I sorta like it when you call me Big Papi

Hi. My name is Ryan. As far as you're concerned.

If you know me, then that's cool. The stuff I type will make a lot more (or a lot less) sense. If you don't know me, then you probably don't know Coovo or Roller either, since we never go anywhere without each other. That's right, we put the "man" back in mani-pedi.

So, Coovo and Roller have gotten a great blog up and running for some time now. The load of writing is oddly heavy over time, and they've branched out to me to see if I couldn't lend a hand. Happy to do so. You know, the Chinese say, "Even a piece of paper is lighter when lifted by two people." Or I guess in this case, three people.

And, to be clear without being totally transparent, I live in Minneapolis now, but I grew up in St. Louis. Me and Nelly. Richmond Heights to be exact. I suppose I can lend a little bit of a neutral hand here, since Coovo is still mostly anchored in the Windy City and Roller has most of Chesterfield locked down. But I fully admit, I favor the Cardinals, thin crust pizza, excruciatingly hot summers, frozen custard, ravioli (toasted) and giant muddy rivers.

Please forgive me as I go, because I also like pictures but don't know how to make them show up here.

Here are some general areas and guidelines I will try to stick to while adding to the content on this blog. I add commentary like on computer stuff, political stuff, odd randomness, the origins of sayings, sports stuff, totally hypothetical stuff, music, web stuff, and anything to give our readers the old "worth the price of admission" feeling. I may not be G-rated, but I'll be network rated. I won't be politically correct either. So if you get offended, please leave a comment. I'll be sure to take it into consideration.

Now on to specifics. The only thing I value more than fantasy baseball is real baseball. I think Tom Hanks is the most over-rated actor of our time. I can cook rice really well, every single time in any quantity. I've criss-crossed the country by car in under 2 weeks, seeing both oceans. I never lie but almost always slightly exaggerate. I tend to ramble when I like what's going on. I once held the "most jalapenos eaten on a single nacho chip" record for Busch stadium for at least a full inning. I think live music is the best, but the scene is stale. I think story-telling, joke-telling and really good comic strips are lost arts. I think progress rocks, and I constantly misquote the Chinese. And I think blogs are worth the effort.

Thanks to Coovo and Roller for inviting me along for the ride. I hope to hear your comments and endear you to your mothers.