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Editor:  coloma

Name:	Donna
Email:	Send to coloma
Home Page:	http://www.mcdonnas.com/
	coloma's bookmarks (66)

Arts: Performing Arts: Acting: Actors and Actresses: G: Gage, Kevin  (4)
Recreation: Pets: Dogs: Breeds: Working Group: Portuguese Water Dog  (84)
Regional: North America: United States: California: Localities: C: Coloma  (33)
Regional: North America: United States: California: Localities: L: Lotus  (12)
Regional: North America: United States: Oregon: Localities: C: Corvallis  (197)
Regional: North America: United States: Oregon: Metro Areas and Regions: Willamette Valley  (18)

Profile

I started editing for the Open Directory Project in February 2000. Like many editors, I discovered the ODP because I needed to register URLs for sites that I'd developed -- and ended up getting sucked in! Now I think that I work on the Directory in an attempt to bring at least a bit of order to this chaotic universe. And I thoroughly enjoy the comradeship and teamwork of this amazing group of volunteers.

Raised in a tiny town in northeastern Oregon (Weston), I've never been comfortable in big cities. But after studying computer science at Stanford, I ended up staying in the Bay Area because of the great jobs there. For over 15 years I worked as an engineer, manager and product manager with teams developing software for voice/data PBXs (telephone switches) and for managing data networks. I loved the technology but always planned to return to Oregon someday.

Then in 1987 I learned to kayak on the South Fork of the American River. I had already been a whitewater rafting junkie but now I was hooked on kayaking, and soon became hooked on the South Fork and the local Coloma-Lotus community in the Sierra foothills as well. Escaping to the foothills became my goal. I first started living here part-time in 1993, and finally stopped going back to the Bay Area for jobs this January, 2002.

The transition was challenging. In 1993 I bought a little piece of South Fork riverfront property, all in the flood plain, and over several years managed to "work some deals" to annex enough high ground to make the parcel buildable. From December 1997 to January 2001 my primary focus was building a home on this property. The good news is that the home was wonderful -- compact, efficient (SIPs, passive solar), light and beautiful, and on the river that I love so much. The bad news is that the original estimates were seriously unrealistic, and it went so far over budget that I couldn't afford to keep it without returning to the Bay Area once again.

So in January 2002 I sold the house, bought a trashed fixer-upper in Coloma that was half the price and still in walking distance to the river, and tried to figure out what was next with my life. I thought that my riverfront home would make me happy, and have been struggling to let go of all the expectations I'd loaded onto it. I've been studying Buddhist meditation and have found that when I practice regularly I am a much happier and more productive person.

I never quite let go of my roots in Oregon, and in late 2004, some family health issues caused me to think again about returning "home." So in December I bought a home in Corvallis, and moved there in January, 2005.

I am still developing web sites and doing other consulting work. In 1995 I started a web site for the communities of Coloma and Lotus, which I still maintain. It will give you an idea of why I will always love this area, just as I love Oregon's green Willamette Valley.

In December, 2007, I lost my beloved Portuguese Water Dog, Sam, to lymphoma. She was just a week shy of her 16th birthday. Shortly after that, I adopted Dusty, a young Lhasa Apso who needed a new home. He is a total love bug who never met a lap he didn't like. I can't believe how lucky I was to find him!