About Canyonfire

---

Canyonfire is the successor to the website I created in 1996 called the Red Cedar Valley Journal. At the time I was living in Menomonie in west-central Wisconsin. The Red Cedar River flows through the middle of Menomonie, widening to form Lake Menomin in the heart of town. I intended the website as a place to shape thoughts about living in the Red Cedar Valley.

I moved to Oakland, California, in late August 2000 to begin a job as a technical writer in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although my first job evaporated in the tech economy collapse in the spring of 2001, I subsequently worked at several hardware and software companies in Silicon Valley and the East Bay. In June 2002 I began doing volunteer work for the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association (FMSA), including in the SEALS and Beach Watch programs. In the spring of 2003 I substitute-taught in the San Ramon Valley school district east of Oakland, then worked for 4 months as a contract tech writer at FormFactor, which makes semiconductor testing components in Livermore. After a year working as a technical writer at GreenPoint Mortgage in Novato in northern Marin County, I became a "regular" employee for the company in November 2004. I still live in Oakland just north of beautiful Lake Merritt.

I ported over the content of my old website to this one, which I named Canyonfire. By now in early 2005 I have explored the Bay Area very happily and have discovered all kinds of fabulous things. I bought a digital camera in December 2001, am now  on my third digicam (my latest, greatest is a Panasonic Lumix FZ20), and have posted a number of pictures in the Photo Gallery section. The newest feature (Nov. 2005) is a link to several albums of pictures I have posted to Flickr.com (click the link above to the Photo Gallery). Those albums include photos of Las Vegas, the Bay Area, Monterey/Carmel, and trips to the "Sideways" wine country.

Why Canyonfire? Well, since I was no longer living in the Red Cedar Valley, the old name didn't make much sense. So I went looking for a name that would evoke the West, and Canyonfire seemed to do just that. Think of the red canyon country of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico and you will get the idea. Take a look at Journey to the Great Southwest .

I invite you to explore the categories on the homepage, which are repeated down the left side of each page. I'd love to hear from you—just click Contact.

Glad to have you aboard!

Larry ("Lorenxo")