Friends of Mine

I probably have more friends than I deserve, given how little time I spend with them.   I will be writing a little bit here when I get the time.  If you find this page and you are a friend, email me and I will put a little blurb up here.  I'll just use first names and last initials unless you tell me otherwise.  There's a bunch of entries for people who come immediately to mind.  If you're not here, it doesn't mean anything.  I'm working on it. 

My familly, friends and business associates have been the foundation of my personal happiness.  I think I have been extraordinarily lucky over the years and I remember everyone fondly (when I remember at all).  I'm grateful, I just don't show it in person. 

Note: part of the reason I think about this at all, as ungrateful as I am, is that two friends have died in recent years and I was surprised at the effect it had on me.  I really miss them. 

1960's

In Vancouver, then Toronto.  Can't remember my friends from Vancouver by name.   I'm getting old...  In Toronto, I hung out with Leslie L., Kent W., Mike M., Richard G. and a cast of thousands.  I remember Wendy N. fondly to this day.  Oh and JoAnne.  I will have to come back to this period and get everyone's names down.  

Paul M.

Paul and I are still in touch from time to time.  I was at his wedding and bachelor party, he was at mine.  I guess he's my oldest friend.  We haven't spoken in a few years, but he's on my list...  Last I heard, his family still hates me for getting him in trouble.  Let's get the record straight once and for all -- he got me in trouble.  I was just a good friend and took the bullet for him. 

Update -- Ok. I decided to come clean on this. It really was me after all. Everytime I convinced Paul to break training, he would get a merciless beating from his dad. If that was not the case, I'm sure that it would have been his idea to get into trouble at least some of the time.

1970's

I went to Riverdale High School in Toronto.  Everyone who attended the school from 1970 to 1975 is a very good friend of mine.  I can't possibly mention all the names.   My friends Jim M., John V., Judson G, Mike G, Leo M. can all lend you copies of yearbooks so you can see the many friends I once had. Hi to G. W., C. G., M.W., N. Z.  Oh -- and hi also to ([A-Z]. [A-Z]). 

Worked miserable jobs I'd rather forget after High School.  Shared some laughs anyway.  Particularly enjoyed working with Bruce J. before we both got sacked...   Stauffer Chemical is long gone, but I still remember the guys.  Georgie B., Lou and Bob S. still stick in my mind for some reason.  I have amusing stories to tell about these guys...

Jean M.

Jean M. and I shared some laughs on 17th street. There is a very long story here that modesty forbids me to tell. I check up on her from time to time and will likely do so until I'm too old to remember any more. My best wishes to her always.

Barry J.

Barry has been a good pal to me and a lot of other people over the years. His birthday is coming up on Feb. 7 2004 and he will be the first of us old friends to turn 50. I have spoken with Ron about doing something for this. Let's see if we can put something together. It's time.

Dr. Ron

One old friend that I have worked with has a web-site: http://web.ripnet.com/~irwin.  Ron has a PhD in Psychology and works with us to put up the web-sites and to guide the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) for our websites.  Ron was the best man at my wedding and I was the best man at his wedding.   He was my room-mate in university and his wife was my wife's room-mate.   Imagine that. 

1980's

Finally went back to get a degree.  Roomed with Dr. Ron and hung out with Susan F. when she was free.  I am not sure it's politic to actually mention names from that period. 

In the latter 80's I worked for a couple of computer firms and then Royal Trust.   Hi to Alan G., Norm, Mike, Lorna and Dana K.  Hi to my old pals from Royal Trust Days.  I'm still in contact (sort of) with Ruth ( A. nee A. nee C. nee M), Kitty, Jan, Hans, Geoff.  Special mention to Bruce who forced me to make IDA actually work.  Oh yea -- Gerry F., my old cell-mate.  Oops Liz L. and Celia S. too.

Jim B., Bill B.

Well, these guys are everyone's friends it seems, but I still hope their mine.  Both have been great over the years.  I stayed at Jim's place for a month when my house burned down and took all my stuff with it... Jim is the father of my only niece and nephew. 

Pete F.

Pete and I have written software together off and on since 1985 or so.   Pete still does not have a web page, but a search on his name reveals lots of references to him on the net.  He's one of the best known OS/2 programmers around.   Here's a link mentioning something geeky he did to fix a problem with Netscape under OS/2.  Pete is one of the few people I know that I can call up and talk about serious programming issues...

Janey M.

Janey and I shared some laughs.  I met her at York U.  We both got degrees.   Janey is one of my best friends ever and always made me feel good about myself. 

Actually, though I knew her as Janey M., the Janester is now Janey T. She married a very nice man whom I spoke with the other day. Evan T. has a degree in Music and someday if/when I actually post some of my own music up here it's partly because of his kindness in encouraging me. Now you know who to blame...

Doug K.

Doug was my boss at my first real full time job as a computer guy. He was a good friend in many ways through some difficult learning experiences.

I recently had occasion to track Doug down and spoke with his charming wife Lisa. I am very pleased that they are still the fine people they always were. It is amazing that we have not spoken for so many years when we practically lived together at the office for months at a time. There are so many stories, I should write them down sometime. Amazing how you can suddenly miss someone you have not seen for years. I miss them now.

Rick S.

I came mighty close to being Rick's best man at a wedding that never took place...  Rick and I have worked together a few times.  He taught one of my classes at Sheridan for me.  My students wanted him back!

I'm using telnet to type this in from Rick's machine right now. His wife has Mary down for the weekend. Susan and Mary have been visiting and Rick and I are both coming off a long, intense week.

We're waiting for food to be delivered. I have to catch a flight early in the morning. As the other's make nice, I'm writing this web page and wondering if I should have spent less time as a geek and spent a little more time on my people skills. Nah.

1990's

In the early '90s I finally went out on my own and started Trantor.  One of the first contracts I worked on was with Karl M. and Tim R.  They were extremely supportive personally and professionally and I hope I returned the favour. 

Frances M.

She is like my agent.  If it wasn't for Frances, I would probably never have made it.  She's the greatest.  She has more friends than me and the rest of my friends combined.  She has bought me more lunches than the rest of my friends combined.  Co-incidence?

Alison I.

I liked her so much I married her.   We're still married and raising a family. 

Washington D.C.

Jane K. was my grocery shopping buddy from my stay in Washington D.C.   She won a medal in the Olympics.  I am endlessly fascinated by this.    Hi to Rita B. who invited some of us over for dinner.  Hi to Remy who may actually be one of the few people who stumbles on this site.  Write. 

Blanche B., Carlo T., Chris C., John S., Ed Y., George M., Ed C.

People I worked with at Bell Mobility.  One of my most enjoyable working experiences.  If any of you are surfing by this way, drop me a line.    I know I am forgetting people here, don't be insulted -- email me with a correction. 

Marcel M.

Worked with Marcel at Bell and with Sybase.  Database guy.  Very smart.  I have no idea if I could even understand the stuff he did in SQL, but it worked. 

2000's

Heavens to Betsy. How did I get so old? When I was a teenager, I used to dream about the future. I remember thinking that, on balance, I would prefer not to see the year 2000, since I would be too old to enjoy it anyway. Maybe I was on to something...

Twink

If your from Brockville, you know this guy. Not much to say. Most nights it's just him and me. Twink knows almost everyone in Brockville by name and has a story (not always flattering) about every one of them. Be careful. I know for a fact that he makes some of those stories up and they are real howlers.

John V.

Hey, a new friend in 2002. Who knew. He still owes me photos for one of my sites, but I'm not bitter.

John W.

Hey, a new friend in 2002. Who knew.

Brant and Graham B.

I knew Brant many, many moons ago, but got re-aquainted with him and his brother when I moved to Brockville. Small world.

Art, Billy, Billy, Rev. Frazer, etc.

Guys from the Brockville Club. I don't know exactly how friendly we are at times, but they make me smile.

Dianne and Don

A couple that Alison and I are pretty friendly with. How did we meet? You'll have to check with Alison. Dianne and Don have been great friends. We see them a lot, but maybe not enough. 'Hi' if you're reading this. Go visit Dianne's website: http://www.dereng.com.

Les S.

My pool playing pal from The Brockville Club. He had a heart-attack recently, but I think he's bouncing back. I really miss the pool playing sessions. I was very nearly to the point of winning a game when he threw in the towel. Hopefully it's only temporary.

Bill W.

Took up whipping me at pool where Les left off. I had a chance to get a leg up on Les, but Bill is getting better faster than I am. I don't think I will ever catch up. It's still fun to play, though. He's a pretty good sport about playing such a lousy partner.

Chuck and Cathy

Another 'couple' friend thing... They live near Dianne and Don. Chuck is a bit of a health nut, but that's ok.

Oh my. I just don't have time to go on here. It's killing me. Of course, I've left tons of people out. If you think you've been left out, complain and I'll right a nice note about you.