By way of his rambling comments, the next introduction to my series on “wacked out friends of Kevin” is Rex Barney. Where to begin? College friends and roommates, we only seem to become better friends year after year. And that also includes his gorgeous wife, Jenny, (who thinks she’s really from the block, but I really have to tell her who’s who each month). Graduated at 22 (wasn’t there a break sometime for an unexpected parental visit??), met a girl at 23 (the shortest engagement I’ve ever known in 3 months) and married 6 months later, house in an exclusive Silicon Valley neighborhood at 24, and let the kids begin at 25. Jenny would spend the next 8 years pregnant. But don’t sympathize, especially the new moms who just went thru hell, because despite the fact this girl barely breaks triple digits, she has the remaining 10lbs off two weeks after each birth. Not so for Rex. Instead of inserting fat joke here (which I’m now becoming very black pot about), I do have to make sure everyone who knew him in college, knows this guy ran a marathon a couple years ago. Which proves, anything can happen.

Back to the four incredible, well mannered, cute kids, Miles, Madie, Camie, & Chloe. 10, 8, 6 & 4, rounding. If all kids were as good as these, it would be a different world. So, I know all who know Rex are asking me: married a babe, has had a successful and prosperous career, bought, remodeled and sold two houses, drives sweet rides (one seats 9), lives in a 5000 sq ft palace, goes to 4 large charity dinners (bragging or complaining you bastard?? Some of us can’t even afford to eat out. I’m still paying off my grocery bills from your visit), a socialite in his community,….??? Is this the same Rex?? While Rex is a self-proclaimed meat-head (literally his head is huge), there is one flaw to this fairy tale: it takes place in a land, far, far away named………FRESNO. A town where they just got the first Lord of the Rings, they just learned who Britney Spears is (from the VMA kiss) and have their first restaurant with table cloths. On one of my previous visits, drinking at their most famous bar called the Bulldog, I saw more Cameros, gun racks and hair bares than in Sacramento in the 80’s. But to get away from all that (typically for a Weekend of Jenny, aka a WOJ), they just pack up the gang and head to LJ. 3 adults and 4 kids all in 750 sq ft of fun. Check out how they slept in my room.

With me sleeping out on the futon (the futon will be featured in a blog all to itself), the kids waking up at 6am, funny how two people can sleep in so late. Ever see 4 kids demand 4 different breakfast items all while jumping on your head?? Doesn’t seem that long ago that Rex was getting busted on a return flight from a weekend in LA from our roommate’s wedding for stealing a small, screw top bottle of wine, arguing and trying to deny it to the stewardess, then getting reprimanded by the captain after the flight. Or the day I first met Jenny, at a Cal football game and party at Tony Keeler’s in Berkeley, where we drunkenly kept screaming out “Fifteen” in reference to guessing her age. And coincidently where Rex described Patterson’s girlfriend as looking like there were two pigs wrestling under her blouse. Or the second time I met Jenny at my party in the creek, where she was greeted with an Oreo shower. But over the years, the three of us and incremental kids, have had some of my most memorable and funniest times, making a roadtrip to the Rose Bowl to see PSU, out for a WOJ in SF, taking the kids to the track, nights out in Palo Alto and Los Gatos, a big night at ZAO, watching a giggling Jenny try to do the splits after watching “Bring it On” and a couple of cocktails, and too many great dinners to remember. I really can’t say enough about these two friends and their incredible kids. I only know that they will remain a part of my life forever. Mostly, because they will always be calling me to ask about something new, like who’s Beyonce?