Real (Virtual) Friends and a Virtual Raft-Up

Generally speaking, I don't appreciate blogs that talk about blogging or facebook posts that talk about facebooking.  It's a bit too self-referential.  It's not the medium, dude, it's the message.  But if you would indulge me, gentle reader, I need to tell you how much fun we're having with our "online presence."  When we started with this blog thing, and the facebook thing, I honestly did not understand the effect of these mediums on friend-making and friend-keeping.  So let me tell you about some old friends, and some new ones.

This is not facebook.

Friends of ALL kinds bring us great JOY.  We have:

• friends whom we've never met in real life
• dear childhood friends whom we haven't seen in 20+ years
• friends from Milwaukee who miss us
• friends who "knew us when" (can I just say wow?!)
• friends who used to be co-workers or colleagues
• friends whose views on religion, politics, sailing, and other "important" subjects are completely and diametrically opposed to our own
• friends who've been there and done that and want to help
• friends who give us stuff, like DVDs, flashlights, sailing lessons, fishing tackle, and rides to the grocery store
• friends who ask us practical questions about our experiences
• friends who own $200 boats and $1,000,000 boats (some even with NO boats....)
• friends who sell us stuff we need at a fair price, like battery chargers and bikes
• friends who make sure we've got everything we need to be blue-water cruisers
• friends who have offered up their spare room whenever we show up
• friends who tell stories that make us laugh and cry
• friends who think we're crazy, enviable, funny, helpful, profound, profoundly stupid, and/or bearable only in small virtual doses (and vice versa!)

Some friends we meet in the real world, and we take our friendship online.  Some friends we meet online - but with decent time/space coordination, real world meetings might also ensue.  (This, after all, is how Ean and I met!)  In any case, through the great mystery that is the World Wide Web, we can keep in touch and stay connected to all our peeps.

Now, we're getting to know a bunch of new peeps through a blog "Raft-Up."  Thanks to Dana of s/v Northfork for putting us together. Dana surveyed her readers to choose topics that we'd be most interested in writing and reading about.  Each month she will choose a topic and set up a posting schedule.  For example, this month the topic is "hobbies on board," and eight of us will blog on this topic.  Dana is going to set up a "linky" thingy that will allow other bloggers (who weren't on the original schedule) to link their hobby posts to the Raft-Up as well.  Cool!  More BLOGS Everywhere!!  s/v Joy's designated posting date is tomorrow, June 3.

I think it will be fun to read several different perspectives on the same topic.  So, friends (if I may be so bold): I offer you up some blogs that you might not have seen before.  Even before the hobby posts have gone up, we've enjoyed "getting to know" this gang of folks.  We Raft-Up bloggers live aboard monohulls and catamarans; we have cats and kids; we are inexperienced and experienced cruisers; we are world travelers and regional travelers.  Friends, allow me to introduce you to...

Tammy and Chip on s/v Cara Mia

Lynn and Steve on s/v Celebration

Andy and Steph on s/v Norna Biron

Dan and Jaye on s/v Cinderella

Mary Margaret and Dave on s/v Leu Cat

Behan and Jamie with kids Niall, Mairen, and Siobhan on s/v Totem

Dana, Mark, and baby Mark on s/v Northfork