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From the Pocono Record

John T. Finnegan, 37, of Stroudsburg, died on Monday, March 17. Raised in Acton, Mass., he was the beloved son of Gail and Robert Finnegan. He was the loving husband of Colleen Ann Capuano, with whom he celebrated nine years of marriage.

John was employed by QA Associates and served as a respected quality assurance engineer. John Finnegan was one of the founders of the New England Roleplaying Organization, a national Live Action Roleplaying group. He was the organization’s heart and soul, spending countless hours enhancing the gaming experience. Its customers benefited from John’s magnetic personality and his extraordinary creative talent for unique stories and unforgettable characters.

John graduated from St. Anselm College with a bachelor of arts degree in history. He was an avid reader of the fantasy and science fiction genres. He loved to spend time with his many friends, playing video games and especially Dungeons and Dragons. John could always be relied upon to offer a sympathetic ear or a shoulder to cry on.

In addition to his wife and parents, John is survived by his brother, Christian Finnegan, and his wife, Kambri Crews; his grandmother, Latrice Griffin; his brother-in-law, Patrick Capuano; his sister-in-law, Andrea Bacchi; father-in-law, Pat Capuano; mother-in-law, Laura Capuano; stepmother, Debra Finnegan; his stepsiblings, Matt and Sally McCracken, and Molly and Mirco Gaggiotti.

Visitation will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 21, at the funeral home. Additional visitation will be held from 11 a.m. until the time of the service, Saturday, March 22, at the funeral home. A Catholic prayers service will follow at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 22, from the Joseph J. Pula Funeral Home, 23 N. Ninth St., Stroudsburg, with the Rev. Fr. Thomas D. McLaughlin officiating. Cremation will follow the services.

In lieu of flowers and at the family’s request, donations may be made on behalf of his departed brother, Robert Finnegan Jr., to Children’s Hospital Trust, 1 Autumn St. No. 731, Boston, MA 02215-5301. Please attach a memo or note citing care of Robert Finnegan Jr.

:-(

I just received this (wonderful) announcement. Put the PTDR on your calendar!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, please brace yourselves for the following
double-barreled announcement.

You Said It Would Not Happen!
You Said It Was Better Last Year!
You Said There Was No Way You Would Stand In Those Concession Lines Again

BUT IT DID. AND IT WASN’T. AND YOU WILL.

Assorted parties are PROUD to present

The One And Only

POWER TOOL DRAG RACES

TWO WEEKENDS. . eekends. . . eekends. . .eekends

At The Maker Faire. . .aire. . .aire. . aire

Maker Faire Bay Area
May 3rd and 4th 2008
http://makerfaire.com/

And then AGAIN at ACE! International Speedway. . .eedway. . .eedway. .
.eedway. . .

Continue reading ‘Power Tool Drag Races!’ »

Saturday

Went on 2 pretty good appointments, driving around the entire Bay (SF->San Jose->Oakland->SF) weee, I’m dizzy…

Met our new neighbor Samantha. The welcome committee (Laurie, Cindy and myself) offered her and her friends celery as an official welcome committee gift. Had Sam over for leftover Tartine bread pudding. Aaron told of his amazing and harrowing journey bringing Shani to Boston (where she eventually met Charlotte) involving unbearable heat, “No Vacancy, Go Away” signs on hotels in Peabody, MA, crossing deep underground rivers and very little sleep. Had terrific Hungarian chicken and spaetzle. Had wonderful home-made (Trader Joes mix + blueberries) cup-cakes. Had all manner of people in the apartment in and out… Laurie, Rick, Samantha, Cindy, Aaron.

Went to BootieSF with Charlotte, Rick and Aaron. Turns out that Aaron is a darn high-energy and fun dancer. Daydreamed a lot to mashups involving 80’s tunes (apparently, I still remember all the words to 99 Red Balloons). Got out a lot of energy dancing like a fool. Saw just 10 minutes of Trademark G’s show

Sunday

Saw Rick’s groovy Oakland pad complete with geektronics, tube amps, vinyl records and giant screen TV.

Went shooting at Chabot gun range with Charlotte, having a simply wonderful drive with the top down over swooping roads. And quite a bit of fun shooting. Met 2 shooters in the next stall and tried their Walter P38. Vowed to get a speed loader since our thumbs were killing us by the end of shooting.

Isn’t it odd that this downright silly post follows such a very very serious post about Lucille Rathyen. Some truths: You’re born. You live. You die. How well that middle part goes is entirely up to you.

I reported previously that the Geostationary Banana Over Texas crew was busy. Well, it seems that Caesar Saez and crew is really trying to do it. There’s an assurance contract on ThePoint.com. The GBOT Team will float a giant banana over Texas if we raise $1,500,000. They’ve got a video on their site that implies they are really trying to do it! Here’s a local copy:

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I’d pay at LEAST $25 to see a 300 meter long banana in geostationary orbit over Texas. I put myself in for $25 and said I’d chip in more when they answered a couple questions like what the actual conditions for “success” were.

Are you in? (update 3-10-12: sadly, the geostationarybananaovertexas.com website exists no more so I removed the link)

:-(

In 1989 I was a DJ at WMFO, Tufts radio station. I found a cart (image via) in the music library called “Stairway to Gilligan’s Island”. I fell in love with it.

Last year, I came to mentioning the song to a guy in a tiki bar in Alameda (I was there with some friends from my Improv class) because the song had been floating around in my brain. Amazingly, he said that he knew the guy who made the song and he lived nearby. (small world, eh?).

I really should look him up. Here it is, Stairway to Gilligan’s Island by Roger and the Goosebumps:

(on Youtube)

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I’ll likely be going to a mashup event Saturday night at the DNA Lounge, BootieSF.

I was in Altamont Pass last week talking to a rancher about solar.

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The nation’s accountant and head of the Government Accountability Office, David Walker gave a speech at the National Press Club December 17th, 2007. It’s a very good speech. His news isn’t good. Here is the speech. Listen to the whole thing.

Here is the text of this speech.

I had found this speech via a Word for Word podcast. I see that David Walker and the GAO has a large archive of speeches. I’ll get to listening to them!

I was just looking through some old email addresses I had. I recalled Bob Charmoy and his wife Diana. When I was The Computer Guy, I had gone to their house a few times to fix their computers. Bob was recovering from pancreatic cancer, no mean feat owing to the difficulty of treating it. He had gone to the Block Center for treatment. When I spoke to him, he told me how he was put on a very strict diet with no sugar at all… and a few other restrictions. I remember speaking to him in his kitchen. He had been swimming in the pool and he stood there, hairless from the chemo treatments and looking like his skin was hanging off him a little loosely… but he had a smile on his face and his strong muscles were evident. After speaking with me about the computer, he was going back to the pool to play with his young relatives who were still splashing about.

On previous nights, he showed me his restored Wurlitzer jukebox collection, 3 or 4 of them scattered through his large home. Each had original vinyl records that very played well for their 50+ years of use.

They had asked me to put in an outdoor sound system. I tried to figure out exactly how but got stuck on the thought of drilling through an exterior wall into wiring or plumbing. I took longer than I should have to get back to them with an answer but eventually I referred them to someone who could do it in Hackettstown. After that, they didn’t return my phone calls.   Phoey.

But none of that really matters. I googled his name today and found a story on page 6 of the Camphill 2005-06 Annual Report with this at the end.

This is dedicated with appreciation to Dr. Bob Charmoy,
DDS, who lost his battle with cancer on May 25, 2005

I googled a bit more and found this vignette on a couple wedding sites

ON CLOUD NINE

Bob and I were sitting in first class on the way to Seattle, Washington, to meet my family. During the flight, a voice came on over the intercom and said, “This is your pilot speaking. I would like to acknowledge some people in first class.” I looked around for some celebrities. The pilot went on. “They’re sitting in seats 1E and 1F.” I looked at Bob and said, “We’re in seats 1E and 1F.” The pilot continued, “As we’re approaching Niagara Falls, I feel that it’s appropriate to say ‘Diana, Bob has a question for you.’ ” Bob smiled, handed me a box, and asked me to marry him.

Diana Charmoy

Allamuchy, New Jersey