To paraphrase old Will Shakespeare....all the world's a stage and the people on it are merely actors in a play. They each have their entrances and their exits....the story is what goes on between the two.
A good friend of mine died last Wednesday morning. Danny Teague had lived with AIDS for the past seventeen years, much longer than most who have the disease. The last five years or so saw many close calls where we all thought it was over and done. Then I'd get a phone call: "Hi, Alan, it's Dan Teague. I'm still alive. Are you surprised?" I'd laugh and tell him that he was a tough guy to get rid of. "I guess there's still people out there I'm supposed to harrass," he'd say.
Here's what his obit said today:
Danny passed away on April 23, 2008, following a long illness. He was known to all who knew and loved him in the last years of his life as a fighter and a survivor.
A native of Shreveport, Danny dedicated his life to art. Educated at LSU in Shreveport, he became art director of KTBS-TV and later worked in Houston, New Orleans, and in Los Angeles, he worked in the animation department of Disney Studios. In Shreveport, he held the position of music director for All Souls United Universalist Church. In 1998, he was the graphic artist for Christmas-in-the-Sky. A source of great pride for Danny was in 1999 when he won the coveted Best of Show award given by the Shreveport Bossier Advertising Federation.
Other than his art, Danny celebrated with unquenchable passion meteorology, Mac computers, music and movies.
Movies...he always worried that he'd die before getting to see Parts One through Three of the Star Wars movies. He got to see them all and said that the scene with Yoda in a light sabre fight was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. He'd bust up laughing just talking about it.
I'll miss the long conversations I had with him, sometimes up to two hours long. We'd both rant about the state of the art world in Shreveport which we both agreed was not as good as it could be (we were actually a lot more graphic about our feelings than that). Even though Dan was gay, you'd be surprised at how conservative his political leanings were. He already knew I was a conservative so we were able to talk at great length about how we felt regarding the USA and the world. When I first went to Australia in 2003, he asked that I get him a stuffed Koala bear and a T-shirt which I did (and Jonnene helped me pick them out in Perth), and he was so happy to get them. I sent him one of the few actual invites to my wedding (most people in the States got announcements) because I knew he'd be pleased and it'd cheer him up.
One of his prized possessions was a yellow Volkswagen Beetle (the new version) that he kept for a couple of years. He had to sell it once his illness had become too much to allow him to drive anymore and I know that had to break his heart. He also loved new computers and new gadgets, and had a wonderful setup in his house with his Mac and other cool stuff. Most of all, Dan was an excellent graphic artist in the electronic mode and nearly everything he designed was high in quality and workmanship. The man was talented...I can't be anymore complimentary than that.
Anyway, I'll miss the guy. Knowing him was definitely worth the time taken.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
In From Oz
Yeah, yeah, it's been a while since I last posted. A lot of it is mostly me being too lazy to go to the effort of pounding the keyboard to tell of what's going on around here. To keep a blog going you have to be on top of it and that hasn't been happening...looks like it's on top of me!
The main story of the last two weeks has been the visit of my mum-in-law and sister-in-law from Australia! They arrived on 11 April after a fine adventure of plane schedule rearranging due to the grounding of the entire American Airlines fleet of MD-80 aircraft due to the FAA not being happy that there wasn't a plastic tie along every inch (seriously, every "inch") of a wire bundle tucked up in the front wheel well of the planes. Oh, and the ties had to be pointing in the same direction! Despite whatever you heard on the news, this was not a safety issue. Any problems the MD-80's had in the past five years had nothing to do with that wire bundle but the FAA wanted to show Congress that they were on top of things in air safety and, as a result, over 1500 flights over 4 days were cancelled which left about 200,000 people stranded in airports all over the country...including my in-laws. American Airlines got the blame from the general public and news media (some of the worst reporting you could imagine...well, maybe not the worst) even though it was not largely their fault.
I contacted Raelene, Jonnene's sister, when they were in Monterey, CA and told them that their flight was one of the hundreds canceled. The plus side was that I was able to give them about 28 hours notice so they could make arrangements for a new flight to Dallas. It worked out for them to take Alaskan Airlines up to Seattle and then down to Dallas...sounds out of the way but it was the best arrangement they could get. Outside of watching an engine starter being replaced on the tarmac in Seattle they got to Dallas early enough to catch the last flight into Shreveport that night. Funny thing, my Dad and step-mom were on the same flight since they were returning from a week in Arizona. I called and managed to hook them up before they got on board so they could meet.
So, everyone's been here for almost two weeks now and the in-law's leave on the 29th with a cruise in Alaska as part of the remainder of their trip. We've shown them around the area, made a trip to Lafayette last weekend for some Cajun culture, and they've met many of our friends and my family.
The first weekend everyone was here, I had to work a local bike race so I wasn't around much. On that Sunday, Jonnene drove everyone down to the criterium race (photo above) to show them a bit of the action. They also saw plenty of the races the day before so I'm sure they had their fill of bicycle racing!
The main story of the last two weeks has been the visit of my mum-in-law and sister-in-law from Australia! They arrived on 11 April after a fine adventure of plane schedule rearranging due to the grounding of the entire American Airlines fleet of MD-80 aircraft due to the FAA not being happy that there wasn't a plastic tie along every inch (seriously, every "inch") of a wire bundle tucked up in the front wheel well of the planes. Oh, and the ties had to be pointing in the same direction! Despite whatever you heard on the news, this was not a safety issue. Any problems the MD-80's had in the past five years had nothing to do with that wire bundle but the FAA wanted to show Congress that they were on top of things in air safety and, as a result, over 1500 flights over 4 days were cancelled which left about 200,000 people stranded in airports all over the country...including my in-laws. American Airlines got the blame from the general public and news media (some of the worst reporting you could imagine...well, maybe not the worst) even though it was not largely their fault.
I contacted Raelene, Jonnene's sister, when they were in Monterey, CA and told them that their flight was one of the hundreds canceled. The plus side was that I was able to give them about 28 hours notice so they could make arrangements for a new flight to Dallas. It worked out for them to take Alaskan Airlines up to Seattle and then down to Dallas...sounds out of the way but it was the best arrangement they could get. Outside of watching an engine starter being replaced on the tarmac in Seattle they got to Dallas early enough to catch the last flight into Shreveport that night. Funny thing, my Dad and step-mom were on the same flight since they were returning from a week in Arizona. I called and managed to hook them up before they got on board so they could meet.
So, everyone's been here for almost two weeks now and the in-law's leave on the 29th with a cruise in Alaska as part of the remainder of their trip. We've shown them around the area, made a trip to Lafayette last weekend for some Cajun culture, and they've met many of our friends and my family.
The first weekend everyone was here, I had to work a local bike race so I wasn't around much. On that Sunday, Jonnene drove everyone down to the criterium race (photo above) to show them a bit of the action. They also saw plenty of the races the day before so I'm sure they had their fill of bicycle racing!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
We replaced the A/C-heater unit...
Another expensive thing for the house but we kinda needed it.
On the left is our old air conditioning and heater unit in a closet upright setup. The cooling unit (at top) was probably built before 1982 and the heater unit below was probably built in 1977! We thought it might be a good idea to replace them since it was likely that they'd fail sooner than later...and the summer was coming! On the right is the new unit...much neater, cleaner, way more efficient, and all the wiring and piping was moved to give future A/C techs more room to operate.
I'll be interested to see what the electric bills for the summer will be.
On the left is our old air conditioning and heater unit in a closet upright setup. The cooling unit (at top) was probably built before 1982 and the heater unit below was probably built in 1977! We thought it might be a good idea to replace them since it was likely that they'd fail sooner than later...and the summer was coming! On the right is the new unit...much neater, cleaner, way more efficient, and all the wiring and piping was moved to give future A/C techs more room to operate.I'll be interested to see what the electric bills for the summer will be.
And That's What Teammates Are For
Some of the action from Saturday's road race during the Rocky Mount Stage Race. When you do a hilly 62-mile bike race, sometimes you have to pee from all the hydration. It's also good to have a teammate to push you along so you don't lose contact with the peloton!!
It might not be good to have someone with a camera (me) in the follow/wheel vehicle!
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