The B12 (XII) Forum, home of the 'Front Porch, y'all' at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

He first told me about this rare disease he was coping with back in October, but I think it had been going on for some time by then.  It was scary stuff, but Jon remained upbeat about it.  He probably just didn't want anyone to be worried.

I last communicated with Jon in mid April.  He'd finally gotten my care package (that had gotten lost at the hospital for over a month!), and so he thanked me and made jokes about the hospital, typically Hooky.  He sounded on the mend. 

So, this news really took me off guard, like a gut punch.  We just want to think that everything's going to work out, despite the odds.  Sometimes it does.  And, sometimes, no.

Fred do you know the name of the rare disease 

Im still in shock so if its too early to ask this question

I understand

Thanks Fred

Youre right this is bad news for anyone who gets it

I gave Hooky such a hard time for liking Prince. Or was that utee?...

No matter, 50% of the time Hooky and I were sparring, but he seemed to enjoy it.  I must admit that I did.

I have a friend, Bald Greg who some of you have met, and he has similar but slightly different polarizing views.

He likes the Rolling Stones, but hates the Beatles, and also hates Led Zeppelin.  Me, I like Led Zeppelin, at least enough of it anyway.

Oh, and I hate the Beastie Boys. Like, really, really, REALLY hate their stuff in an intensely visceral way.  Except for Sabotage which is a totally rocking song but is so good, because it's actually a rock/metal song and not a typical, generic,  Beastie Boys bubble gum whiny rap.

So we always tend to start arguments with one another about which bands/songs we hate, that are very popular with most other people.  It's what we do.  And you, T95-- you serve that purpose for me here. So I thank you!

I don't much care to listen to a lot of The Beatles music. However, they were responsible for an outright musical revolution that became the status quo that us fortysomethings know about music.

Before The Beatles, music groups weren't really that important. A publishing house would have a pool of song writers. They'd create some tunes and grab whatever talent they had on hand to perform it. The musicians were usually contracted, and only the singers were of any name value (the musicians were incredibly talented, but usually went unrecognized).

The Beatles broke that mould by being the creative force for their own stuff. They alone were responsible for crafting their own art practically from the ground up. After touring relentlessly with performance friendly pop tunes, they more or less retired from touring and began to speak their mind. Their popularity allowed them to explore styles and themes that would be considered unsafe and therefore unprofitable for a publishing house.

Bands creating dangerous art (some worthwhile, some garbage) is what we know as normal today (if "today" means "30 years ago"). However, I can see if you grew up with The Supremes or Dion (still talented artists) performing Brill Building standards, the creativity and revolution brought by The Beatles would forever ingrain them as the top of the mountain.

hopefully Bald Greg is adjusting to his different life.  God bless him.

Thanks my friend, he's managing the best he can.  He's getting a lot of support and help from his family, friends, and coworkers.  But obviously it's not the same and never can be.

One very cool thing that his team at work did, was to set up an endowed scholarship at The University of Texas in the College of Education, in his wife Denise's name.  She was a UT grad from the College of Education, and was an elementary school teacher for her 20 year professional career, so this is something that I think would be very meaningful to her.

A nice thing about the very large, Round Rock Texas-based, computer manufacturing company that both Greg and I work for, is that the company will match charitable donations to approved organizations dollar-for-dollar, up to $10,000 per year.  So not only has his team set up the endowed scholarship in Denise's name, but a huge chunk of their fundraising efforts over the past three months have been driven toward that fund, which will then get the company match on top of that.  So between his team, and other friend like me that work at the same place, plus the company match, we've just about hit the $50,000 endowment mark to fund the scholarship.

And now it sounds like the c-level executives for his organization want to fund the gap to get it up to $100,000, which would be pretty amazing.

Anyway, nothing will make up for the loss, but this is a really nice tribute and a way for her memory to become a legacy to help others.  There's nothing specific in the requirements for the scholarship other than it is intended to go to those with great financial need, but since Denise came from a very poor family in the Rio Grande Valley, I think it's likely that future recipients of her scholarship would have similar backgrounds.

Another somewhat controversial opinion I hold about music, is that I don't like The Doors.  They're just not my thing, I guess.

They do however have a couple of songs that have covers, that I do like.  So to get this thread back on track:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef3mFZzGM4M