Welcome to Rick Stranger's Webpage

This page exists primarily so that people can find me on the internet. I've lost contact with a lot of people over the years, and you never know when someone might try to look you up. I tried to look up Emily once, and all I could find was that she and her husband are living in Spokane, WA, and a phone number. Why don't you just call her, you say? Well, wouldn't THAT be awkward...

Name: Benjamin Ries Olsen
Aliases: Benjamin R Olsen, Benjamin Olsen, Ben Olsen, Ben, Benny (usable only by persons named Audrey), Tage, Jim, Cadamis, Rick Stranger (obviously)

Date of birth: March 12, 1977
Place of birth: Provo, UT
Place of childhood rearing: Idaho Falls, ID (...mostly. We spent a year in Germantown, MD when I was twelve, but I don't think that counts for much.)
Place of current residence: Orem, UT, despite my best efforts to escape Utah
Best way to contact me: ben at rickstranger dot com

Stuff about me:
Technically I'm a co-creator of The Official Time-Waster's Guide, since I coded the thing myself. However, at this point I mostly just hang around the forums and act as the resident curmudgeon.

I have a blog on LiveJournal. It's mostly an outlet for rants and random thoughts, so don't expect to find out how my weekend went.

Should you be interested in stalking me, my photo gallery will be very helpful. Either I've never had any good stalkers in my life, or they've been extremely unobtrusive. I think the former is more likely, so if you plan on stalking me, I promise you'll have very little competition.

This site is run off the free server I get from working for Verio. Because I am caring, generous, and easy to manipulate, I often give web space to my friends. Some sites of interest are:
The Official Time-Waster's Guide -- For serious time-wasting, let us help.
A home for the slummites -- A fragmented group of individuals who once had a great deal in common.
Crystal Dreams -- Tim Sheehy is an excellent musician and an all-around good guy. Give his stuff a listen if you like nostalgiac video game remixes!
Rob Wells -- Rob writes LDS fiction for Covenant. He's also a red-headed stepchild. And by stepchild I mean not stepchild. Despite being red-headed, he's really quite witty, and I recommend reading his books.
Brandon Sanderson -- Brandon writes fantasy novels for Tor Books. Though not as witty as Rob, his ability to write a good epic fantasy makes up for it.