Desert towns you don't want to miss!

Barstow, California
Tonopah, Nevada
Winnemucca, Nevada
Barstow, California
Don't even consider anything in Arizona.
Carson City, Nevada

Desert cities and towns that aren't worth a crap

Las Vegas, Nevada
El Centro, California
Baker, California
Gila Bend, Arizona
Quartzsite, Arizona

Best desert roads

National Trails Highway
Tonopah Highway
Box Canyon Road
Twentynine Palms Hwy
Mesquite Springs Road
US 6 Nevada
Duckwater Road
Old Woman Springs Rd
Hot Springs Road
Lake Owyhee Road
Valley of Fire Road
Bicentennial Highway

The best maps!

The best maps ever made were by the HM Gousha Company, distributed by Shell, Texaco, Arco, and Chevron. No one matched the beauty of their city and state road maps. I collected HM Gousha maps in the 1960s and 1970s.

The worst song in the world

"Torn Between Two Lovers," by Mary MacGregor. Before Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul, and Mary) can be taken seriously as a songwriter, he should be made to apologize for writing that awful hit.

Cats

...make  more sense than most people do.

Techno music

...is nice to listen to because there isn't any emotion attached to it. There is nothing to associate it with. It is the closest thing to spending time in the desert.

Life in the semi–geek lane

Most geeks dive into the deep waters of technology. I sort of dipped my feet in the shallow water. I can write xhtml pages, use Cascading Style Sheets, make image maps, play with JavaScripts written by other coders, and assemble a computer from individual parts. I can even format a hard disk and reinstall all my programs and put together a home network. I can do Windows, Mac, and Linux. I've become my own computer technician. That's why I tell people I'm a semi–geek. I do all this stuff because, well, it makes me feel smart. I've got this idea that when people think you can do really geeky stuff with computers, they think you're smart. It's kinda like when I learned how to play a guitar to write songs when I was in my 20s...I thought that would turn girls on and make them want me. Well, it didn't. Not even close.

Wherever you go, there you are, but wherever you go, there they aren't!

That's truly one of the beauties of the desert. When you retreat to the desert, no one else you know is there, and you can put everything back into perspective again. The hard part is coming back to the city again.

Hey diddle diddle!

The feline and the arcuated stringed instrument,
And the bovine propelled itself in an ascending direction, scaling the lunar satellite.

Unusual street names. I like principal streets and boulevards that have weird names.

• Chinden Boulevard. A contraction of "Chinese Garden," it is US 20 and 26 in Garden City, Idaho, just a few miles from downtown Boise.
• Melarkey Street. US 95 in Winnemucca, Nevada.
• Intake Boulevard. US 95 in Blythe, California.
• Pancake Boulevard. US 54 in Liberal, Kansas.

A few of my favorite songs

• Stay Here Now by John Walradt (That's me!)
• Raindrop Soul by John Walradt (That's me, again!)
• Lauda performed by Kim Robertson
• Curse of the Blood Witch by Scott Jordan (Ravensong)
• Bright Skies Ahead/b> by Jeanna Potthoff
• The Gypsy King by Arden Snow
• Knock 'Em Dead by Bob Bentley
• The Place That We Know by Robert Quigley
• A Woman's Voice by Wendy Wall

Some of my favorite albums

Kraftwerk: Computer World
Kim Robertson: Moonrise
Arden Snow: Intervention
The Smiths: Louder Than Bombs
New Order: Substance
Jeana Potthoff: Tribute
Andreas Vollenweider: Behind the Gardens...
Harold Budd: The Room
Joy Division: Closer
Music From the World of Osho: Basho's Pond
Orbital: Second (Brown) Album
Cris Williamson: Changer and the Changed
Joni Mitchell: For the Roses
Brian Eno: Music For Airports
The Cure: Faith
Echo and the Bunnymen: Ocean Rain
Frank Zappa: Joe's Garage
Double: Blue
Moody Blues: Seventh Sojourn
This Mortal Coil: It'll End in Tears
Clan of Xymox: Twist of Shadows
Above & Beyond Presents: OceanLab
The Roches: Another World
The Church: Heyday
Future Sound of London: Lifeforms

Phrases that should be eliminated

Certifiable complete jerks who say these things should be exiled to some island where they can all live together and say these wonderful things to each other:

"I used to be like you."

"What was your part in it?"
"Well, you did something to create that!"
"You're a victim."
"Let's just be friends."
"But you have Jesus!"
"You're TOO nice!"
"That's YOUR problem!"
"It's all about YOU!"
"You don't have enough faith!"
"You're worse than a woman!"
"You're not enough. I deserve more!"
"I sure am glad I'm not like you!"

For the best of friends

...get a cat and get a computer. Give the cat plenty of attention and your feline pal will love you unconditionally. On a computer, be creative, make websites, make music, and write code. Avoid social networking sites. Listen to techno music.