's not fat.

(f)red dinner: not a person, but an event. this is a monday night dinner that has been happening between silicon valley insiders for about 20 years. takes place at a cool retro-diner in palo alto. rotating cast of characters.

grumpy: former co-worker at apple computer. was life-threateningly sick, now quite a bit better. his health is directly proportional to his meanness. close friend of thumpy.

the grumbler: former colleague.  apple bigot.  generally delivers light misanthropy with a side-dish of divine insight.

instigator: long-time acquaintance, big time trouble-maker (by baiting others in conversation). currently works on ipod/itunes at apple.

karpov: national caliber actuary. misfit. legendary 2-fisted gambler and drinker. simultaneously self-assured and dull. he too also has his bad points.

king feddy (aka feddy): close friend. best programmer i know. former head of the (f)red dinner -- back before it had parentheses.

Mr. C: retired chrysler employee. a good friend. the very best kind.

pamila: important person i know.

radioactive dave: owner of my original del sol and proprietor of the boars' nest.

the robot: pal, business partner and owner of a house i often crash at in las vegas, NV.

thumpy: former co-worker and direct report at apple computer. close friend of grumpy.

zz (or z): pal. maker of large statements that may or may not be true and he may or may not remember them in the future. all statements from him need to be filtered. may not currently be speaking to me. not the first time.