Brain Cancer and Grape Jelly
i sat down, yesterday, to demonstrate to a co-worker the cause/effect of an email issue they are having and to back up my reasoning as to why following RFCs is important when i noticed an email from an old friend in my inbox. i took a quick glance just to see what it was about and was simply stopped cold in my tracks. in the message was the obituary of a mutual friend. a guy we both worked with on several occassions, most recently when they formed a game company and i joined bringing the company size up to 3. eventually we grew to about a dozen before the end. and that is an entirely different and long story.
i kept in close touch with doug afterward, doing a little consulting for his new company, but as time went by and he was enticed away from company to company and eventually moved back east, we all but lost touch. it had been years since i spoke to him last -- he was going to be lecturing at washington university for a while as a change of pace.
as i sit and think about him, i remember a lot of things. our offices were next to each other and i can literally see him sitting at his desk as i round the corner. i can hear his voice call my name saying "come here, ya gotta check this out" and up on his screen would be some wiz-bang graphics demo he hacked together to show off the features of some new graphics card.
the funny thing is the fact that what i remember most has nothing to do with technology and the excitement that revolved around building a company and product. nope, it was having breakfast with him and a couple other members of the team and remembering the fact that he would only eat grape jelly on his toast.
i can't be back east for his memorial, but my friend is going and will pass along my condolences to his family and friends. with his last wishes in mind, i'll dig through my drawers and find something purple to wear that day and probably manage a pbj sandwich for lunch. grape jelly of course.
Posted by ac at September 14, 2005 04:26 PM