Truer Words - A Journal

Refugees from the Weather

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 23:26:04 GMT

Sunday that crazy storm started to blow, the Nor'easter that dumped record amounts of rain all over the northeast. Very early Monday morning — around 4:00 am — there was a very powerful blast of wind and our power went out. (I happened to be awake at the time.)

Later that morning, Connecticut Light and Power didn't know when our service would be restored (but they were "aware of the problem"). By noon they were reporting (through their phone service) that our power would be back by 12:00 am on the 18th (so, midnight on Wednesday morning). This was on Monday the 16th. So we were facing up to almost two days without power. Nuh-uh.

That's not going to work. We have a baby here now, and would really like to keep her warm and well fed without resorting to extreme measures. We talked about finding a hotel room for the night, but Ellyn suggested we talk to Eric & Bonny about staying in their summer rental property for the night, as it's currently empty. They said yes, so that's what we did. (Thank you guys!)

After returning from my weeekly breakfast with Rich (and, this week, Kerri, Teddy and even Lauren!) in North Kingstown, Corinne and I decided to pack up the vehicles and trek back to Mystic. The phone company was still saying that service would be restored by midnight tonight, and we really wanted to be home. (Plus, we'd only brought enough "baby stuff" for one night.) (Pictures are of Rich and Kerri holding Lauren.)

First thing we saw as we approached the house? The garage door ascending in response to the truck's built-in remote. YAY!!! According to the blinking clocks all over the house, the power had been back on since before Corinne called the first time this morning.

Incidentally, this storm was no joke. Though western CT received more rain than we did, it's rather hilly around here so the streams, creeks, brooks and rivers all rose significantly. One in Waterford (just a few miles away) rose a full nine feet. Also, the wind ripped our closed deck umbrella right off of its base and tossed it over the edge, wrapping it around the birdfeeder I had mounted to the side of the deck with a fancy wrought-iron hanger. (Our only losses were, thankfully, the umbrella and some wind chimes that I think were given to us as a wedding present.)

I've posted some pictures of the very flooded Mystic River Road.

Happy New Year, One and All

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 16:22:11 GMT

2006 was a good year for me and mine, in many ways.

To all of my family near and far, to my ecclesia here and worldwide, to all of my friends new and old, close or distant:

Happy
New Year!

Hoping 2007 will be even better, for all of us...

Tuesday's Grab Bag of Highs and Lows

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 01:57:47 GMT

Tuesday was an intense day, with some very high highs and very low lows. I'm just going to brain-dump it all.

Low and High:

Perry died. This is very sad for all of us, but he lived a long, full life and had plenty of time to know even his great grandchildren. I had to call this both a high and a low... it's hard to attach anything "all bad" to Perry Lanphear.

High:

Breakfast at Snoopy's Diner with a friend and client. The business side of the meeting went well, as plans were made and progress reviewed. The friendly side of the meeting was even better. Best of all were the pancakes! Mama mia. Must take Corinne there so she can replicate those Apple-slice-filled beauties. (Oh wait, I gave up food. Nuts!)

High:

After my gigantic breakfast, I drove up to see Steve Davis in MA so we could go for a ride. He had a basketball game the night before, so was worried that he'd be too tired for my pace. I promised that I would ride super hard the day before and then eat a huge breakfast to weigh me down. I did both, but neither were necessary: he kept me talking the whole time! It's hard to push the pace when you're talking so much that you can't breathe heavily. Sneaky, Steve.

This was ride #103. Stats: 36.4 miles (58.60 km) in 1h 59' 37" for an average speed of 18.25 mph (29.39 kph).

Low:

Our average speed for that ride. (Sorry Steve, couldn't resist.)

High & Low, Again:

After I left Steve's place, I went straight to Gary's & Ellyn's house in Westerly. Ellyn had invited the whole family for a "send off dinner" for Gramma and Grampa. They were up here in New England for much longer this year than previous years, because of Mandi's wedding, but now they're heading home and last night was our last chance to see them this year. I was about 90 minutes early because the alternative was driving all the way home, finding something to do for 30 minutes, then driving back again.

I had a chance to watch Grampa cut down a whole Pineapple into rings. He'd never done it before, and definitely did not like the fact that there's so much waste. Rather than just slice a little more deeply as he "skinned" it, he made shallow cuts and then worked with a paring knife to dig out the bits of rind that were left. After slicing it down, he carefully cut the inedible core out of every piece. This was all both highly amusing and rather painful to witness, but he didn't cut *himself* so all's well that ends well. :-)

Almost everybody made it to the dinner. Corinne had to work until 6:30 so she was late, but wanted to be there so she could say goodbye. Dad was there until 6:45, but had to leave to teach a class. Gary worked late but made a quiet appearance while we were still eating (spaghetti and meatballs). Katie's in Colorado so couldn't be there at all. Mandi, just back from her honeymoon for a day, showed up just before G&G were about to give up and go back to their rental for the night. (She had to work late, also.) Sarah was there but left a little early because Art, who couldn't make it due to work, needed some dinner. Everybody else in the family (Mom, Jed, Ellyn, Gramma and Grampa, Tom, and Rusty) was there, too.

Quite a day.

Perry Lanphear

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 00:52:57 GMT

Very early Tuesday morning, a wonderful man, friend and brother succumbed to old age and human nature. Perry Lanphear was about 80 years old, and had lived without any functional kidneys for a long time. I truly believe that everyone who knew Perry saw him as the "strong, silent type," and a true Yankee. He was also one of the smartest and wisest people I've ever known. I'm tempted to say that we — his friends, family, and ecclesia — are the worse for his loss, but the truth is that what he gave us over the years so completely eclipses his loss that there's no fair comparison.

There were so many things about "Uncle Perry" that I hope are never forgotten. His sometimes subtle (and sometimes not subtle at all) yet hilarious sense of humor; his love for his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren; his generosity; his amazing humility; that awesome yet rarely used Voice of Authority.

Perry endured (in a sense that some will comprehend, but not all), right to the very last moment. Just saying that makes me so proud I get choked up. Just days before he died, he was there with us, celebrating Mandi's and Ben's new life together. And though he must have been exhausted and worn thin, he was there again around the table with us just a day later.

Everyone has a story about Perry, a reason to remember, something to hold onto. No one in my own family will ever forget the kindnesses he showed us when we all first moved to Rhode Island from New Hampshire, in 1991.

Sleep now, Brother. Your life remains an inspiring example to everyone who knew you. Better things — better than even your deep mind ever imagined — now await.

Score One for Those Clever Malware Authors

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 16 May 2005 00:36:15 GMT

A week ago, my cousin Kt sent me a link via IM that said something like, "This is cool, check it out." We haven't spoken on IM in months, so I immediately guessed that it was a virus/worm/malware doing the talking. I wrote back to tell her that she was infected.

I clicked the link anyway. I'm on a mac, and figured I'd be impervious to all but a kryptonite-powered virus. I was right, it immediately downloaded a .exe file. No harm done.

The next day, Andrew E. sent me the same message. Andrew and Katie are friends, and I knew where he got it. I wrote back to tell him he was infected, but -- like Kt -- he wasn't actually there at the time.

Thursday night it finally turned funny. I was over at Eric and Bonny's house, tutoring Avonlee, when Eric told me that he got an IM from Andrew. I told him I'd seen the same one a couple of times. Eric uses a mac at work, so I figured he was as impervious as me.

But, no. Eric didn't realize it was a virus. He actually put the file on one of their Windows servers so he could see what Andrew said was cool.

Really, I'm not making this up. Not sure I could have if I had tried.

He was lucky, though. For some reason -- possibly because there was no instant message program installed on that server -- it didn't infect the machine. Perhaps with no way to replicate itself, it simply self-immolated.

I haven't done any research, so I don't even know the name of this bug. If you're on Windows, though, just be careful about the fairly innocuous sounding "this was cool" or "check out my pics" messages from people on your buddy list.

Darn virus writers are a clever bunch, aren't they?

(I realize that virii-via-IM isn't a new phenomemon, but this is the first time I've seen it first-hand.)

Week Three of Math Tutoring

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 22:17:58 GMT

Tonight I'll be tutoring Avonlee in Math, for the third week in a row. She was struggling with fractions, but I think she's over it now. When we started, she seemed to think that a fraction was nothing more than two numbers separated by a line. They didn't make any sense to her, especially all the rules for working with them.

Now she has no problem with adding, subtracting, and multiplying fractions, including mixed fractions. She knows how to find a common denominator. She likes my examples with marbles! I'm testing her tonight, and if she does well then we're moving on. (Obviously, fractions aren't going away. They never do... but we won't have to focus on them exclusively.)

She's probably never going to love math. Her parents both hate it. Our hope is that being taught by someone who *does* love math will at least make it easier for her to reach her potential. Kids know (as would any adult) when their parents are dreading a particular subject.

Soon, possibly next week, I'm going to start working with her younger brother Ethan. Separately. He's been described as the opposite of Av. "Advanced." I'm going to try to ignore that, and just let them both work at their own best pace. How would it affect Av, to frequently hear that she's struggling where her younger brother is excelling? At least they don't seem to be very competitive.

Watching the Babies Grow Up

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 10:53:22 GMT

Just a couple of days ago, I lived in the same house as Eric and Bonny. A giant farm house, converted into a duplex, on Watch HIll Road in Westerly, RI. Eric and I worked at the same place in Providence, and commuted together every morning. Bonny was pregnant with Avonlee, their first. Mine was one of the voices that we said "Av would know" when she was born, because she'd heard it so often while still in the womb.

I was standing in their kitchen the first time I met her, I remember it very clearly. Like I said, that was just a couple of days ago.

Last night I went to their house, in a different part of Westerly. Why? To tutor their twelve year old daughter, Avonlee, in math. (Where's this twelve year old come from!? What happened to the baby from a couple days ago...?) She's home schooled, approximately at the fifth or sixth grade level. She's very smart, but fractions have been eluding her and I'm more than happy to help. In fact, I offered to teach her math class months ago, without knowing that she was struggling with fractions.

Av has always been one of my favorites. The ecclesia used to call me the sandman because, as an infant, she'd fall asleep whenever I held her. Yet, somehow, in just a couple of days she grew up and needs my help with math!? In an email this morning, Eric said, "Funny, I was looking at Av. while you were doing the lesson and was remembering bringing her home to Watch Hill Rd. WOW! Are we all getting OLD!"

I know what he means, but this didn't make me feel old. It made me feel displaced, somehow out of (outside of) time. As though I bounced, like a stone on water, from then to now. Only observing the years in between as a blur, a rush of memories. Temporal vertigo, that's the best way to describe this.

Greg and Katie are feeling it a little, too, and their story only enhanced my own feeling because I remember (what they shared of) the whole ordeal of the fertility clinics, the pregnancy, and then the "events" in their boys' lives.

Life and memory can be so motion-blurred. I love these moments, like now, when everything stops and comes back into focus. Kids do that better than anything else.

Memory Quilt for My Grandmother's 75th Birthday

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 03 Nov 2003 09:49:21 GMT

My Dad's Mother's seventy-fifth birthday was last week. My Mom made a "memory quilt" for her. A memory quilt is basically just a quilt with photos on it. The photos are printed to a "transfer paper" -- basically an iron-on system -- and then applied to the cloth. The bits are then all sewn together. The thumbnail image to the right is a link to a larger photo showing the finished quilt.

Excelent, isn't it? I was really impressed.

The photos were scanned in and given to me on a CD. Some of them were color, some were black and white, most of them were older than digital cameras. I 'sepia toned' them -- some by literally making a silhouetted sepia tone, some by just adjusting the colors. (Making a real, old fashioned sepia tone in Photoshop can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, and I don't have that kind of time, so I only did it to those that needed it most.) After I was done, I sent the photos back to my Mom, who created the quilt.

Thursday, Mom and Dad flew down to Florida to spend a few days with my Grandparents, and celebrate her birthday. She called me after getting the quilt... she loved it!

I love that my digital tools could be used to make something really old fashioned and worthwhile in my analog world, and what better way than to help make a comforting gift for your own loving grandmother on her 75th birthday?

Happy Birthday, Gramma!

P.S. Bonus points to anybody who can find Corinne or me in the pictures. ;-) We're both in more than one of them.

eBay Barbie (or eBay Eric, or eBay Jed...)

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 25 Oct 2003 09:56:04 GMT

Reading this hilarious eBay story (it's an actual auction listing) seriously reminded me of Eric. And now my brother, also. And probably a few other friends.

Seriously, it's laugh-out-loud funny, especially if you know any addicts.

2003 ACS Relay for Life

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 31 May 2003 17:14:43 GMT

To everyone who sponsored me in the relay last night: Thank You! I really appreciate it. You know who you are.

This was my third year, and it was definitely the best so far, mostly because there were even more people. Our team was bigger (more from the ecclesia decided to participate this year), and there simply a lot more people there. Also, Ellyn and family really did a nice job of setting up the team "camp site," so there was food and nice chairs.

Two years ago it was very hot. Last year it was very cold. Last night there was a chance of rain, but it never happened (surprising, considering the rain we've had this year). Temps were in the upper sixties, with no breeze, which is perfect for walking.

I walked from 10:10 to 11:10 PM, and went around the track eleven times. Afterwards, I made myself a steak-and-pepper sandwich on the grill, and hung around chatting with Ellyn, Mark, Jed, Eric, Avonlee, Jasmyne, Bonnie, Mandi, and Katie (listed in the order I remember them sitting around the circle) until 1 AM.

Eric was threatening to fall asleep in his chair, and I was feeling a little too comfy in mine, so I went home when he started setting up the tent for he and Av (daughter). Bonny was home with the boys, she was going to walk this morning.

Really had a great time, I wish we could have get-togethers like this (with or without the teeming masses of strangers) more often.

Next up: my first century is next Saturday (one week), and then there's the PMC on August 2nd, for which I still need to raise at least $1100.

And Another One Bites the Dust...

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 16 Apr 2003 17:55:20 GMT

Steve Ivy tells me that I've addicted him to Sluggy Freelance. Good!

That makes, uh... five addictees to my credit. At least, five that have told me so. Mark M., Eric, Jed, Darren, and now Steve.

(Darren currently has my Sluggy books, except for the one I left in Jed's van. He's trying to get caught up.)

I'm Sick of Cancer

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 30 Mar 2003 19:56:42 GMT

I'm sick of cancer.

Do you know anyone who has had cancer? If not, you're lucky, definitely in a minority. There are an awful lot of people out there with it, or who had it and survived. There are a lot more who have died from it.

This year I'm walking in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life (in Westerly, RI), and riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge. Both of these are fund-raising events, and I need your help.

Please read the full essay to find out how you can help.

13 Inch New Hampshire Snowstorm

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 27 Dec 2002 10:45:14 GMT

Eric and Bonny went to NH this week with their kids (and Frank, Bonnie, and Bethany Locke), and were buried under thirteen inches of snow after Wednesday's storm. We didn't get much of anything here along the coast (maybe two inches), so go check out their pictures.

A Burger King Christmas Carol

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 12 Dec 2002 11:41:28 GMT

Eric sent me a link to this very low brow -- but still very funny -- Burger King Christmas Carol.

Normally I wouldn't point to this, but I'm annoyed with BK for their recent ads so I'm happy to point to something that razzes them a little.

Update: they've changed it a little. After you go to that page, click the "Click Here" link at the bottom right corner.

Wrong Plugin

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 02 Nov 2002 21:48:10 GMT

I spent about five hours at the ecclesial hall today, working on the expansion with Dad, Jed, Perry, Jim Burns, Gary Schlageter, and Eric Pride. Stuffed insulation, ripped down aluminum rods from the beams in the old kitchen's ceiling, and moved a doorway about a foot to the right. Nothing very exciting, but it was good to help.

The rest of the day was supposed to be spent on the weblog plug. I've finalized the core features, and it's time to start working on the RSS side of things, but unfortunately some bugs were found in Conversant's email feature, one of which was related (tangentially) to activating URL's with regex.

It was an easy fix, but since I was working in the email interface anyway I optimized a few things (like replacing 60 very old calls to string.replaceAll() with just three calls to string.multipleReplaceAll()). I've also brought our multipart MIME parser closer to RFC 2045 compliance.

Unfortunately, there was no progress on the weblog plugin today. It won't be long now, though. We're hoping to start beta testing it with a few users next week.

Remember Dave

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 17 Oct 2002 10:01:32 GMT

It's been one year since we said goodbye to Dave Bilello. Eric reminded me early this morning.

We still miss him, and we still imitate him at every opportunity. It's a salve for this wound that heals much too slowly.

Thinking about our loss -- his early rest -- still chokes me up, and brings a tear to my eye.

2001 was framed with the death of dear friends and punctuated with 911. What a lousy year.

Surprise Party!

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 01 Sep 2002 17:05:26 GMT

After meeting, Corinne and I came home to change our clothes then went to Gary and Ellyn's for a cookout. Gramma and Grampa are going back to Florida now that Summer is over (mostly), and they were leaving right after the cookout.

We walked into the yard, and Corinne yelled "Surprise!" then everybody else yelled it. I thought she was yelling "surprise" because we weren't extremely late (a bad habit we definitely have). Took me half a minute to realize that they were yelling it at *me*, and that the yard was decorated with "Happy 30th Birthday" decorations. Heh.

(My birthday is on the 9th.)

To make it even funnier, I'd just told her (on the way over to the cookout) that I'd like to have a family cookout next week for my birthday, but probably on Sunday so that I could still do a long ride on Monday as I've planned. We even joked that I'm the only person who could literally plan his own surprise party, because I'm so forgetful. (Get it?)

Wow, I can be so clueless sometimes. Corinne gets upset with me for figuring out secrets way ahead of time, but I had absolutely no idea this party was for me.

They had a cake for me, and on it was a photograph (inkjet printed with food coloring, a technology that is very cool) of a two-years-old Seth riding his first tricycle. My Mom said, "those were your first wheels." Very appropriate.

Presents included: a very nice Cuisinart coffee maker (the same one that everyone else in the family has), a bunch of coffee, a bean jar, a large mug, interesting hot sauces, a gift certificate to Bombay Spice & Grill, money, and lots of funny and/or sappy cards. Oh, and my parents gave me a silly little bell for my Bicycle, just as a gag. (They also gave me a new suit a couple weeks ago!)

The best present of all, though, was just having (almost) everybody together, happy, and relaxed. With all the travelling over the last couple weeks, I haven't seen most of them in awhile, and I'd missed them. I really appreciated this. A few people coudln't be there for various reasons: Mark was visiting his girlfriend in NH, Heather's in Canada, etc., but it was still a lot of fun and a great surprise.

(Most of the credit for the party apparently goes to Corinne, Ellyn, Mom, and Art. Thank you!)

Comfort the Sick and With Children

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 31 Jan 2002 19:37:16 GMT

Yes, the subject is a blatant misquote, I admit it.

One of the couples in our ecclesia is travelling this week, so Eric and Bonny have two of their kids (as well as their own three). Corinne's helping them out by cooking some of their meals this week. My contribution is delivering the food when it's ready to go. Today I dropped off chicken (like very few people have ever tasted before), stuffing, mashed potatoes, a macaroni-and-cheese-like casserole, and various other delights.

Last night we found out that Gary (my uncle) went into the hospital because he was having a hard time breathing. Said it felt like Tommy (his son) was sitting on his chest. He's had problems like this before, but the doc was concerned and put him in the hospital overnight.

So... Corinne whipped up a meal for the Schlageters, too (Gary, Ellyn, Mandi, Katie), and I delivered it at the same time as the Pride's. Ellyn was home, and said I should stop in to see Gary. Yeesh... I'm tired of friends and family being in the hospital!

Surprise! Gary looked great, and would have been pacing the halls waiting for them to release him if not for the I.V. drip in his arm, delivering an anti-coagulant (they thought the breathing problem might have been due to a blood clot). He was wearing shorts and watching TV and looked totally healthy. In fact, his biggest complaint was that the doctor woke him up at 7:15 this morning, after an almost sleepless night. I hung out with him for fifteen or twenty minutes, and then left very much relieved. :-)

New Year's Eve 2001

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 01 Jan 2002 18:00:33 GMT

Last night Corinne and I went to Jim & Dee Burns's house for the ecclesial New Year's gathering/party/devotional/shindig. The devotion, run by John and Heather Woodward, was based on a talk I gave in the first half of the year (that was a pleasant surprise, sometimes I wonder if anybody's still awake... I have the same problem here!).

A little exercise they devised for us all was picking someone's name out of a hat, and then writing on the piece of paper (with the name) something positive about that person. Very much a feel-good activity. Corinne and I were spooked at first because we both thought they were going to tell us to write down what we'd want for that person. We'd considered suggesting that, but hadn't, so it was weird that they even came close to it. (Incidentally, Bonny Pride and I usually pick each others' names for these little activities. Strange.)

Later, Ken Willis and I were talking in the Dining Room (near the chips and dips, of course), and he asked me about our financial situation. I told him that 2001 was horrible. It was like we (Corinne and I) were "walking hand-in-hand through the valley of the shadow of death" for most of the year.

Nobody warned us ahead of time that there was a monster in the valley called "financial woes". That beast tried very hard to pull our hands apart while it was also beating us each over the head with a club and making a lot of noise.

It almost beat us, honestly. Life was pretty dark for awhile, but we're still hand-in-hand (and heart-to-heart) and the monster seems to be shrinking. Finally. (Though he never really goes away, does he?)

For the first time in my experience, Ken didn't have much of anything to say. ;-) I don't think he expected such an honest and visual answer.

Thank God for family, friends, and above all a loving wife. That's my lesson from 2001.

This has been a Tough Week

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 19 Oct 2001 15:57:47 GMT

This has been a tough week. Dave's been on my mind almost constantly.

I think what bothers me the most is thinking about all the things he's not going to experience. That's not all of it, though... frankly, I'm going to miss him.

We'd been a lot less involved since I married Corinne, and of my closest friends he'd always been the "least close" (if that makes any sense).

I realized that fact last night. Then I completely freaked myself out by wondering how badly I'd be affected if someone even closer to me were to die, like one of my parents, or Jed or Sarah, or Darren, or Mark... or worst of all, Corinne.

Shudder...

Whoa, I think I'll avoid that one from now on. It's a pointless worry, anyway.

I know I'm not the only one feeling this way. Poor Karen, Dave's sister, is hurting a lot worse than I am. So is their dad. Jed and Mark lived with Dave for the last few years, while I've been making a life with Corinne... they're surely hurting a lot more than I am, too. Eric and Bonny were sort of a cross between Dave's best friends and a two-headed surrogate mother... I know Eric's miserable (but not constantly), because he wears his heart on his sleeve even more than I do. Darren is probably feeling an awful lot like I am (though he expresses it differently), which is more than I'd wish on anybody.

There's always hope, and I don't think any of us have forgotten or doubted that for a second. The pain comes from the loss we feel now. Hope doesn't make pain go away, it just helps you bear it and cope with it.

Tonight's the funeral, and tomorrow Dave will be buried on Long Island, presumably near his mother's grave. (I won't be at the burial.)

Corinne will be at the big cat show in New Jersey on Saturday and Sunday. I'm really, really hoping to spend time with a few people this weekend... hopefully they're all thinking the same way.

Go spend some time with the people you love, especially those you see the least. You just never know what tomorrow will bring.

Saying Goodbye to My Friend, Dave Bilello

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 17 Oct 2001 09:04:15 GMT

I just received a terrible phone call.

My friend and brother Dave Bilello died just a few minutes ago.

Shock, and tears, and sorrow... and maybe a little relief. He was suffering, badly, and now his nightmare is over.

And ours begins.

Dave is the crankiest, most caustic, most irritating, and without a doubt the funniest person I've ever known in my entire life. Every friend he has considers it a point of honor to be able to imitate him at the right moment.

He's a New Yorker, from Long Island.

Everybody loves Dave. Even (especially) those that couldn't stand him. He's a paradox: the attitude of a giant, or a jock, or a genius... impossibly stuffed into a small, frail, asthmatic, insomniac body.

Playing Basketball with Dave -- even just a game of HORSE! -- is a lesson in pain and humility. Elbows, man... sharpened to a razor's edge.

What Dave lacked in physique he more than made up for with his wit. There are certain things that one can say or do around anyone who knows him, which immediately bring Dave into the conversation. Some examples?

"Bicuspid of a Keebler Elf"
"Bicuspid of a Great White Shark"
"Nephie"
Making a loud thumping sound come from the floor, without appearing to move a muscle
"Clacking" his teeth, repeatedly
One quick, frustrated sigh... with his mouth half open
Wrecking his cars!
"I just want to get home alive!"

Dave and I were roommates for a few years. First we shared an apartment with Eric and Bonny Pride, and later with Mark Drake. When I moved out (work related), Jed took my place, and the three of them have lived there ever since.

I have so many memories of Dave... I've known him for most of my life. Things changed some after I met Corinne, but Dave's still one of the few people in my 'inner circle' of friends.

I don't want to believe it.

Sleep on now, Dave. Like those who went before you, we know you'll be back, better than ever before.

Romans 8:18-21
18* For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19* For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God.
20* For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly,
but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21* Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children
of God.