Tag: html

June 8 – July 14, 1998.  Emailing Casey. (#185)

~ Greg Dennison ~ 5 Comments

From: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
To: “Gregory Dennison” <gjdennison@jeromeville.edu>
Date: Mon, 08 Jun 1998 22:22 -0500
Subject: hi!

Hi, Greg!  I just wanted to say I found your website.  It’s so cool!  I laughed at the part with your favorite jokes!  I hadn’t heard most of them before!  Then I saw the link to that Dog Crap thing… that’s you too?  You make those stories and pictures?  That’s so creative!

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi!  Write me back if you can!

~Casey

To: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
From: gjdennison@jeromeville.edu
Subject: Re: hi!

Hello… so how did you find my page exactly?  Honestly, I forgot that the home page and the jokes were still up… I made that two years ago when I was first teaching myself the basics of HTML.  I found a website that had an HTML tutorial, and regular jeromeville.edu accounts can’t host Web sites but math department ones can.  But I’m glad you found Dog Crap and Vince.  That’s my big creative project right now.  I better get back to work… are you in school, and if so, are you on summer break?  Your address looks like a school email.

gjd

From: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
To: “Gregory Dennison” <gjdennison@jeromeville.edu>
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 21:38 -0500
Subject: Re: hi!

Thanks for writing back!  I found your page because I love watching the Bay City Captains and I was looking for other Captains fans!  I live in Texas now, but I grew up in East Bayside.  We moved here when I was 12.  I should probably tell you a little about myself!  First, I’m a girl.  Casey is more common as a guy’s name, but my parents liked the name for either a boy or a girl, and they had me!  I’m 19, I just finished my first year at Texas North Community College, studying psych.  I’m going to transfer somewhere next year, hopefully, but I haven’t decided for sure where I want to go.  I work part time at a coffee shop.  Where do you go to school?  What classes are you taking?  Any plans for the weekend?  I’ll talk to you soon!  Bye for now!

~Casey

To: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
From: gjdennison@jeromeville.edu
Subject: Re: hi!

Wow… that’s impressive, staying a Captains fan in the middle of Texas surrounded by Toros fans.  It would drive me crazy.  I can’t stand the Toros.  A few years ago, when the Captains and Toros played each other for the championship, that was when I first started talking to people online, and one of the first people I met was from Texas.  During the game that year, I was nice and didn’t try to be a jerk about it.  After the Captains came from behind and won, I checked my email, and I had one from her bragging about the Toros being ahead at halftime.  I replied, “So how’d that work out for you?”

Good to know you’re a girl… when I got your email, my first thought was who’s this Casey guy?  Anyway, where in Texas are you?  I’m about to graduate from the University of Jeromeville (do you know where that is?  Next to Capital City, about an hour and a half northeast of East Bayside), and I’m doing the teacher training program here next year.  I want to teach high school math.  My degree is in math, and that was always my favorite subject.  I’m 21, almost 22.  Dog Crap and Vince is my creative hobby; you’ve seen that.  I probably spend too much time talking to random people I meet online, but some of them have become real friends.  Looks like I just made another one. :)  I also like bike rides and board games.  My friend Pete recently taught me this new game called Settlers of Catan; have you played that?  My friends and I have been playing that a lot this summer.  I’m also involved with a Christian student group, and I’m a youth group leader at my church.  Do you go to church?  Do you play any sports or just like to watch football?

You saw my picture on my Web site, but what do you look like?  I’m just curious.  I’m not doing anything this weekend, just studying because finals are coming up next week.  What are you up to?

gjd

From: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
To: “Gregory Dennison” <gjdennison@jeromeville.edu>
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 20:44 -0500
Subject: Re: hi!

Hi!  Guess what… I just got my nose pierced!  Nothing too flashy, just a little stud.  I think it looks so cute!  Do you have any piercings or anything like that?  Let’s see… what do I look like… I’m 5’5”, 130lbs, with dark reddish-brown hair and blue eyes.  I don’t have a scanner, but I think there’s one in the school library I can use so I can scan my picture and send it to you.  I play soccer, I have for as long as I can remember.  I’m a midfielder… I love it!  I’m not playing on an organized team right now.  I tried out for our school team but I didn’t make it.  I didn’t think I was going to.  I was on a recreational team with some friends earlier this year, but we’re not playing right now.  Do you play any sports?  That’s hilarious what you told your friend in Texas!  I would have been rubbing it in so much after she got cocky like that and then the Toros ended up losing!  I had a bet with my friend Jessica on that game, and I won $10!  I’m in Denton, just north of Dallas and Fort Worth.  I like it here, but I also like when we go visit my grandparents in East Bayside every couple years.  It’s nice there.  That’s so cool that you’re a youth group leader!  That always looked fun!  We go to a Baptist church.  I’m not really involved with any groups there.  What’s your church like?  Also, how is this finals week for you?  Why do you get out so much later than we do?  Is it summer school or something?  I’ll talk to you soon!

~Casey

To: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
From: gjdennison@jeromeville.edu
Subject: Re: hi!

Your nose ring sounds cute :)

I don’t have any piercings.  I’ve never really wanted any.  A lot of people around here do, though.  Jeromeville is a countercultural college town.

I don’t play any sports.  I played tee-ball when I was 6, and all I remember is that I thought it was boring because we didn’t keep score, and the coach made me cry but I don’t remember why.  In high school, a lot of my friends told me I should play football, so I worked out with the football team the summer after freshman year.  I was more of a student than an athlete, so I also read books about football and learned a lot about strategies, positions, rules, the history of football, things like that.  I only lasted one day of practice, but the experience of taking the time to learn about football has given me a greater appreciation for watching the game.  In addition to watching the Captains on TV, I also go to football games at UJ sometimes.  Basketball too.  My brother got all the sports talent in our family.  He has played baseball and basketball all his life.

I go to an Evangelical Covenant church.  I grew up Catholic, but I had a lot of friends freshman year who encouraged me to take my faith more seriously.  I eventually started going to their church, because it seemed more like what I was looking for.

Do you still live with your family?  How many siblings do you have?  I just have the one brother.  He’s younger, he’s 16 and going to be a junior in high school.  My family lives in Plumdale, near Santa Lucia and Gabilan.  That’s about a two and a half hour drive from here.  I usually only go home on school breaks.  Do you have a boyfriend?  Just wondering.

Sorry it took a while for me to write back.  I was busy, but I’m done with finals now.  To answer your question, UJ is on the three-quarter schedule, so we have three terms during the year instead of two.  Winter break comes after the first term, 1/3 of the way through the year, so to make that work we start at the end of September and get out in the middle of June.  You get out earlier than we do, but you probably also go back earlier.  I need to get going.  I’m going with some friends to see the new X-Files movie today.  We watch the show together every week during the season, but the show is off for the summer now.  Do you watch X-Files?  What else do you have planned for the weekend?  I have graduation tomorrow!  Talk to you soon!

gjd

From: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
To: “Gregory Dennison” <gjdennison@jeromeville.edu>
Date: Sat, 20 Jun 1998 11:06 -0500
Subject: Re: hi!

Your coach made you cry?  And you were just 6 years old?  That sounds like a terrible coach to me!  Yeah, I still live with my mom and dad.  That makes sense with your schedule; thanks for explaining!  And you’re right, we go back in August.  I have an older brother named Chris.  He’s 22 and still lives at home.  I can’t wait to move out, but it’s probably not going to happen unless I move away for school next year.  Maybe I’ll apply to Jeromeville now that I know someone there :-) and you’re pretty close to my grandparents too.  I don’t have a boyfriend… there’s a guy I’m kind of seeing, but it’s not really serious.  What about you?  Do you have someone special?  And if your family isn’t in Jeromeville, do you have roommates?  Congratulations on your graduation!  Is your family coming?  How was the movie?  I don’t know if I’m going to see it.  I don’t really watch the show.  But I’m glad you like it!  It sounds like fun, watching it with a bunch of friends!

~Casey

To: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
From: gjdennison@jeromeville.edu
Subject: Re: hi!

That would be so much fun if we both ended up in Jeromeville!  Definitely keep me posted!  Will you be visiting your grandparents in East Bayside any time soon?

Graduation was nice… thank you!  Someone warned me that it would be boring, and it kind of was, but it was good getting to be there with my family.  Afterward, there was a catered lunch thing just for the math department, where they presented me with my award.  It’s still a little weird to think that I’m a college graduate now!  The movie was good too.  It connected to the story of the show, but if you haven’t seen the show, you can still kind of follow what’s going on.  You should see it!

I’ll keep you posted too, because I don’t know for sure if I’ll still be in Jeromeville by then.  It depends on where I can get a job after I finish teacher training next year.  Ideally, though, I would like to stay in Jeromeville and work here or somewhere close enough to commute.  I already know people here, and I love my church.  I don’t know if I actually want to teach at Jeromeville High, though.  I’ve heard that a lot of parents at Jeromeville schools can be kind of overbearing.  That makes sense, with so many people around here in academia.  I know I would be intimidated if I had to call one of my old professors and say that his/her kid is failing math.

I have roommates.  Four of us rent a 3-bedroom house; it’s actually half of a duplex.  Last year I shared the big bedroom and attached bathroom with my friend Sean.  The other two roommates moved out, though, so Sean is moving into his own room.  Jed will be moving into Sean’s spot, and Brody will be moving into the other room.  All three guys I know from Jeromeville Christian Fellowship; Sean also went to the church I used to go to, and Jed and Brody go to the church I go to now.  I don’t love sharing a bedroom, but the rent is cheap.

I don’t have a girlfriend.  It seems like pretty much all of the girls I’ve liked don’t feel the same way about me.  Are you into this guy you’re kind of seeing?  What exactly do you mean when you say it isn’t serious… do you want it to be?  He’s lucky, you seem really nice :)

gjd

From: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
To: “Gregory Dennison” <gjdennison@jeromeville.edu>
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 21:18 -0500
Subject: Re: hi!

Award?  What did you get an award for?  Congratulations!  I’m proud of you!  We might be going to Grandma and Grandpa’s for Christmas.  It would be fun if we could work it out to meet up sometime!  Your house sounds like fun!  I bet you guys have big parties there and stuff.  I never thought about that, what you said about being a teacher in Jeromeville and teaching your professors’ kids… that would be kind of awkward.  The guy I’m seeing, Jason, it’s kind of complicated.  He hasn’t asked me to be exclusive or anything.  But we go out sometimes, and he has his own place so I go over there a lot.  And we recently started sleeping together too, and I stayed the night at his place for the first time last weekend and it was so good!  But I haven’t told very many people because Jason is my brother’s best friend.  My brother has always been protective of me when it comes to my past boyfriends, and he would freak out if he knew his best friend was sleeping with me.  I’m not sure what to do… you’re smart, do you have any advice for me?

~Casey

To: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
From: gjdennison@jeromeville.edu
Subject: Re: hi!

Wow… that’s quite a story.  I’m not sure how you would tell your brother and your parents about something like that.  I’ve never been through anything like that.  And how were you able to stay the night if you live with your parents and your brother?  Did you sneak out?  Just think this through and don’t do anything you’ll regret.

The award was for having the highest grades in math classes among this year’s math graduates.  I had straight As in all my math classes.  Thank you!

I just got back last night from the Mystery Trip with the kids from church.  Their parents dropped them off Monday morning and picked them up late Tuesday night, and we didn’t tell anyone where we were going.  It was a lot of fun!  First we went to Mt. Lorenzo, to the beach and some of the rides, then we stayed the night in sleeping bags in a church fellowship hall where we know one of the pastors.  On the second day, we did some touristy shopping in Bay City, and went to see the W’s and Five Iron Frenzy.  Do you know them?  I’m tired, I need a nap, I’ll talk to you soon. :)

gjd

From: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
To: “Gregory Dennison” <gjdennison@jeromeville.edu>
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 22:11 -0500
Subject: Re: hi!

I stay the night with my best friend Jessica sometimes.  We’ve had sleepovers since we were in fifth grade.  So whenever I want to sleep over with a guy, I just tell my parents I’m staying with Jessica, and whenever she wants to sleep over with a guy, she tells her mom she’s with me.  It’s the perfect system!  We’ve been doing this since high school, and we actually do stay with each other often enough that our parents never check. ;-) I really like Jason, I want to keep seeing him, maybe even be his girlfriend, but I know my brother wouldn’t like it.  It’s not really his decision to make, though.  I’m a big girl, and I can make my own decisions!  You’re smart, getting all A’s in your math classes!  I’m impressed!  Your Mystery Trip sounds fun!  I remember going to Mt. Lorenzo Beach once as a kid.  It’s been a long time, but it sounds like fun!  I remember this really cool old carousel; did you ride that?  Hope you got some good rest!

~Casey

To: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
From: gjdennison@jeromeville.edu
Subject: Re: hi!

I know that carousel, but I didn’t ride it this time.  I got a quick nap yesterday afternoon.  I’m not doing anything today until Bible study tonight, so I might go for a bike ride.  It’s kind of hot, though, so I should do that soon before it gets any hotter.  I’m going to a wedding on Saturday.  Scott and Amelia, I’ve been friends with them for a few years, they’re a year older than me but we all graduated the same year because they took five years to finish.  And I won’t see them much after the wedding, because they’re moving to New York later this summer.  Amelia is starting medical school there in the fall.  This is the first time I’ve been to a wedding as an adult.  I don’t really know what to expect.  What are you doing this weekend?

gjd

From: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
To: “Gregory Dennison” <gjdennison@jeromeville.edu>
Date: Thu, 02 Jul 1998 19:44 -0500
Subject: Re: hi!

Sorry it took so long to write back!  I’ve had a really rough week.  Jason met someone else and wants to be exclusive with her.  I’m heartbroken.  It’s not really cheating because we were never official, but I really thought we had a connection.  I’ve skipped class a few times and one day I stayed in bed all day.  I’m really a mess, I hope I don’t sound too pathetic right now… I just thought about you the other day and didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten about you!  How was the wedding?  Jessica is going to drag me to a party tomorrow, I hope it’s fun, I need to get out… what are you doing this weekend?

~Casey

To: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
From: gjdennison@jeromeville.edu
Subject: Re: hi!

Wow, that’s tough… I’m sorry things didn’t work out with Jason.  Kind of messed up on his part, if you ask me.

The wedding was good!  Very nice.  It was at our church with the college pastor speaking.  They had a reception afterward with a lot of dancing.  Scott and Amelia do swing dancing, that’s gotten really popular here lately.  Is it popular where you are too?  Some friends who were also at the wedding talked me into going swing dancing with them the night after the wedding, and I actually enjoyed it.  I didn’t think dancing would ever be a hobby for me, but I’ll probably keep going back, especially if I have friends there.  Have fun at the party!  I’ll talk to you soon!

gjd

From: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
To: “Gregory Dennison” <gjdennison@jeromeville.edu>
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 1998 21:03  -0500 
Subject: Re: hi!

I’m the worst friend ever, I’ve gotten so bad at writing back!  Sorry!  Well, things have happened since I talked to you… The party last weekend, there was this guy there I didn’t know, and we both had a little too much to drink, and we hooked up in an empty bedroom, I don’t remember exactly what happened that night but we hung out a lot this week and I slept over at his place last night… he’s amazing!  I really feel good about this guy!  What about you?  Do you have a girlfriend yet?  What did you do this weekend?

~Casey

To: “Casey Gauthier” <c.gauthier02@txncc.edu>
From: gjdennison@jeromeville.edu
Subject: Re: hi!

That happened really fast… no one for me yet.  I went swing dancing again on Sunday.  It’s been fun.  I kind of met someone there, a friend of a friend who recognized me, we danced a few times and talked some, but I don’t know if I’m interested in her like that.  Nothing really going on the rest of the week.  Just the usual stuff, youth group and Bible study.  What about you?

(To be continued…)

Readers: Tell me about a friend that you met through a random encounter on the Internet. Are you still friends with this person?

If you like what you read, don’t forget to like this post and follow this blog. Also follow Don’t Let The Days Go By on Facebook and Instagram.

July 18-20, 1996. A new creative project and a new cheeseburger. (#92)

~ Greg Dennison ~ 25 Comments

In 1996, the Internet was coming into the mainstream.  Average citizens were communicating by email, discussing topics on a Usenet forum, chatting on Internet Relay Chat, and using the Netscape browser to surf the World Wide Web, a platform for informational documents that could be linked to each other.  Advertisements were beginning to include the websites of the companies involved, where anyone in the world with an Internet connection could look up information about the product in question.

The truly computer savvy individual in 1996 had a personal website.  The academics, scientists, and government officials for whom the Internet was created used personal websites to share about their careers, their research, and contact information, which was useful for their colleagues and students to have.  A few people I had met on the Internet had personal websites, and mostly they consisted of a picture or two and a little bit about the author, with links to other relevant websites.  Some of my friends had personal websites too.  Eddie Baker had a link to his personal website on his email signature.  Eddie’s website had a picture of himself, another picture with his seven roommates, some of his favorite Bible verses, and a link to the University of Jeromeville page.

I wanted so badly to make a personal website, although I had no practical need for one. Unfortunately, this feature was not possible with a UJ student account.  This guy named Carl who I met on IRC had access to some kind of personal server, where he gave me an account for free so I could fiddle with making a website.  I taught myself basic HTML, the code used for making websites.  I found a computer lab on campus with a scanner and scanned a copy of my senior picture from Plumdale High, so I could put that picture on my website.  I don’t know why I did, though; I always hated that picture.  I wrote a little bit about myself, with links to the pages for the University of Jeromeville and a Bay City Captains football fan page I found.  Back in those days, jokes and chain letters circulated by email, the forerunners of the memes and viral posts of the 21st century, and I copied and pasted some of my favorites on my page.

Eddie’s page was hosted by a UJ Computer Science Department account; he was an International Relations major, but had taken a couple of computer classes.  When I took Introduction to Programming in the spring, I got a Computer Science account, so I did not need Carl to host my site anymore.  At some point after I finished my current Introduction to Software class, I would have to move my site again, since I would not be taking a Computer Science class in the fall.  Eddie’s site would probably get deleted eventually as well.  I needed to find out if I could get a Mathematics department account and host a personal website on that.

One Thursday night, after I got home from Bible study, I was bored.  I was caught up with homework for my class, and I had finished reading everything I was reading for fun.  I sat down in front of the computer and dialed into the university’s computer network.  I got on my usual IRC chat channel and looked for someone to talk to.  A girl named Laura, whom I had been talking to for a few months, was on, so I messaged her.  Laura was 17 years old and lived in upstate New York.

gjd76: hi :)
lauragirl17: hi greg! how are you?
gjd76: really bored. i’m caught up with all my work.  how are you?  i haven’t talked to you in a while.  how were things with adam?
lauragirl17: i know, i wasn’t on as much when adam was here.  we had a good visit.  it was a little weird at the end though
gjd76: why?
lauragirl17: just some stuff happened and i think we’re just going to be friends
gjd76: aww.  i hope everything is ok.  i wish i could meet girls i knew on the internet
lauragirl17: have you ever met someone from the internet in real life?
gjd76: just once. it was another girl from jeromeville, turned out she lived right down the street.  we just hung out and talked for a while, i could tell she wasn’t really my type
lauragirl17: aww. she’s missing out :) maybe i’ll be able to come to jeromeville someday
gjd76: that’d be fun :) well, you could come right now, i gave you my address
lauragirl17: yeah you did! i leave on tuesday, i’m so nervous but so excited too, i’ll write to you as soon as i get settled.  it’s kind of weird to think that i’ll be in switzerland this time next week
gjd76: i’m excited for you :) this will be a great experience… one of my best friends in high school, she was an exchange student in austria, and she loved it
lauragirl17: i know, it’s just going to be a big adjustment
gjd76: of course
lauragirl17: well it’s really late here, i should get to bed… but it was good talking to you
gjd76: you too! good night, sleep well :)

I hoped Laura would actually write to me from Switzerland.  One of my friends from school, Kelly, was going to be studying in Hungary next year, so between Kelly and Laura, I could possibly be writing and receiving letters from Europe often next year.

Someone else from the chat posted a link to his personal website; I opened it in another window in between messages from Laura.  In addition to pictures of himself and links to his university, he also had a story about this party he had attended last month, with pictures from the story and paragraphs telling what happened.  I wished I owned my own scanner, so that I could share pictures on the Internet too.

That guy from IRC with the story about his party gave me an idea for something to add to my website.  A few years ago, Nintendo released a game called Mario Paint.  It was not a game at all, it was more like rudimentary but functional drawing and animation software.  It came with a mouse, which was easier to use for drawing than the standard Super Nintendo control pad.  Three years ago, I used Mario Paint, two VCRs, and a microphone to make a short film about two strange teenage boys with a weird neighbor.  The film was influenced by the buddy comedies of the time period, like Wayne’s World and Beavis and Butthead.  I called my creation “Dog Crap and Vince.”  I made a few other Dog Crap and Vince short films over the next couple years, and the most recent one I made after I bought this computer, so the screenplay was still saved on this hard drive.

I opened my screenplay and read it.  Dog Crap’s cousin came to visit, and while throwing a football around in the yard, Vince threw it too hard, and it got run over by a truck.  The boys found a football at a garage sale to replace the one they lost, but it was so old and hard and brittle that it cracked open when it landed on the ground.  That was inspired by an inside joke; once, a strange neighbor back home gave my brother and me an old football that had belonged to her son when he was young, and it hit the ground and cracked open just like that.

I opened Microsoft Paint, the drawing software that came with Windows 3.1, and drew the opening scene, where Dog Crap opens the door and lets his cousin in.  I then drew the next scene, where the two of them watch television with Vince.  Both Dog Crap and Vince always had strange multicolored hair, and I never explained their odd appearance in any of the short films.  I also never explained why Dog Crap’s name is Dog Crap, and in their fictional universe, no one questions this.

I continued illustrating scenes from this Dog Crap and Vince story until around one in the morning.  The following day, after I finished a morning bike ride, I continued working on Dog Crap and Vince, illustrating the rest of the scenes from the story.

Next, I began typing the HTML code.  I typed the lines of dialogue and description for the story, in prose instead of the screenplay format I had written for the Mario Paint film.  It did not feel like an actual story, since the illustrations left most of the descriptions unnecessary; the remaining text was very heavy on dialogue.  But this was a new format for me, and I did not really have a template or precedent on which to base my work.  This story really was designed for animation, but in the absence of that kind of technology, this would have to do.

When I finished writing and debugging the HTML, I uploaded it, and all of my drawings, to the website.  I also updated the home page, trying to think of what to call my creation… was it a story, or a comic, or a script, or what?  I ended up calling it a story.  “Read my story: ‘Dog Crap and Vince, episode 1: ‘Football,’” I typed.  I made that line a hyperlink, so that someone could click on it to go to the story.  I read through my entire Dog Crap and Vince story again.  I was proud of my work.  Now I just needed someone to share it with.


Many of my friends who lived in this part of Jeromeville left for the summer, but some of them were still around.  Ramon and Jason were still in their apartment on Hampton Drive, and Caroline still lived upstairs from them.  Liz, Ramon’s girlfriend and Caroline’s roommate, had gone home for the summer.  By Saturday afternoon, the day after I finished Dog Crap and Vince, I was in a mood to socialize, so I walked over to Hampton Drive, about a quarter mile away.  Caroline saw me first; she was standing on the balcony, attaching some kind of wire mesh to the balustrade and railing.  “Hey, Greg!” she said.

“What are you working on?”

“I’m going to let Henry come out here.  I’m putting this up so he doesn’t accidentally fall.”

“That’ll be fun.  The cats we had growing up were always outdoor cats.  It’s weird to me to think that Henry never goes outside.”

“When we got Henry, we knew he had to be an indoor cat,” Caroline explained.  “The apartment wouldn’t allow it otherwise.”

“Makes sense.”

I heard the door on the downstairs apartment open.  “Hey, Greg,” Ramon said.  “I thought I heard your voice.”

“I just wanted to come say hi.”

“Stick around.  Liz is on her way up; she should be here soon.  She’ll want to see you.”

“Oh.  Cool.”

I went inside to watch TV with Ramon and Jason.  Ten minutes later, Caroline came down to tell us that the cat-proofing of the balcony was finished.  All of us went to the living room of the upstairs apartment and watched as Caroline opened the door to the balcony, picked up Henry and put him outside.  Henry looked around skittishly, then cautiously walked around, sniffing things.  Caroline tossed him his toy, a plastic ball with a small bell inside; Henry sniffed the ball and swatted it away, then chased his little furry black and white spotted body after it.

“It’s like he doesn’t quite know what to think of the outside,” Caroline said.

Just then, we heard Liz’s voice saying “Hey, guys!”  She walked into the apartment and put her bag down.  When she saw me, she looked surprised for a second, then smiled.  “Greg!  It’s good to see you!”

“How are you?”

“I’m good.”  Liz turned to see what everyone was looking at on the balcony.  “Henry’s outside!” she said.

“Yeah,” Caroline replied.  “I just wanted to try it.”

“It looks like he likes it.”

Liz moved her bag into the bedroom.  After she came back out to the living room, Ramon said, “Jason and I have been wanting to try that new Arch Deluxe burger at McDonald’s.  Greg?  You can come with us if you want.”

“Sure,” I said.  “I haven’t eaten yet.  And I haven’t tried that either.”

“It’s supposed to have more of an adult taste,” Jason explained.

“What does that mean?  How do hamburgers have adult tastes?” Liz asked.

“I don’t know,” Jason said.  “It’s being marketed as more sophisticated.”

Across the street from their apartment complex was the back of a shopping center facing Coventry Boulevard.  After making sure Henry was securely inside again, the five of us walked there.  The McDonald’s was in the middle of the strip mall part of the shopping center and had no drive-thru.  We each took turns ordering; I got an Arch Deluxe, eagerly anticipating what this adult cheeseburger would taste like.

“What have you been up to, Greg?” Liz asked as we waited for our order numbers to be called.  “You’re taking a class, right?”

“Yeah.  Computer Science 40, Intro to Software.  It’s going well.”

“Good!”

“Today I made something new for my website.  Just for fun, not part of the class.”

“Oh yeah?  What is it?”

I told them about Dog Crap and Vince, how I had created the characters with Mario Paint a few years ago, and about the illustrated story I had written.  “I’ll show you guys when we get back to the apartment, if you want.”

“Sure,” Ramon said.

Jason’s meal had arrived by then; he bit into the Arch Deluxe.  “This is pretty good,” he said.  “It’s different, I’m not sure exactly what is adult about it, but it’s good.”

“What does Dog Crap and Vince mean?” Caroline asked.  “What does dog crap have to do with the story?  Does Vince always step in dog crap?”

“Dog Crap is his friend’s name.  So the title refers to the two main characters, Dog Crap and Vince.”

“Why is his name Dog Crap?”

“I’ve never explained that.  It just is.”

“Okay,” Caroline said, as if not sure what to make of this.

The cashier called my number, and I went up to the counter to get my food.  I sat down and opened the cardboard Arch Deluxe container.  The burger had a different kind of bun, looking more like a sandwich roll, but round.  I opened it and removed the tomato slice.  “You don’t like tomatoes?” Liz asked.

“No.”

“May I have it?”

“Sure.”

I passed my tomato to Liz and took a bite of what remained of the burger.  I liked it.  Definitely different from most other McDonald’s products; it tasted like it was made from higher quality ingredients.  “This is good,” I said.  Growing up, I was a connoisseur of Chicken McNuggets; I did not usually eat hamburgers at McDonald’s, but I was willing to reconsider this position because of the Arch Deluxe.

We sat together at McDonald’s catching up for a while.  Liz told us all about her summer with her family, and those of us who were taking classes shared how our studies were going so far.  At one point, during a lull in the conversation, Ramon said, “Has anyone ever noticed that this song is the same four chords over and over again?”

“Huh?” Caroline asked.

“This song,” Ramon repeated.  Blues Traveler’s “Run-Around” was playing in the background of the restaurant.  “It’s the same four chords over again.”

I listened carefully to the guitar and bass playing behind the energetic harmonica solo.  “You’re right,” I said, pretending to sound like I knew what I was talking about.  I had three years of piano lessons in my past, and I had been singing in the choir at church for almost a year, but Ramon was a much more accomplished musician than I was.  “I always thought it was catchy, though.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s catchy,” Jason agreed.

 We walked back to the apartment after we finished eating.  “Greg?” Ramon asked.  “Did you still want to show us that Dog Crap thing?”

“Sure.”

Ramon turned on his computer as Jason found something to watch on TV.  He opened Netscape and asked, “What’s the address?”  I typed the address for my website, then clicked on the link for Dog Crap and Vince.  Ramon began reading silently as Liz and Caroline and I watched the screen.  I felt slightly awkward. Was I supposed to read it out loud to them?  How would Ramon know when everyone was done reading?  At the end of the first page, Ramon asked if everyone was done reading before he continued to the next page.  That would work.  The others laughed a few times, such as when Dog Crap and Vince saw the Unabomber at the garage sale.

“That’s pretty funny,” Ramon said when he finished.

“You did a good job with the website,” Liz added.  “Are you going to do more Dog Crap stories?”

“Eventually, yes.”

“I’ll keep watching for those.”

“Thanks!”

The four of us hung out watching television and just talking for another couple of hours.  I walked home after that and got out a sheet of paper.  Future Dog Crap and Vince Ideas, I wrote at the top, then I added, Dog Crap is playing guitar, but he only knows four chords, and Vince says he can still play that Blues Traveler song.  I used a variation of that line in another episode later that year, and I made it a habit to write down anything funny that I thought of or saw that could be used in future episodes.

Today was a good day.  I would be eating many more Arch Deluxes in the future; this would become my new go-to order at McDonald’s.  However, sadly, the product was considered a massive failure.  The Arch Deluxe never caught on as a popular item once the initial hype faded, and a few years later, it disappeared from McDonald’s menus.

Dog Crap and Vince, however, did not disappear from my life.  I continued making new episodes of the series for eleven years, with more animated short films after that.  I also did numerous other side projects involving Dog Crap and Vince.  Many of my friends have been involved in a Dog Crap and Vince project at some point.  These two characters spawned a fictional universe that became a major part of my life for a long time.  The world of Dog Crap and Vince even seemed to take on a life of its own at times.  The cast of main characters grew from two to at least six, with many other recurring characters in their world, and at times, their stories seemed to take on lives of their own.  I never would have believed, on that day three years ago when I drew those two silly-looking boys on Mario Paint, that this would become such a major part of my life.

Author’s note: Dog Crap and Vince is not real.  It is based on an actual project called “Cow Chip & Lance.”  I’ve known the guys behind those characters for many years, and I’ve done some work behind the scenes for them.  They were thinking about reposting their web series from the 90s, and I’m writing about the 90s, so we decided to join forces on that project.  Go check them out.