Riiiiight. What's a cubit?

A cubit is an ancient unit of linear measure, equal to the distance from one's elbow to the tip of one's middle finger. Thus, everyone's cubit is a unique measure. (Thank you, Bill Cosby and dictionary.com)

On to more germane definitions -- and in this case, it's equally unique to the individual doing the measuring and defining.

What's a Companion Blog?

Well, let me tell you a story. Actually, this is my blog -- let me tell you two stories.

Back in the late 80s, I met a fellow Emory student named Ben and we became friends. (Shortly before I met Ben, I met Wanda, and we too became friends, long before they became Ben-and-Wanda practically or legally. But that's another story.) After I graduated, we fell out of touch, but never out of fondness.

Come up to 2001, and I moved back to Atlanta. A few months into my stay there an email from Ben popped up in my inbox. "Is that you?" "Yes, it's me!" I e-cried. Ben and Wanda were also living in Atlanta once again, and we enjoyed the chance to renew our friendship face-to-face over choral music (scroll down till you see the flyer that says "Sing Joyfully"), lots of food at each other's houses, and general carousing. You haven't really lived until you've heard Ben order a Spaten Optimator.

Rather than let my move to CA threaten that renewal, Ben and I set our minds to thinking up creative ways to keep it going. I suggested I start a blog, Ben immediately offered to host it for me and got it all set up, and voila! This blog was ready to be born.

Little did I know, Ben and Wanda had a blog of their own. We decided to braid our blogs together, making them Companion Blogs. Any day you visit Ben and Wanda's blog, you might find a posting in response to a "writing assignment" I suggested to them, and vice versa here. Ben and Wanda may also invite me, or I them, to comment on a post or something inside a post -- for example, in Ben's recent posting about adventures with the Indiana DMV, he might have asked me to see if I could top it with a posting in my blog about confronting the CA DMV. (I'm glad he didn't -- I haven't made my automotive presence known to the state yet.)

Of course, all nonspammers are welcome to leave comments in both blogs. The Companion Blog relationship is intended to be more extensive than that, but by no means exclusive. I believe that over time, it'll mean richer and more delightful blogs for us to write and for you to read.

Blog on, Companion!