bobafred

My friend and former co-worker Bill Sims passed away this afternoon after suffering a heart attack over the weekend.

Bill was a very talented and hardworking programmer. He was a devoted family man and had the spirit of a man half his age. Whether he was dismantling the dryer to find the one part that squeaked or wiring a house for electricity, he always managed to keep busy.

I have to admit, Bill was a pretty unique character. He didn’t take crap from anyone, and that included managers and directors. As you can probably imagine, he was a perfect ally to have by your side in the workplace. At one point he and I were pretty much the programming department for the Atlanta office and he always had my back. Whether it was some stuffy corporate type with an unreasonable request or a horribly written specification document, Bill was there to help in anyway he could. He coached me in the ways of navigating office politics and was always available to offer up life advice.

One of the greatest compliments I have ever received was when Bill told me that I reminded him a lot of himself when he was my age. He would always counter my anger or frustrations with a ‘been there, done that’ answer that made me believe this to be true. I can safely say that if I someday attain the level of personal and professional happiness that Bill did, I will in fact consider my life successful.

I’m going to miss my friend Bill. I’m a better person for having known him.

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Update 08/31: Adam shares some memories.

I’m sick of reading The Rules of Attraction, so I’m going to finish it tonight.

Next up is The Things They Carried. Its a book I’ve never heard of, but it came with a personalized recommendation from a trusted source, so I’m looking forward to it. I’m hoping I can get my head into this one easier than The Rules of Attraction, which I’ve been reading for far too long.

A few years ago I read a book called The Descent. It was so good that I hoped that someday it would be made into a movie. Months passed and I stumbled onto some info that a movie called The Descent was being made and I was happy. Then I did more research and found that while the movie was called The Descent and it had a similarish story to the book, it was in fact not related and I was unhappy. Then I did more more research and found that this movie was getting some real good reviews and such in the horror world and I was happy again.

That was over a year ago. For various reasons the film was only recently released here in the states after an initial debut overseas way back in 2005. Lori and I went and saw it last night.

<spoilers>

The Descent (IMDb) tells the story of a group of adventurous females that get together once a year for some form of extreme sporting activity. This year they choose cave diving in the North Carolina mountains. They start off down a huge hole and then things go bad.

The filmmakers did an excellent job of portraying the ultra cramped claustrophobia of the cave system. This was accomplished by having the ladies crawl through impossibly tight passages and a very limited lighting setup. This trait alone made the movie creepy as hell. Throw in some otherworldly creature types and you’ve got the makings of a fun, bloody as hell horror movie. Yeah, there’s a fair amount of gore in this one.

While the descent is an obvious reference to the caves, there’s more to it than that. There’s a decent to a primal rage and a lust for survival at all costs that comes across very clearly. These bitches are fierce.

</spoilers>

I’d have to say that the 1+ years I’ve waited to actually see this movie was well worth it. From what I understand, there’s a non-US original ending that is even more satisfying than what we saw. I can only hope that this exists on the DVD release.

What a great week of movies for me. First SoaP, now The Descent.

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UPDATE: And Lori did a fine job of not screaming like a little pansy.

Best snake movie of all time, at least. And yes, I’ve seen Anaconda.

SoaP was actually surprisingly good. It had a good mix of snakes and planes and Mace Windu and snakes and even a boob or two. There was much cheering and yelling throughout, which I consider a successful movie going experience.

Let’s just call it the best worst movie of all time.

It’s been over a week since I was stung by a jellyfish four times and I have to say that the stinged areas itch more now than at any point before this. I’ve done some reading, and am pretty sure I would have died by now if I was in any serious danger, but they still itch like crazy and are pissing me off.

And for the record, urine does not help jellyfish stings. That is just an urban legend, at least according to the internet.

Enjoy photographic goodness of my pain and suffering on flickr.

I’ve owned a Tivo for one day and it already knows me so well: The only programs it’s suggested for me or recorded on its own are Food Network programs.