Boyzoid's Blog & Stuff

Over the last month or so, I sat down to try and write this article several times. Each time, I was so over come with emotion that I simply could not finish it. After the influx of email, Facebook and Twitter messages I have received recently, I decided I need to get this done.

When I was younger, my father once told me, "If you surround yourself with good people, you will never have anything to fear." I do not think I ever really understood what he meant by that until recently.

The last few months have been some of the most difficult and trying times I have ever experienced. I am not sure how I would have fared without the support of my family, friends and the Adobe developer community. After the death of my father, my family was astounded at the level of support offered to us by people they had never met. More than one of you brought tears to our eyes with your kind words on my father's online obituary. The donations made by so many have also helped alleviate some stresses as well.

The kind words and offers of assistance given the recent news from Alagad have been even more overwhelming. Words are not enough to describe the gratitude I, and my family, feel for everyone who has extended a hand.

I used to think that the saying 'you are judged by the company you keep' was unfair. After the last few months, and seeing how incredible the people I have surrounded myself with truly are, I have started to hope I will be judged by the company I keep, because you guys are an amazing bunch, and I am both honored and humbled to be in your company.

Even though I feel it does not seem adequate, Thank You, everyone. The Adobe developer community rules!

As I mentioned a short while ago, my father was diagnosed with cancer back around Christmas. It is sad to say that this past Wednesday, my father passed away. Thankfully, his whole family was able to be with him when he passed.

I was asked to give a eulogy, and I wanted to share that with you.

My father was known by many names: Eugene, Butch, Uncle Gene, Yash, Dad, Be-pa - and quite a few I cannot mention because we are in church. But, regardless of what you called him, he holds a special place in all of our hearts. And, though he may be gone from us, there will always be a part of him in each and every one of us.

He had a unique way of lighting up a room when he entered and, whether he meant it or not, he would have everyone laughing when he left. Some people say he marched to the beat of a different drum. Honestly, I am not sure he even knew what instrument he was hearing, but he marched on.

My father was not a complex man, what you saw is what you got. He rarely pulled any punches and you always knew where you stood with him. He was one of the most quick witted people I have ever known and at times, surprisingly innocent.

It would be difficult to sum up a person in just a few words. But, I can sum up my dad in just 6 words. 6 words that give you a peak into who my dad really was and what he was really like. 6 words that show his wit and his innocence. Those 6 words are, "In My neighbors yard" and "Welcome back".

To those who may not get the reference, those words are the 'punchlines' to two of my favorite 'dad' stories. I am sure we all have our favorites.

The first story was from a long time ago when we were very young. Our neighbors, the Clarks, had a dog who did not like too many people. One day my dad went to go pet the dog and the dog bit him.

My mom took him to the hospital and the nurse asked him what happened and my dad said, "I got bit by my neighbor's dog". The nurse then asked, "Where did he bite you?" My father replied, "In my neighbor's yard"

The other story took place quite a few years later. My father and my brother, Gene, had gone to Madison Square Garden to see a sporting event. As was often the case when we went to Madison Square Garden, they took the train. After the game, Gene and my dad got on a train to come home and it was really crowded they had to stand up. A group of kids near them got up from their seats and walked away. My dad and Gene took their spot. A few minutes later, the kids returned.  Expecting to get their seats back, one of the kids said, "We're back". My dad looked up at them and replied, "Welcome back"

Besides his family, there is little that my father loved more than the New York Yankees, the New York Giants, Villanova basketball and golf. In the last few years he was able to see Villanova make it to the Final Four, the Yankees win the World Series, the Giants win the Super Bowl, and he played golf, not only in Scotland, but at The Old Course at St Andrews - the birthplace of golf.

138 days. Its been 138 days since my dad was first diagnosed with cancer.  In my mind, its been 138 days since we lost him to cancer. In my mind, cancer stole his soul long before it took his life.

My wife, Jessica, has a saying that she uses with our children after vacations, trips to their grandparents' house or even just special days. Many times over the last few days thinking of this saying has helped ease the pain of losing my dad, and it is truly fitting when thinking of how Dad lived his life:

Don't cry because its over, smile because it happened.

Words cannot express how much I am going to miss him.

What? You do not know who Brian Davis is?  It's OK, neither did I until yesterday.

Brian Davis is a professional golfer on the PGA Tour. The reason I had not heard of him until yesterday is that he has not really played well enough to make it high up on the leaderboard. That all changed yesterday.

Trailing Jim Furyk by 1 stroke, Davis made a birdie putt on the final hole of the tournament to force a sudden death playoff. Now, you may be thinking, 'big deal , that has happened before'...be patient, I am getting to the good part.

His approach shot to the green on the first playoff hole landed left of the green and settled on some twigs and reeds. When Davis started his back swing on is next shot, he thought he saw a reed move. (pssst...here is the good part) He immediately called over a rules official to explain what had happened. Davis had though he violated Rule 13.4 which refers to moving a loose impedement during a takeaway, and called himself on it.

Apparently no one else had seen it, and it took looking at the swing in slow motion replay to determine that he had indeed moved the reed.  He incurred a 2 stroke penalty and conceded the hole, and tournament, to Jim Furyk.  Had Davis won the tournament, he would have taken home $1,026,000 - his second place finish earned him $615,000.

Davis called himself on a penalty no one else saw knowing it would cost him over $400,00. That is the kind of character I want my kids to have.

And that is why I love the game of golf. There are not too many other sports where a player would call himself on a penalty with so much on the line.

Like most developers I know, I tend to listen to music while I work. Typically, I just open iTunes and have it randomly play music from my library. 

This morning, iTunes went on a run of pulling up some great songs from bands that were huge in the 80's. Since I grew up in the 80's music from this period tends to mean more to me.  I started thinking about all the great bands from the 80's whose lead singers had such distinct voices you know instantly who it is when you hear even just a few syllables.

Here is a list of some of my favorites who fit into this category:

• Dennis DeYoung - Styx
  
• Lou Graham - Foreigner
  
• Steve Perry - Journey
  
• Joe Elliot - Def Leppard
• Jon Anderson - Yes (yea, I know, they were huge in the 70's too)
  
• Jimi Jameson - Survivor

What are some of your favorites?

After 3 years, I figured it was time to update my blog design.

What you see here is the result of that decision. I am happy. I like it. I hope you do, too.

Right now you may be asking yourself 'Who is Kevin Boss?' and/or 'What is 'it' that he gets?' I will get back to that in a bit, but let me give you some 'back story'. I have not talked about it on my blog, but shortly after Christmas last year my father was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer. He has been getting regular chemo therapy (his last round is this week) and since the diagnosis, we have made several attempts to go visit and each was thwarted by illness or bad weather. This past weekend, we were able to finally get up to NJ to visit.

OK, now back to Kevin Boss and what it is that he gets. Kevin Boss is a tight end for the New York Giants (an American Football team). He played a huge part in the Giants winning Super Bowl XLII (If memory serves me correctly, he had the longest pass play in that game) and since has proven to be one tough guy. He took some hits last year that would have knocked out most people, but he not only got back up, but held on to the ball. He is, in my opinion, probably the best Giants tight end since Mark Bavaro.

So, now you understand that I have somewhat of a 'man crush' on Kevin Boss, what does he get? He gets that the only reason why he can play football for a living is because of his fans. Here is why I think that.

This past Saturday, my mother and my wife took my kids to a local mall to make some pottery (there is a store there that lets you pick stuff out and paint it, then they fire it in a kiln and glaze it). After they were done and were walking around the mall, they saw a sign saying that Kevin Boss was there singing autographs. Being the awesome wife she is, my wife got in line and called me (I was having lunch with my dad not far from the mall). Initially my dad and I were not going to go because we did not think we could make it in time. However, my wife called back shortly to let us know that Kevin would be there longer than scheduled, so we hopped in the car to head over.

When we got to the mall, my dad dropped me off at the door and said he would meet me inside. When I got to the store, it was practically empty, with only a few people inside. I yelled to my wife and instantly I heard my kids getting all excited. When I got to the table I saw that Kevin Boss and the other people there were being entertained by my kids (anyone who has met my kids can probably imagine what I am talking about). My kids got their picture with him and I got an autograph.

While we were waiting for the boys' picture, my wife was told that one of the women that was there was Kevin Boss' wife. My wife went over to her and asked if it was possible for Kevin to maybe wait a few minutes until my dad got there and explained that he was fighting cancer. Kevin's wife spoke with him and he agreed to meet my dad. (Keep in mind that this was now well past the time he was scheduled to leave and that they had already 'cut off' the line) When my dad got there, they brought him up to meet Kevin and Kevin stood up to get a picture with my dad (apparently, my dad was to only one he stood up for when taking pictures). It was the first time in quite a while that we have seen my dad really smile.

Most professional athletes I have seen (especially at these pre-scheduled signing events) would not have made this simple, yet meaningful gesture. In the short time we were there, I noticed that Kevin was always very nice and polite and spent some time talking with his fans. It seemed to me that he enjoyed being there with his fans - it reminded me a lot of how Phil Mickelson interacts with his fan.

I was so impressed that when we got back to my parents house, I sent a message to Kevin on twitter thanking him for taking the time to meet my dad. A short while later, I received a reply back from him, you can read it here. (if the link does not work, there is an image of it below) To me, this shows that Kevin Boss is truly a class act and he 'gets' why he is able to play football for a living - because of his fans.

Kevin, if somehow you actually read this, thank you again, you made a lasting impression on all of us (especially my kids). I meant what I said in my tweet, all professional athletes could learn from you how to interact with their fans. Please don't ever change - on the field or off.

Here are the pics of my kids and my dad with Kevin, as well as his twitter reply to me.

You may be too young to remember, you may not even have been born yet, but, today marks the 30th anniversary of a significant event.  An event so memorable, that 30 years later people, like myself, can remember every detail, every moment as the event unfolded. An event so improbable, that 30 years later, it is still labeled as one of the greatest upsets in the history of sports. Of course, I am referring to the 'Miracle on Ice'.

For those who may not know what I am talking about, the 'Miracle on Ice' occurred during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY. It was a hockey game between the United States and Russia. At the time, the Russian hockey team was the best in the world, most of the players had been together for over 10 years. The United States was basically a group of college kids who had not played together for more than 10 months. 

Up to this point, the Russians had won the gold medal in hockey in every Olympics, except one, since 1956. That one exception, they lost to the USA in Squaw Valley in 1960. In the four Olympics after Squaw Valley the Russians went 27-1-1 and outscored their opponents 175-44. In 1979, the Russians beat the NHL All-Stars 6-0.

For me, this game had significance not only because I was, and continue to be, a huge fan of sports and the Olympics, but because we beat the big bad Russians. At the time, things were not going well in the US. This game gave us all a glimmer of hope for the future. I know it sounds silly, but that is what I remember at the time.

At the time, the names of the some of the payers, Jim Craig, Mike Eruzione, Ken Morrow, Mark Johnson, Neal Broten were more well known than some of their counterparts in the NHL. 

Some images I have etched in my memory are Jim Craig skating around the ring with an American flag draped over his shoulders, Mike Eruzione, standing atop the medal stand, gesturing for the rest of the team to join him on the podium, and who can for get Al Michaels' brilliant commentary of the last 10 seconds of the game which still gives me chills and culminated in 'Do you believe in miracles? YES!'

There are certain events in our lifetime that we will never forget where we were when they occurred. For some it was Kennedy's assassination, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, 9/11, etc.. The 'Miracle on Ice' is one of those events for me, however, there is one glaring difference - it was a happy memory.

This year at CFunited, Liz is planning an 'Open Mic' night where conference attendees will be able to share some of their talents.  If you have some kind of talent, sign up to preform. Currently there are people signed up to play music, perform magic and read poetry.

Based on the fact that I spent a short period of time performing stand-up comedy, Liz, from Stellr, has asked me to be the emcee for the Open Mic. What does this mean?  Well, I will be the one introducing all the acts, and interspersing some of my old stand-up routine (and hopefully some new stuff) in between performers.

A friend told me, "if you do good, the audience will love it, and well, if you bomb, the audience will love it, but in a different kind of way. So for the audience, its a win/win". I find it hard to argue with that logic, but really hope I don't bomb. 

Oh, and hurry up and register, the early bird ends real soon. The chance to see me make a complete fool of myself might just be too good of an opportunity to pass on. You know you want to see if I will, so you better be there.

Yesterday I made the trip out to Northern California for MAX. I made it here without any major issues, but there were a few weird things (good weird, not bad weird) that happened solely because I am a Ginats fan.

It started in the wee hours of the Morning at Dulles Airport. I should note I was wearing a Giants windbreaker  While I was sitting at the gate waiting to board the plane, one of the Vrgin America (great airline, BTW) emplyees who was making announcements told me she was also a Giants fan at that becasue I was 'showing my colors' in DC, I could board the plane when first class did.  I thought it was a cool gesture, but just that, a gesture.  However, when it came time to board the plane, she called for first class passengers, passengers with chilren or who need exra time boarding the plane, and "my Giants fan".  It was not a huge deal, but still pretty cool that I could just gt on the plane and sit sown.

The next 'weird' thing accured at the golf course (Does anyone think I would come to California and not play golf?). We played Poppy Ridge in LIvermore, CA. On a side note, this was an absolute gem of a find.  It was a really nice course (I would rank it in top 5 I have played in the US) and the vista from the course was simply stunning. Back to the weirdness... when we checked in at the club house, one of the guys behind the counter noticed my Giants shirt and mentioned that the 'general manager' was also a Giants fan.  We I paid for my greens fees, the cost was quite a bit lower (about $40.00) less than what I expected to pay.  When I verified the cost, we were told, 'I gave you the guest rate' and when I asked why he said because the general manager woudl have told him to do so since I was a Giants fan.

What I find funny about both these things is that I got some preferential treatment becasue I was a Giants fan in DC and Northern California when I would ot have gotten any such treatment in New York.