Mortality

Posted By on August 22, 2011 at 12:14 pm

I received the bad news this weekend; an old friend and former co-worker had died.

Jose was one of the first people I met when I went to work at Cisco Systems in San Jose back in ’96. I was a complete noob, but he never hesitated to help when I was beating my head against a problem.

He was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer last year in May. After chemotherapy and radiation treatment, it looked like he was doing OK… but then last month testing showed the cancer was back… and despite undergoing a new round of chemo, Jose died just one month later.

It’s hard to see this happen.

When I was struck with my neurological problem, I spent a lot of time pondering my own mortality before the neurologists ruled out the more serious diseases. But for the usual reasons, I suppose, I’ve never given much thought to other peoples’ mortality, and so the loss of a friend comes as a surprise, particularly when it’s someone as young and full of life as Jose.

I’m obviously not the first person ever to lose a friend this way, and Jose isn’t the first friend I’ve lost. And I know that as the years go by, as we all get older, this kind of thing is going to happen more and more often.

Jose died surrounded by friends and family who loved him a lot. I guess that’s the most any of us can ask for, when our time comes.

Category: Personal Stuff | Comments Off on Mortality
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A Week’s Worth of Twitter Updates

Posted By on August 21, 2011 at 4:27 am

  • "Magnets: how DO they work?" #ronpaulslogans #tcot #
  • RT @The_Occasion: Get off My Lawn!! #ronpaulslogans #
  • "I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions because of the war." #ronpaulslogans #
  • "The voices in my head say you should vote for me." #ronpaulslogans #
  • "Because liberty is about more than just smoking dope. Sometimes it's about isolationism, too." #ronpaulslogans #
  • "Because the Democrats shouldn't have a lock on the anti-Semite vote." #ronpaulslogans #
  • Cat just knocked a full cup of coffee into my main PC's keyboard. Huzzah. #
  • How to ruin a keyboard: let the cat spill coffee on it. Total loss. Stuck with mouse & on-screen keyboard until tomorrow. #
  • This is a test of the Emergency Keyboard Replacement System. This is only a test. #
  • "If you've had too much sanity, Dr. Ron Paul has the cure." #ronpaulslogans #
  • RT @MassEffectNews: Dungeon Masters Rejoice! Roleplaying in Mass Effect 3 Is Deeper Than Ever http://t.co/RK5s0Hi #me3 #
  • "Do you see? DO YOU SEE?" #ronpaulslogans #
  • Three inescapable facts of life: 1) Death, 2) Taxes, 3) at any given moment, Gordon Ramsey is swearing at someone. #
  • Dominate^4 MT @MassEffectDeals: Rick Perry supports Mass Effect 3 in 2012 campaign commercial @1:52 http://t.co/Jub5rkv #me3 #tcot #
  • KItty litter. Soiled. // RT @keder: QUICK: Name one household object you'd vote for over Obama! #tcot #p2 #
  • New keyboard – woohoo. http://t.co/3nBhTW8 #
  • Not as pretty as the DB-9. / MT @BBC_TopGear: More Aston One-77 goodness, as new supercar debuts in the US. #TopGear http://t.co/wY16pBR #
  • [Tweet implying how busy I am & regrets for silence.] #
  • I don't care what anyone else says… The Five on FNC has the best bumper music. http://t.co/FqGKyI0 #thefive #
  • For a minute, I was suddenly overcome with a sense of grief, missing my buddy Xaxu – http://t.co/olrrVCD – What a great little guy he was. #
  • Just pre-ordered Mass Effect 3 CE… not sure how best to pass the time until March. Maybe another 10 or 12 #ME2 play-throughs. #ME3 #
  • In progress: coffee, mug of, 16 ounce, one each. Last night's shift ran 2 hrs overtime, it'll take more than that to get me thru today. #
  • I said it yesterday, and I'll say it again: FNC's "The Five" has the *best* bumper music – http://t.co/PxMnfYb – #thefive #
  • Very nice… "Normandy" by Miracle of Sound http://t.co/7sRSMvY via @livestream #me3 #
  • Oh boy… vet appointment at 9:30 tomorrow. I'm going to be a zombie, I suspect. #cat #
  • Much LOLing – Miracle of Sound : I Suck at Call of Duty – http://t.co/t1nv4pL #
  • Field of Dreams. Every damn time. #redeye #
  • The vet came to see Mycah… and left with Mycah in a carrier. She isn't eating, lost a lot of weight (3lbs) and has a racing pulse. #worry #
  • Call from vet: Mycah will be coming home w/ meds – an appetite stimulant and one to slow her heart a bit. And some extra-gooshy/tasty food. #
  • I do love an easy-to-solve network problem… especially when I'm very very short on sleep and fuzzy-headed. #geek #
  • OK, why do my legs itch? Someone please make it stop. #
  • Freshly laundered towels on my bed waiting to be folded. Do I have to tell you where Kismet chose for his nap? #obvious #cat #

Category: Twitter | Comments Off on A Week’s Worth of Twitter Updates
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