I've been keeping a "b-side" on this blog irregularly since 2002. It's mostly personal but sometimes something more. In an age where anyone's own private projects as documented on the internet can interest a broader community, and where one's friends are no longer just those with whom one can interact IRL on any given day, a blog is both a private record of events in one's life, a letter to friends and family, an ongoing discussion with passers by, and an open dialog with the world around us. For me, Burkbum.com is all of those things, although lately it's just a lot of baby pictures.
Burkbum was the very first email address I selected in the AOL days. I didn't want to have an email address like josh5849 so I picked something that was unique, if a little obscure/obtuse. At the time, I was reading The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac and was quite taken by the notion. I tried words like dharmabum and joshuabum and stuff, but couldn't find anything I liked. At the time, I wore Birkenstocks all the time and was living in Albuquerque (aka, the Burque), so I thought I'd choose something sort of phonetic. So, I became Burkbum. It's held. It's the only nickname I've ever chosen for myself and it's worked out pretty well.
