The passing of Mr. John Tobin

Hmm, where to start...

I received a call around 8 pm tonight. An "older" acquaintance of mine has passed on. His name is John Tobin. I received an email earlier in the day saying that he had been admitted to the hospital with advanced pneumonia. I knew it wouldn't be long. He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's some years back. The last time I had heard anything about him was a little over a year ago. He didn't recognize anyone.

I first met John through another close friend of mine, Dylan. John was Dylan's seventh grade teacher "back in the day". We were all model railroaders then. Dylan had learned that "Toby" had a layout in his basement. Dylan had a 4 x 6, and I had a single loco that I ran at his place. I remember the day that Toby broke down and let Dylan in to see his layout. His exact quote to me was "I smell trains!". About a half year later, I was admitted in as well.

Over the years, the two of us were treated to all that John knew about the hobby. What were the differences in brands. Horn hook couplers verses Kadees. Tyco verses Athearn. Kato verses Bachmann. And brass track verses nickel silver. And we learned the duller sides of the hobby too. Track cleaning, cork roadbed shifting, and knocking your head on too many duck-unders. But most of all, I remember the tremendous fun we had in a dark damp basement in Chicago.

But time marches on. The yuppies were advancing on Toby's neighborhood. He and his wife were both retired by then, so a family decision was made to sell the brownstone they owned and move to smaller digs. John had thoughtfully made a video of the old layout, and took tons of pictures over the years. Dylan was offered what I considered a prize centerpiece of that old layout. A double track arched truss bridge. When I was first there, it went across the two foot isle between the layout. I loved watching the trains cross it. I got a few boxcars, and an AHM "Big Boy".

But the signs of age were starting to show on John. Even though the new basement was just half the size, the layout framework never did go together right in his own mind. The last time I was there, it was just framework, no track. And finally, my wife and I moved to Michigan. So I never did see if the layout got completed. About five years ago, I saw Toby for my last time. I was down to Illinois to celebrate Dylan's 40th birthday. John thought of just about everything. Get together with the old train buddies at another friends home layout. Beer. Cake. And reminiscing about the "good old days". The ironic thing was that Toby almost got lost coming to the meet.

Dylan had been the one that had emailed me. And tonight, when he called to say that Toby was gone, his voice was so audibly shaken. He didn't grieve this much when his folks passed away. But I knew he did grieve. He just hid it better.

So now, I sit here, with a gin and tea next to me. And reminisce. And think about that bridge that Dylan still has. And I'm sure will never part with until his own demise.

I raise my glass in a toast: Here's to you John.

Don't knock your head on the duck-unders on God's model railroad.

Rest in Peace.

Entry for December 28, 2006

Okay, I'm pumped! I've created a new webpage on my site. It's called "October Moonbase". I've always had an interest in going to the moon. Well, it doesn't look like it's going to happen in my lifetime. But that doesn't mean that I can't create one... out of LEGOs!

Check this site out: http://www.zemi.net/moonbase/ This is a great concept. Time for my second childhood! ...Or is that my third childhood?...

Entry for December 18, 2006

Last week before X-mas. Happy HollowThanksMasEve to everyone. I hope you've survived the last three months.

Web 2.0

Web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, etc....

Okay, I got suckered into the hype of Web 2.0.  I just read an article that pretty much exposes 2.0 for what it is:  hype.  (Had I been thinking, I would have provided a link to the article.  But at 1:45 am, I don't think too clearly.)

Anyway, that person is pretty much expecting the current bubble to pop.  Which is plausable.  I keep seeing little fish getting gobbled by bigger fish.  Sooner or later the pond is gonna run outta food.  And we're not really any closer to the concept of the Semantic Web, which is when I know the internet will have come of age.

Right now we have lots of pretty apps that work on the web.  But most of them are still platform specific.  Or written with cell phones in mind.  I use a cell phone for one reason:  "Help, my car broke down on the highway.  Come get me."  Geez, I still have a land line.  Call me old fashioned.

I have my website set up for any number of web "upgrades".  I never worried about the hype.  How did I get sucked into it so easily?  Better salesmanship, I guess.

Entry for August 08, 2006

I'm back in Cybertown.  The picture is of my 3D home there.  It's been a while since I used MSPaint.  It took me forever to remember how to see the picture from the "print screen" feature!  But now I know what I'm doing.  (Pfft; yeah right!  LOL!!)

MS Bites

Another reason why MS bites...

I'm upgrading PCs. I find a bargain and tweak it with extras I have on hand. PCs have come WAY down in price.  But I like to use what I have until the processor simply bottoms out and laughs at me.  Specifically, I have a 30 gig hard drive that still has a useful life.  And it's my network server drive.  It has XP pro on it, and all the settings and upgrades I need.

Anyway, I decided to transfer the drive from an older Dell, to a "newer" Gateway.  Now I did consider the possibility of incompatibility between the two PCs, but that didn't bother me.  What does bother me is MS.  I'm assuming that when they did their paranoia/anti-piracy "Windows Genuine Advantage", they wrote in some kind of feature that blocks you from simply swapping out XP drives between PCs.

I put the old drive in the new PC, and I'm getting the famous "blue screen of death".  I immeadiately checked the BIOS settings.  Everything there was fine.  So what gives, Microsoft?  Everything is paid for.  Or does Billy-boy need another couple of billion for his Foundation?

*Whew!*  Sorry for being long winded.  I feel better now.  Kind of. Maybe.  As soon as I swap dives back.  Make sure I have all my essential data backed up.  And wipe the 30 gig drive.  Reinstall it in the newer PC.  Reinstall XP pro.  Download all the updates. Again.  On dialup, because cable internet is too expensive, and I can't get DSL.

BTW, I'm on my laptop.  Gawd forbid I should ever have a problem with my laptop!........

Independence Day (not the movie)

Ah, the independence day season is upon us.  Firecrackers and bottle rockets from the 1st through at LEAST the 10th of July.  So far it hasn't been bad, but tomorrow will be insufferable!  I used to like the holiday when I was a kid, but, well, I was a kid then!  LOL

Anyway, to those of you reading, have a safe one.  Keep all your digits intact, okay?