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Blog Entry 65 of 567 What's Going On

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HubCap: Joe McDaniel, awesome guy

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Contributed by: Brendan Leonard/YourHub.com on 6/27/2006

Back when John Temple was envisioning what eventually became YourHub.com, he was probably thinking of people who like to know what's going on in their community -- something like the beauty shop ladies in my hometown, but with ambition,digital cameras and high-speed Internet. (Also, they wouldn't be prejudiced against me because I may or may not have put a flaming bag of dog poop on their porch one fall evening.)

John Temple's head, sometime in 2004: "We could have Web sites for each town/suburb in the Denver metro area, and people who live in those areas can write about what's going on in their community, and we'll print their stories and photos in a weekly print edition that only contains local news."

But if I was there, in John Temple's head, I would have said, "Yeah, but they'll write funny stuff, too. Kind of like The Onion." (Imagine me as a tiny person in a devil costume, if that helps.)

And then John Temple's head and I would have created a person like Joe McDaniel, who loves to post stories about what people in Parker are up to, like this one, about the Sundowners group from Hidden River II and their summer trip to Steamboat Springs. But Joe would also write quirky pieces like " Dogs receiving preferential treatment," in which he talks about being barred from drinking out of the same bowl as dogs, who represent the oppressive majority, pets, in this country.

And John Temple would have been happy, and I would have cackled, since I believe that news is a great thing, but laughing is an even greater thing, and if you can get them both in the same place, well, that's something, isn't it? Joe McDaniel is a source of both laughter and news. He's like a Major League pitcher who can actually bat (and we all know that's too good to ever be true). He reports and he tells jokes, sometimes about his grandkids, sometimes about the featured artist at the local gallery, the International Order of Rocky Mountain Goats, or about the death of the English language as he sees it. He's kind of like our local Jon Stewart.

We realize not everyone who visits our Web site is going to be like Joe. I'm just saying we really like him. Here's a link to all of Joe's blog entries and another one to all of his stories.

Also, John Temple's head would write in five paid "powder days" into my contract here and allow me to wear sandals to work during the summer.