Maybe It's All The Cough Syrup...

So, yes- I'm still sick, but I did finally drag my miserable ass to the doctor and got meds, so hopefully I'll be back in form shortly- just in time to leave town for the week. Sheesh. Well that's okay, I like Boston well enough, and am looking forward to the training.

What with the holidays and hectic schedules, we had our send off celebration for the guy I'm replacing. He's staying through the 22nd, and has been really great to me in the transitition. I hope he finds whatever it is he's looking for going forward. I asked him once why he's leaving and he didn't want to get into it, but allowed as how it was a personal matter- that is, that the job isn't a problem. In the storytelling tonight at the send off, I heard an amazing story that may shed some light on this.
The business owner is a considerate and engaged person, who really seems to walk the walk in terms of wanting to maintain a positive environment, and last May put together a teambuilding kind of deal where everyone went bowling. At that time, the company was a little smaller- say a dozen and a half (or fewer?). At any rate, the then office manager was an apparently well-regarded guy named Dave. I don't really know anything about him, other than while bowling with the gang from the office, he dropped over dead of a massive heart attack. Dave was 38.

Holy Shit.

The paramedics tried to revive him for 45 minutes or so, but it was over before it started. Everyone was there, and everyone remained. I can't imagine the fallout from this. I understand that Dave was pretty close to a number of folks at work, although I would think that even the folks who didn't know him well would be affected. The owner brought in a greif councelor and they all did what they could. I'm not interested in prying for details further- I'm just thankful to know the gist of the matter. I can see where this event would trigger some of those long dark tea time of the soul periods of introspection and re-evaluation. Being a fellow of unreliable health (as those of you who know me personally are well aware) it didn't take long for me to think about my own mortality. I mean, to be crass about it, I thought about my potential (and Dave's) to do for this company what Spinal Tap did for drummers. Weird.

In other news, as I'm still feeling awful and hacking up lung biscuits all over, I still haven't moved the insanepursuits.com server downstairs, so my email is still offline. Well, that is my PRIMARY email is offline. You can email the stucco_x at mac dot com if you'd like. Hammer- jog my memory wouldja? What story was I threatening to tell? I've been trying to put together a list of stories that I think might "tell" well on the ole blog here. The problem is that I tend not to know where that "too much information" line runs. For example, the story of my vasectomy is legendary. I nearly ended an industry. Then there are "Phil" stories that once told, tend to get requested for retelling. I have stories that I find, well... let's say "formative" as well as amusing. Plus, not everyone involved is dead, so there are names to change.