Skirv's Friends

There are two choices for how one may go through life: you can either make friends or go insane. While I did spend several years sticking to the latter track just to see what it was like, lately I've taken to trying to happily following both paths, and life is better.

These are the people (and otherwise) that I've hung around with or otherwise dealt with on a day-to-day basis for some extended period of time, and who have made me who I am (intentionally or not). May you be as entertained by them as I.

(Please note that the categories are approximate, and are probably not adequate to handle major life changes. For instance, Significant Others tend to end up in the same category as the person I knew first, and children go with their parents.)

Nuclear Family

Unlike many of my friends, I actually like my family on general principle. Maybe that's just because I'm so much like them. You think?

Danny Skirvin - Nuclear Family (Brother)

Danny is my younger brother, born 26.5 months after me, inducing the standard level of jealousy and comradarie of any good sibling relationship. A quarter of a century later, he's turned out to be a pretty cool guy - my brother, certainly, so we still fight over little stuff, but still pretty cool. After graduating with a degree in Entomology from UIUC, Danny proceeded to get a Vet degree from the local college as well, and then to finally leave home. He now lives in Arizona, working at a vet practice with his girlfriend Celeste and living with a random variety of animals. I'd like to resent him for being more "officially" highly-educated than me, but truthfully, I mostly just miss him. *sigh* It's tough growing closer with a sibling just in time for them to take off for the other side of the country. But he's happy and stays in touch, and we're as close as the distance can allow. And I still get to laugh at how much he's turned out like me (and vice-versa!).
Oh, and I admit it, we look more alike lately.

*They don't often act like each other publicly*
/I think that it's done out of a sense of loyalty, and not wanting to step on each others' toes/
Allenite; Groomsman

Margie Skirvin - Nuclear Family (Mother)

Mom is one of the variety of people in our town that is best referred to as a Professor Spouse; they're overeducated, under-jobbed, and looking to do something useful. She took care of me and Danny as we were growing up, which was a full-time job; but as we got older, though, and we required less of her direct attention, she turned her interests towards politics. She first helped the local Democratic party for years, and later ran for Champaign School Board, where she served a little over two terms. She really did enjoy this, and was *very* good at it, but the stress took its toll; and so, when it came time to run for re-election in 2007, she decided to bow out. Now she's relaxing - and it's doing her good! - while looking quietly for the Next Big Thing in her life, and still occasionally getting interviewed by the news media.
On a more personal level, Mom and I are very close, and tend to talk about the world for a few hours a week, especially politics (state, national, University, you name it). We don't always agree on everything, but that's not really the point; more important is that we respect each other for being willing to go out and pursue our goals, and not just sit back and let the world happen around us. Now, in the mean time, I find it kindof amusing when Mom asks to borrow my Nintendo DS for a while...
Oh, and for the record, while I may not look *exactly* like Mom I certainly got a lot of my good sense and personality from her. And interest in math.

*You don't look like her?*
What? Don't you start...
/What? You do look like her/
*You just don't look as much like her as you look like your Dad*

Bob Skirvin - Nuclear Family (Father)

Dad is a professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES), specifically in Horticulture, and more specifically Small Fruits. He's an expert in brambles (raspberries/blackberries) and tissue culture (plant cloning), but mostly enjoys teaching his Introduction to Horticulture class and talking with the students. But that's just his profession. Personally, Dad is an extremely jovial guy who loves to tell stories and jokes (good and bad), bargain hunts at every opporunity, and collects more stuff than he needs or can even store. Many of my friends have taken his class and loved it; I recommend it to just about everyone. He's also incredibly devoted to our family, and is as good a father as I could ever hope for. Oh, and physically we look like clones. Yay genetics!
Beyond that, Dad is truly one of my best friends; we love to just wander the town whenever can, for garage sales or random shopping or just plain carrying on. We get to be each other's partner in crime, and I think it's good for both of us, even if it drives Mom and Beth just a bit insane.

/There's more to it than just the beard; they act a lot alike too/
*Sense of humor-wise, anyway*
/I don't think it's just that.../

Family Pets

Animals have regularly brought joy to my life. These are the animals that I, or those around me, have owned through the years.

Cassidy - Pet (Personal)

Cassidy is our hedgehog. We got him back in August 2006, when Beth decided that another pet was vital; after rejecting getting another lizard, she found that hedgehogs were fairly cheap and easy to take care of, as well as cute! He's a prickly guy, both in form and personality; I don't think either of us really know how best to deal with him, but we do like him.

*BTW, they're all named after Preacher characters*
/The cats and the hedgehog, that is/

Jesse - Pet (Personal)

Jesse is a black long-haired cat that we found at the humane society just after I'd bought our house. He won my heart by dropping everything and running to jump on my lap when I sat down in one of the communal rooms, and continuing to do so every time I came by, even though there were already other cats on my lap! Really, being willing to be bitten just so he can get my attention is a good way to win my favor. Jesse is a talker - he constantly wanders around chattering and talking to us, partially because he wants the attention but partially just because he likes it. He still loves being a lap cat, though mostly when you're doing something else (like typing...hey!@#) He likes to hang around outside the shower, and wants nothing in life quite so much as kitten food. And he is, just barely, the Alpha Cat of the house, simply because he's willing to ignore Tulip's carryings-on.

Tulip - Pet (Personal)

Tulip is the younger of our two cats, a tiny tortie. She was also a humane society cat; Beth had picked her out when we first moved into our house, and when she was (shockingly) still there a month later when we actually went to choose cats, we brought her home. It was only her allergies that saved her for us; there's no way such a sweetheart cat would have lasted there so long otherwise. Two years later, she still acts like a kitten all of the time, either whole-heartedly loving her pets (us) or pouncing on Jesse for a combination of battling and grooming. She steals our food, she loves our guests, and she never actually hurts us; to me, she's an ideal cat. And I love that she and Jesse get along so well.

/That's getting along?/
*You going to start doing that to me?*
/It does go both ways, Nik/

Sampson "Big Boy" - Pet (Parents)

Sampson is my parents' second cat. He's a short-hair black boy, with only a few spots of white here and there; he's also one of the wimpiest cats I've known. We've never been sure why he lets Sheba beat him up; he out-weighs her by quite a bit, and can be vicious when he's motivated, but generally he just runs off when she comes around. Over the time my parents have had him, he's moved from friendly, to skittish, back towards friendly again, and currently to afraid of anything that moves. His greatest joy in life is to be brushed on the top shelf of his cat tree, and to find some small way to thwart Sheba while being safe from retaliation. These opportunities are rare. I'm still convinced that his life would be better if he's just let us catch him...

Sheba "Little Girl" - Pet (Parents)

Sheba was the first of my parents' two new cats - and when I say "first", I mean "by two hours". She was originally named "Delilah", to match Sampson; but given her response to having another cat show up and *invade* her new house, and her overall attitude towards people, my parents decided she was far closer to "the bloody Queen of Sheba". The name stuck. Sheba is a wonderful little squeaky thing, whose greatest joy in life is to thwart Sampson. And I'm her favorite person in the whole world, which is greatly satisfying.

*That story sounds a bit like us*
/Except you don't squeak/
*Wait, I wanted to be Sampson!*

Extended Family

Outside of the immediate family, I've got Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and a pile of In-Laws.

Lauren Barley - Extended Family (Beth's Aunt)

Lauren is Beth's Palo Alto Aunt. I've gotten to meet her a few times nice, and she's a wonderful, sweet person that really seems happy to have me in the family. I've only gotten to meet her husband (Randy) and son (William) once, at the wedding, but that went well too. Overall, she reminds me of Aunt Jeanne, but not so late...

Robert Barley - Extended Family (Maternal Grandfather-In-Law)

Grandpa Barley (another Grandpa Bob) lives up in the Seattle area. He used to be a bank manager in various places across the country; he's friendly, personable, hyper-organized, and really quite pleasant to hang around with. I've also heard that he's a heck of "love 'em and leave 'em" guy, which amuses me to no end. Certainly a worthwhile addition to my family.

Susan Barley - Extended Family (Beth's Aunt)

Susan, Beth's Aunt, lives in Seattle with her family, the Barley-Greenfield clan. She's actually the member of Beth's west-coast family I've had the most opportunity to interact with, and I've enjoyed it - strong-willed women are lots of fun! Her kids (Simone and Evan) and husband (Jim) are great fun too, and I'm glad to be getting to know them all better.

Lois "Other Grandma" Clauson - Extended Family (Maternal Grandmother), Deceased

I didn't really know Grandma all that well; I knew that she was kind to me,and all that, but she died before I really got a chance to *know* her. I did know that she loved me and my family, that she didn't really like Dad all that much, that her last request was "not Fruit of the Loom!", and that she loved to play Oh Hell and Cribbage with me and my brother; the rest of it is all from stories, though, stuff like her not letting anybody have an unequal number of eggs and pieces of toast, and how she yelled "Bob!" at Grandpa in a wonderful voice that I can still reproduce. And I think that's really enough.

Deceased

Michael Clauson - Extended Family (Step-Uncle)

Michael is one of Grandpa Bob's kids, and the one of them that I know the best. He has long lived in Indiana, and about a year ago actually moved in with Grandpa near Indianapolis. Since then, he has been around for most of the times that we've seen Grandpa. It's fun wandering around with him, and it's nice to occasionally pick up a family member like that.

Bob "Grandpa Bob" Clauson - Extended Family (Maternal Step-Grandfather)

Grandpa Bob is Other Grandma's third husband; I never knew the first (my blood grandfather), and the second doesn't sound like he was worth much, but Grandpa Bob is as good as a grandfather can get. He's a retired electrical engineer (specializing in power systems), whose great talent is lying - he can make anybody believe anything, because it's fun and because he's obviously enjoying it so much. Dad wants nothing more than to be Grandpa when he grows up; I'm tempted to go that way myself. Grandpa now lives just outside of Indianapolis; Mom and Dad go to pick him up from there probably 4-5 times a year. It's always good to see him, and laugh with him.

Caren Dillman - Extended Family (Beth's Paternal Aunt)

Caren is Uncle Dave's wife. I haven't had much time to interact with her, but she's been wonderful to me every chance I've had to talk with her.

Dave Dillman - Extended Family (Beth's Paternal Uncle)

Dave is one of Paul's brothers. He lives in California with his wife, Caren. I've met him a few times, when they've come to town in their RV, and I've really enjoyed hanging out with them.

Grandma Dillman - Extended Family (Paternal Grandmother-In-Law)

Grandma Dillman is the matriarch of the Dillman clan. She lives down the street from Beth's parents, and tends to attend most social events. She seems to be warming up to my existence, slowly but surely, at least since I married her granddaughter; but I don't think she really approves of me.

John Dillman - Extended Family (Beth's Paternal Uncle)

John is one of Paul's brothers. He lives in the Chicago suburbs, and has two children.

Tim Dillman - Extended Family (Beth's Paternal Cousin)

Tim is one of John's two kids.

Carol Edwards - Extended Family (Beth's Paternal Aunt)

Aunt Carol is Beth's father's only sister. It's amusing seeing them interact with each other, the result of decades of growing up together. I've enjoyed hanging out with her and her family at various gatherings, and I always enjoy her cooking.

Dale Edwards - Extended Family (Beth's Paternal Uncle)

Uncle Dale is married to Carol, Beth's aunt on her father's side. I met him at his house in Bollingbrook, where most of the family gatherings are hosted - Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. He's a nice, friendly guy, very willing to accept me into the family. It probably helps that he's an old UIUC Engineering graduate, and that we therefore actually have stuff to talk about.

Jamie Edwards - Extended Family (Beth's Paternal Cousin)

Jamie is the youngest of Aunt Carol's three kids.

Jeff Edwards - Extended Family (Beth's Paternal Cousin)

Jeff is the middle of Aunt Carol's kids. He's currently attending a film school in Chicago.

Kerstin Edwards - Extended Family (Beth's Paternal Cousin-In-Law)

Kerstin is Nathan's wife. She seems like a sweetheart to me; she's a bit overwhelmed by the family she married into, but so am I, so who am I to talk? She loves her dogs, and I have to admit that they're pretty worthwhile.

Nathan Edwards - Extended Family (Beth's Paternal Cousin)

Nathan is the oldest of the Edwards clan. He works as a programmer (or similar; it's IT, it's hard to tell sometimes), is married to Kiersten, and has a house of his own. I've gotten along with him pretty well every time I've talked with him.

Bob and Jeanne Green - Extended Family (Paternal Great-Uncle), Deceased

Uncle Bob was my grandfather's oldest brother, and one of very few family members of that era that I actually met. He was in the Navy during World War II; as I understand it, his career was fairly impressive (he was most proud of his time on the USS Saratoga), even if he didn't actually go to any major combat zones. (Or maybe he did, I don't really know.) He and his wife Jeanne lived in Conneticut, where they owned both a house and a nice shack in the woods; it's rustic, and it's where my parents spent their honeymoon, so we would occasionally go out and visit it. While he and his wife Jeannie were going strong well into his 80s, the two of them started going downhill in 2005-06. Finally, the two of them died in 2007 within a few weeks of each other. Uncle Bob was 90, and he lived a good life. I will miss him.

Kathy Maloney - Extended Family (Maternal Aunt)

Mom's always described Aunt Kathy as brilliant but irresponsible - exactly as any eldest sister would of the youngest sister, but there's a major grain of truth in it. Still, I enjoyed her as a kid; being the first nephew comes with perks. Kathy has three kids (Jessica, Stephanie, and Natalie) and three grandchildren, all of which live in Springfield. She took care of Sherlock when we went to New Zealand. And, after probably 15 years since I hadn't seen her (nor most of my family), she came to my wedding back in May! I'm still excited by this, and I need to find a better picture for the occasion...

Orlando McMeans - Family Friend

Orlando was one of my Dad's students for his entire college career and then some - he started with him for some high school projects, and got his PhD with him about a decade later. During this time, he was fairly often tapped as a babysitter for me and Danny; as such, we still have very fond memories of him and all the silly stuff we'd do together. Orlando is now a very successful family friend, working as a Dean out at the University of West Virginia, a position he got only a couple of years after getting his doctorate. And he comes to visit probably 1-2 times a year, so we still do see him...

Bridget Norton - Pet (Family Friend)

Bridget is Margaret's dog and constant companion. She's a large Yellow Labrador, and stereotypical in every way. She's also been great fun to play with through the years; we've done a lot of dragging games over the years that ended with my arms sore and her gums bleeding. Good times. She enjoys nothing quite so much as coming over to our house for dinner, since she always has the chance of getting the best treats. Bridget has regularly gotten my brother and I a nice batch of candy for Christmas, since our family gets her a nice large box of dog biscuits... Bridget will be moving away with Margaret shortly, and, well, I'm really going to miss them both.

Margaret Norton - Family Friend (Dad's Lab Manager)

Margaret is my Dad's lab manager, and has been working with him for 19 years now. I first got to know her when she would semi-babysit me and my brother while our parents went travelling; as such, she's effectively family, and has been for a long time. We have dinner with her about twice a month; she brings some kind of dessert, generally including something that I'm actually able to eat (yay, no chocolate!), and always brings Bridget, her wonderful dog. She's one of the most amusingly sarcastic people I've ever known, which appears to be how she puts up with Dad at work. Definitely a fun person. Margaret has just announced that she'll be moving to Alaska shortly, to take a USDA job doing research on rhubarb; I really hope that goes well for her. I don't think I comprehend how much our family is going to miss her...

*And her desserts?*
/That's really the least of their worries/

W. David "Bil Skirvin" R. Green - Extended Family (Paternal Uncle)

Uncle Bil was the youngest of his family, and is now the family artist - he can draw, paint, whatever. Because of that, most of the walls at my parents' housee are covered in paintings of one form or another, all of which are very good; as a housewarming present I got a few of my own, and I'm quite impressed. Uncle Bil recently changed his name to "W. David R. Green"; he became Mormon, and changed to closer match the reality that we should be Greens. He lives out in California; he's got three kids, and is twice divorced. For me, the most useful knowledge is that he used to work for Sierra On-Line, which is probably a major reason that I got interested in computers. Thanks, Bil...err, David.

Emma Siewny - Extended Family (Maternal Cousin)

Emma is the youngest of the four kids, and it shows. She's the rough-and-tumble kid of the bunch, as well as far more cunning than her exterior would suggest; this makes her a whole lot of fun to hang out with, if perhaps a bit dangerous. Emma is also currently the one that I get to see the most, since she actually stays in public areas and likes to see her cousins. Besides, we get to help her plot for... things. *grin* It'll be interesting to see how she does as her siblings continue to head out of the house.

Greg Siewny - Extended Family (Maternal Uncle)

Uncle Greg appeared in my life when I was about seven years old, when he married my Aunt Jeanne and started having children with her. Jeanne and Greg live in Middletown, OH, half-way between Cincinnati and Dayton; when we visit, we spend much of our time going back and forth between these cities, often with Greg driving. Greg is an OB-GYN that everyone in the town knows. He's always got a plan, though it's rarely all that sensible; at the very least it involves watching very bad science fiction and getting some random piece of hardware...

Jeanne Siewny - Extended Family (Maternal Aunt)

Aunt Jeanne is my Mom's middle sister. I was her first nephew, and so she spent a whole lot of time with me as I was growing up; in return, I've spent nearly as much time hanging out with her kids over the last couple of decades. We tend to visit her house 2-3 times a year, and generally have a very relaxing time while we're there - as long as we can get over the general lack of organization in the house, anyway. If nothing else, it's fun to just talk with her for a while when I do make it over. Definitely my favorite aunt.

Lauren Siewny - Extended Family (Maternal Cousin)

Lauren is the oldest of the four Siewny kids. As is the case with all the Siewny kids, I watched her grow up; in her case, it means that I've watched her slowly take over the household, organizing things so she can do what she needs to do (but not in a bad way!). Lauren's a smart, fun girl with a bright future, which is no doubt being encouraged by her college career at Vanderbilt. This has led to two majorly odd things: I don't see her as much when I visit the Ohio home, and I find out much of her life through Facebook. Oh, Internet...

Matthew Siewny - Extended Family (Maternal Cousin)

Matt is the second of the four Siewny kids, and is the family computer geek. In many ways his life resembles mine at that age - his technical skills are outstripping his social skills, and he doesn't seen to mind that much. But as he grows older, the arguments I get into with him over computer issues grow more and more fun and knowledgable... and there's where I see him doing well in life. I came out okay, didn't I? Matt will be starting college next semester, and I'm while I'm sad that this probably means that I'll see less of him, I'm still happy to have seen him grow up so effectively.

*Don't answer that*

Rachael Siewny - Extended Family (Maternal Cousin)

Rachael is the social butterfly of the Siewny family. Third of four children, she historically got along best with her youngest sister, Emma; over the last couple of years, though, she's taken up running social networks at home and school, and is now always busy trying to keep up with the pressure. She even finds time to occasionally talk to me over Instant Messenger... Okay, more than occasionally. It's really been a pleasure watching her grow up this way.

Skyline Kitty "Sammy" Siewny - Pet (Extended Family)

Skyline Kitty is a small, black scaredy-cat that belongs squarely to Lauren. She's a cute little thing, and lots of fun to chase around the house in a futile attempt to pick her up; still, she enjoys hanging around and just looking at you. Her favorite game, at least that I've found, is CD Tray - she is endlessly fascinated with the CD-ROM tray as it opens and closes when you press the button. She comes up and lightly hits it as it goes, before running away and hiding behind something before pouncing again...

*Poor computer!*

Tobey "Wiener-Bun" Siewny - Pet (Extended Family)

While reports of his ancestry don't necessarily agree, Wiener Bun looks like a mix between a black lab (head and facial features) and a daschund (everything else). He's my cousins' second dog, after Jack passed away; he's also a much more pleasant dog to be around, though I wouldn't say he was *smart* or anything. After Tigger passed away, Wiener-Bun was proclaimed Alpha Pet of the Siewny household; Tigger just couldn't see the mantle being passed on to Skyline Kitty. Too bad he's not much better...

Cheese Coney Siewny - Pet (Extended Family)

Cheese Coney is the most recent addition to the Siewny clan. She's a huge long-haired grey cat, somewhat skittish and always hungry. The other animals in the house seem mostly annoyed at her, but she's never seemed that bad to me. But I'm biased in favor of large cats; they're easier to catch...

Candice Skirvin - Extended Family (Paternal Cousin)

Candice is the oldest daughter of my Uncle Jim, and is about a year and a half older than me. We're not close - I've only seen her twice in the last fifteen years, and then only for an afternoon at a time - but I'm still impressed at how obviously my cousin she is. Candice has four children (Rebecca, Elliott, Mariah, and Sebastian), and last I checked returned to live in New Hampshire.

Jim Skirvin - Extended Family (Paternal Uncle)

Except for Jim's red hair, Dad and Uncle Jim look exactly alike. It's kinda scary. Jim lives in Hesperia, California, near to Grandma; he runs a flower shop with his wife Phyllis (his third). He was in the Navy for a while, and then lived in New England for a while before moving back west... And, beyond the fact that I have a whole pile of cousins out of the deal (Heidi, Erica, and Candace by blood, Josh and Micah by marriage, not to mention at least five second cousins that I know of...), that's really all I know about him - I never dealt much with him growing up, and didn't hear that many stories.

(Note: I have been informed that Uncle Jim recently got botox, or some equivalent, and no longer looks so much like Dad.)

Orval Skirvin - Extended Family (Paternal Grandfather), Deceased

I can't say I really understood Grandpa; he was my grandfather, and I dealt with him as such, but he just wasn't coherent enough when I was congnisant enough to really meet him. So I guess I'll just describe what I know of him. Grandpa was born to a crazy family, and came out of it...well, a bit crazy, but probably better than most of his clan. He joined the army, and marched on Germany in WWII, where he was wounded and earned a good pension for life. He returned to marry Grandma, had three boys, and found God. There was a lot of other stuff in there, too. I was his first grandson. I'll always remember his strange sayings ("it's okay, I got back in", "don't shoot me, I'm half shot already", stuff like that); he loved me dearly. But he had diabetes and had been wounded back in the war. And now he's gone. I didn't see him for almost five years before he died, but I'll miss him.

Deceased

Sylvia Skirvin - Extended Family (Paternal Grandmother)

Grandma is as loving a person as I've ever met, and therefore a wonderful grandmother. She and Grandpa raised my father and his brothers in Barstow CA, and were incredibly impressed when Dad got his degree and became a professor; then he had me, and she got even more excuses to come across the country every now and then and visit. She still lives in California, several years after Grandpa died, near my Uncle Jim; she still seems incredibly *alive* for her age, no matter how much annoyance her family brings to her. I'm just happy to not be part of that annoyance - she deserves all the love I can give her, and not the evils of California life. But she can't get over the Illinois winters, so she won't be coming here for anything but visits any time soon...
I should also note that Grandma was willing to dance with me at my wedding, and honestly, I think we made each other's day with that one. (And I was already having a *very* good day!)

*Explain, Kile*
/Grandma Skirvin is in one of the sects that believes that dancing is a sin. By dancing with Tim, she was committing a sin, and perhaps going to hell, just so she could be with him/
*Did he ask her?*
/She asked him/

Adopted Family

In the past, I managed to adopt several of my friends, or be adopted by them. At this point, they fit into a special category of "family" that I wouldn't otherwise have gussed at.

Xian Barrett - Adopted Family (Brother)

Sean was my first "best friend", the kid that we all find when we're young and deal with as the most important being in your life for some long period of time. We went to school together, grade school through high school; he skipped more grades than me, though, so I saw him less and less as time went on. Brother status was reached when he realized that he'd gone through school too fast, started hanging out with Danny, and moved in with my family (the reasons still escape me, since he lived down the street, but it worked okay). Then he got into anime, found a major, graduated, and disappeared to Japan to teach. He's been travelling between C-U and Chicago quite a bit over the last few years, and I haven't seen him much; and while I missed his wedding, he was able to make it to mine. It's good to see friends of yore...

*I thought Tim saw him at AAP meetings?*
/Yes, but that's not that often/

Ray Reskusich - Adopted Family (Brother-In-Law)

Ray was essentially the founder of allen19, and was the last surviving resident of the 1997 Quad. He invited me to live in the room, because I had chosen to hang around there occasionally the year before and they needed somebody strange to live there; as far as I could tell, though, I was more than he was bargaining for. That didn't hurt, of course - over the year we got to be good friends, as we encouraged each other in our anti-work ways and generally slacked more than any sane person ever should. Still, we both eventually graduated, him a year and a half earlier than me; he went off to work in St Louis for most of that time, and eventually returned to work for CCSO and live with Mel in Urbana. Now, of course, he and Mel have moved off to Seattle, with Ray working for Microsoft, and I miss them both dearly. At least they come to visit fairly often, and we still talk on the phone whenever we get the chance.
I got to stand up with Ray as one of his groomsmen at his wedding to Mel; it was an honor of which I am still proud, and a truly excellent night. Ray was also one of the ushers in my wedding, as Mel stood up with me; I just couldn't figure out how to fit everybody in! I still feel a bit guilty about that.

/Why didn't he just add Ray as another groomsman?/
*Balance, I think*
Allenite; allen19; Eva Gang; Monday Movies; Usher; Roommate: allen19 (Fall 1997- Spring 1998)

Mel White - Adopted Family (Sister)

In retrospect, Mel justifies everything I did in Allen Hall. I met her through one of my "harass the freshmen" techniques - they move in, are greatly confused, and are suddenly dragged into a huge group of upperclassmen and forced to talk about their confused lives until 3am. It was a fun tactic, and Mel loved it - enough so that she started dating my roommate Ray, and adopted me a week or so later. As with any siblings, we've fought and argued, and cared about each other far too much; but still, she was one of the forces that kept me in C-U for years, simply because I didn't want to be too far from her. Of course, then she took off with Ray for Seattle, and now there's a siren call dragging me there too...
Mel stood at my side in my wedding to Beth, as one of my groomsmen. It was an honor to have both her and Ray there, two of my best friends and confidants, the kind of people that would drop everything to protect me (and vice versa).

Allenite; allen19; Monday Movies; Groomsman

Captain Morgan White - Pet (Adopted Family)

Captain Morgan is Ray and Mel's cat. He was adopted to be Riley's pet; after a short period of being freaked out by the animal several dozen times his weight (he was just a kitten, after all!), he adjusted quite nicely, and the two became friends. The last I saw him, he was still quite kittenly, enjoying the tearing-up of everything in sight and occasionally pouncing on your hand beacuse it seems the right thing to do. It's nice to have an animal that just wants to destroy your hand every now and then. He's gotten a lot bigger in the intervening years, but not that much less crazy; and I still find it satisfying to actually fight with a cat every now and then.

/Even if they tear up your hand?/
*He seems to be fine with it*

Riley White - Pet (Adopted Family)

Riley is Mel and Ray's dog; Mel has had him since he was a puppy, and he's been living with the two of them ever since she finished school. He's a large red Irish Setter mix, always enthusiastic and much more puppy-like than his age would indicate. He loves cats, his tail is a thing to be reckoned with, and he's one of the most comfortable cuddling dogs I've ever known. Sadly, since Ray and Mel moved to Seattle, I haven't seen to much of the poor puppy; and worse, he really is getting old after all of these years, so I can't even wrestle with him as much. Accursed march of time!

Caitte Williams - Adopted Family (Sister), Allenite

I adopted Caitte on my 21st birthday. It was the right thing to do; we'd known each other for about three years at that point, and treated each other like siblings for most of that time. Caitte was a Chemistry major when she came to UIUC from Indiana; I met her through a Babylon 5 showing, and over a very short long time grew to be close friends with her. We lived together for a year; we fought and argued, but it was fun for both of us, even as we drove each other crazy. Siblings, I tell ya. I helped her through relationships and breakups, school and job crises, and everything in between; she helped me just as much, through topics just as varied. We're still taking care of each other, talking every couple of weeks as she has continued her life in first Texas and now Washington DC, as she works as an odd statistician. We both need to do a better job of actually calling regularly, of course. And I need to find some more excuses to make it out to DC again...
Also worthy of note is that when Caitte got married to Randall (who has definitely been a great brother-in-law) she demanded that I act as a bridesmaid for the event. (Not that I required much convincing). When I later got married to Beth, I similarly demanded that Caitte act as a groomsman for me. Sadly, Randall wasn't able to make it, just because he was busy actually receiving his grad degree. Caitte actually missed her own husband's graduation ceremony to attend my wedding... and I don't think either of us have ever been prouder.

*Do you know what he didn't mention?*
/That she's short?/
Eva Gang; Like Disco (Fall 1996 - Spring 2000); allen19; Groomsman; Roommate: BASL (Fall 1999 - Spring 2000)

Randall Williams - Adopted Family (Brother-In-Law)

Randall is my sister Caitte's boy. The two of them met while working for Teach For America back in 1999-2000; I met him about a year later when Caitte brought him to Chicago to meet us, and again later when I went to Texas to visit the two of them. I approved; I think Caitte took this as the go-ahead. They were married in November 2003, and he moved from boyfriend-in-law to brother-in-law. I approved of him before the wedding, and I approve of him now - not only is he good to Caitte, but he's smart, amusing, able to keep up with her *and* me; we can rant about TV shows and politics and all sorts of random stuff. All in all, a good in-law, if my first. Randall has just completed master's program in Museum Studies, and is now working with his degree; as far as I can tell, this has been a massive improvement in their lives. They're still living in DC with their two cats (Nikodemus and Nostradamus), and I hope to be able to spend some more time out there with them soon.

Tim and Judith Ng - Extended Family (Adopted Uncle/Aunt)

While pregnant, it was proclaimed by my parents that I would be named after one of these two; they were all best friends through grad school, and, well, you have to name kids after someone. They never guessed what the results would be, though. It wasn't the academics - Tim is a professor of Horticulture like Dad, as well as a department head and various other scary things - but the love of computers, video games, movies, and random little toys can be directly attributed to the name. Or that's my theory at least. Judith works at the Department of Education, and manages to both keep Tim in line and keep the wheels of government running. I'm still proud to be associated with both of them, and they with me. Besides, they got Beth and I our single most amusing/awful/wonderful wedding present!

John Reskusich - Semi-Adopted Brother

John is Ray's older brother. He's a friendly-but-quiet kind of guy, with the standard similar-but-different brother thing going; he's more cheerful and open, but generally just as passionate. Ray and John tend to follow each other's hobbies, too; John's more into comics and movies, while Ray's into computers, but still, it's similar. Since Ray and Mel moved to Seattle, I've seen him significantly less than I'm used to; he didn't even make it to our wedding. But I have no doubt that the next time our paths cross, things won't be much different than when I last saw him.

Charlotte White - Semi-Adopted Sister

Charlotte is Mel's younger sister, which makes her my sister in some strange way that's not quite as strong as the bond to Mel. She's an odd girl, very much into world travel and pseudo-hip stuff; we get along quite well, almost to official sibling levels though I'm not sure how close of friends we can really be said to be; it's an odd dynamic. She spent a year or so in Australia, until recently returning to live in the St Louis area; hopefully I'll still hear from her periodically, even with her sister having moved far away. She did miss the wedding, though, and I missed MelFest after that, so it's been a while...

UIUC - the Allen Hall Era

It has become more and more difficult to divide up my friends over time. Rather than try too hard, I have decided to just merge several classes of my college friends into a single group: Allen Hall and the Associated Empires.

Jenny Albrich - Allenite

I met Jenny through Eva - they'd known each other virtually from birth onwards, and so she was inducted into the Gang as soon as she showed up. She's a Disco alumnus of three years, Caitte's ex-roommate, a biochem major who's attending UIC's Pharmacy school - and, to me, my ex. Nobody's really sure where the relationship came from, or where it went; all that we know is that we got together, stuck for six months, and eventually fell apart when we both ran out of time and decided we had the common decency to let the thing die gracefully. If nothing else, the whole issue indicated that I can actually have relationships legitimately. She's a good, if absent, friend, and I have no doubts that she'll manage to make a good life for herself - if she can distract herself a bit, anyway, and keep her residency from killing her. Jenny got married in 2006 - I was invited to the reception - and has moved to South Africa with her husband, Werner. I'm proud of how her life is going, and I'm glad that she's still my friend.

/You might want to check here/
*It's a fairly positive account, for what it's worth...*
Eva Gang; Like Disco (Fall 1996 - Spring 1999); Girlfriend (August 20 1998 - February 10 1999)

Sarah Auvenshine - Allenite (by Marriage)

I met Sarah through Mel; she was a fellow civil engineer at the time. Within a week of my meeting her, she was dating Jesse. I never actually worked out the details surrounding that; regardless, it was a nice change. Sarah's a quiet, friendly woman that holds her own in the geek conversations; if nothing else, she'll add a bit of CE talk. She and Jesse got married in November 2004; she is currently living in Chicago, while Jesse is going through Army Helicopter Training. I've actually seen a lot more of her in the last year or so than I've seen Jesse, and I've enjoyed it.

Jessica Barwa - Allenite

Jessi was the first RA that I really befriended, and the only one for which this happened while they still had their job. She never really appreciated it when I called her The Enemy, of course, but she took it in stride; after all, while I was fighting the system, I did avoid her room with my wrath. Jessi was the 2S RA during my junior year, and an RA in ISR the next year; for all of that time we stayed in contact, mostly because she and Chris counted themselves as married ("WIFEY!" It doesn't help that I gave them the official approval of the ULC). I'm not doing a good job of keeping up with her for some reason, but hopefully finishing off this friends page update will give me the necessary incentive to get back to her emails... but that's what I wrote last time, so what do I know? She did come to my wedding, too...

Helen Benner - Allenite

I'm not really sure when I met Helen. I'm pretty sure of where - it was in Allen, while we were both living there. But the time - it's all mixed up in a huge series of fights, arguments, and shared responsibilities. Regardless, Helen is from Tuscola, is a CPA for a local accounting firm. She was friends with both Danny and I back in college, when she was willing to come out of her work and talk; but she was difficult to keep track of over time. For a long time she lived in Tuscola, and was mostly out of contact; but when I ran into her with Danny at Wal-Mart once, we convinced her to come out a bit more. She met Chrispie at one of Darren's parties, and they've been dating ever since; and as a result, she got interested in board games as a good hobby. Since her recent movd to Champaign (well, Savoy), we've been playing board games with us fairly regularly once or twice a week, and I've once again start growing close with her. I'm glad to see her having fun in life nowadays.

Thursday Games; Sunday Games

Kerry Blasingim - Allenite

I met Kerry at the start of my senior year, just before he started dating my sister for nearly two years. During that time he looked to me as much more of a mentor than I really deserved to be; in return, I tried to look after him, even as it became apparent that a CS career was not going to work. We essentially lived together for the year before he left school; then he left, and I started seeing him much less. I'm still not sure what all happened there, honestly. Kerry eventually got his degree in English (it suited him better) from SIU-E, to which he commuted from home; then he went off at grad school in Ohio, with one advanced degree already and another coming eventually. He's currently teaching English as a Foreign Language in South Korea, and is due to return fairly soon. I wonder where he'll end up? I do hope it'll be nearby.
Also of note: Kerry was instrumental in getting Beth and I together, or at least in doing so as quickly as we did. Heh.

Like Disco (Fall 1998 - Fall 1999); Roommate: BASL (Fall 1999 - Spring 2000)

Chuck Bohall - Allenite

Chuck is James' brother, and generally did his best to follow in his footsteps. He's began college as a Civil Engineer; he used to live in Allen with Bryan Kieft and then with Belle's brother Doug, and all during this he was in Like Disco. Really, he's far too much like his brother, except that he spends more effort on religion than James, and has a different set of neuroses. While we were fairly close during college, we grew closer afterwards, as he used me to keep up with the rest of our crowds; and after he left town, I was one of his major contacts whenever he found an excuse to stop by again. Having finished (more-or-less) his MS, Chuck has recently moved back to Bloomington, and gotten a job with the USGS in Champaign. He's currently looking for a house in town, and with any luck we'll be able to put together a new improv troupe soon! Here's hoping...

Like Disco (Fall 1997 - Spring 2002); Eva Gang; Monday Movies

James Bohall - Allenite

I met James early in my freshman year, when we both joined Disco pretty much by accident; we stayed good friends for the next couple of years, sharing leadership of Disco for a while and generally acting like a good pair. Finally, after the years of keeping each other sane and entertained, we decided to live together with Caitte for a year - and it was interesting. (In the Chinese sense.) Still, he was a great roommate the whole time, and we got along really well. He even gave me someone to watch movies with. James now works for the Army Corps of Engineers in Florida, having left Davenport, Iowa shortly after he got married to Jeanie. I really do miss seeing him, even if it was just once every few months; but in the mean time, it was great fun (and a great honor) to stand up at his wedding. And we at least get to keep up with the latest random computer game news together...

Like Disco (Fall 1995 - Spring 2000); Eva Gang; Roommate: BASL (Fall 1999 - Spring 2000)

Tamira Brennan - Allenite

I met Tamira during 1998's freshman orientation session on Disco, where she just outright rocked and happened to be female. I encouraged (far too weak a word; "pushed" is probably closer) her to join privately, and, much to my surprise, she did. She rapidly became a good friend, someone different to talk to but always willing to do it; her mindset is just that little bit off, which is so amazingly helpful in making decisions... She smokes, which is sad, even though we've managed to talk her out of it off and on; she was co-director of Like Disco for a while. And then she graduated. I wasn't expecting to see her again, but she did come to my housewarming party. Whee, old friends! Chuck is theoretically still in contact with her; maybe we'll be able to talk her into coming up again one of these days.

Like Disco (Fall 1998 - Spring 2002)

Jenny Brown - Allenite

Jenny was one of the first people I met in Allen, back during that "get to know your classmates" expansion in the first few days of living in the dorm. She was a recent IMSA grad, one of the first I really knew, and quite interesting for it; but before too long she had gone her way, and I had gone mine. I kindof heard of her continued existence for a long time after that, but we finally got back into touch over LiveJournal in the last few months. An interesting woman, Jenny...

Erin Burns - Allenite

I met Erin when she showed up for a South Park showing in my room, and for whatever reason she decided to join our crowd - maybe it was my scaring her by figuring out her phone number with ph too quickly, maybe it was just my strange personality, who knows. She was a theatre major that hated acting, and instead concentrated on set design and such; she lived in Allen primarily because her sister had before, but it wasn't really for her; she quickly took off for apartment pastures, where she lived until she graduated. Now she's in New York. I saw her briefly at Mel's wedding, but I honestly don't expect to run into her again, though I would enjoy it...

allen19

Erin "Wolf" Chambers - Allenite (Associated Empire)

The Wolf was an offering of Ray to the Quad, after he left - a rare species of student known as a "female CS student", they'd known each other in high school and gotten along far too well. She turned out to be custom made for the Quad, which was proven when she showed up for an Empire Records showing and knew the lines better than us. Still, she's been elusive; she cares too much about her classes to really play with people. But she comes over for Ex-Buffy-Night, Monday Movies was made so she's be social, and Mel can make her come over occasionally. Erin worked for The Man for a while as well (the CIA), and may do so again after grad school. How odd. Erin theoretically changed her name when she married Jeff back in 2003, but nobody really believes it yet; we still call her Wolf. Erin had her first daughter early in 2007, and we've been able to see her at games pretty regularly ever since. I still find this a bit odd, but I'm not complaining; she's a good friend, and I enjoy seeing her.

allen19; Buffy Crowd; Monday Movies; Sunday Games

Grace "Mort" Chambers - Allenite (by Birth)

Grace, better known as Mort (her middle name is Moriarty), is the first child of Erin and Jeff. She's an absolutely *adorable* little child, and blessed with a collection of friends that don't particularly want kids of their own at the moment, but are happy to dote upon the new cute thing of the world. I've bought her two onesies - Trogdor the Burninator (Baby Version), and a Poupon U setup - and I try to get away with holding her as much as possible. We've actually gotten a lot of contact with the Mort so far, because she's still capable of being carried along for Sunday Games; hopefully even when she starts crawling I'll get to be a part of her life.

Sunday Games; Sortof-Niece

Jeff Chambers - Allenite (by Marriage)

Jeff is Erin's husband. I've actually met him many times through the years; he always seemed like a nice guy and all, but I never really got a chance to talk with him much until he moved to town in 2002 or so. The last year or so, though, has had us seeing each other fairly regularly, mostly based around board gaming at first Valhalla and later Armored Gopher Games. It's fun to play with someone with the proper caustic attitude... He and Erin are still having a great time playing with their cute-as-a-button daughter, and I've enjoyed seeing them so happy about it.

Sunday Games

Moshen Chan - Allenite

Moshen was my next-door neighbour for a year and lived three doors down the hall for another year; he's also a townie, which I knew for years (we BBSed together back in the days when such things existed) but never got around to doing anything about until we popped up next to each other. I officially met him at The Etc with Karen Day (proving once again that you always know somebody at The Etc), and we've been friends ever since; after all, he's a fellow computer geek, he likes good music, he'll talk about just about anything, and he never gets in the way even when he's hanging around at strange times. He dated Rachel for a couple of years, which was interesting. He graduated eventually, and currently works in the Bay Area with a lot of that old crowd.

allen19

Dan Chen - Allenite

I met Dan when he joined Disco at the beginning of my senior year; he seemed pretty quiet and fairly shy, but, hey, it's not my place to judge such things - after all, I've only recently done things any differently. He's gotten a whole lot better over time, though; eventually he even started talking with us. It got a lot better when he, Kerry, Pat, and Charles Bank moved into the 3N Quad together, and we had a few more things to talk about; now he even occasionally asks about schoolwork, and I get to see if I can lead somebody on a more successful path of ECE than I've had. All in all, a good guy. I've seen him around quite a bit lately, for some reason, and the experiences generally make me jealous of his camera...

Like Disco (Fall 1998 - Fall 1999); Monday Movies; Sushi Club

Chris Conrad - Allenite

Chris was Rene's roommate for two years, first in LAR and then joining Rene in moving to Allen when it seemed appropriate. While she's amongst the most ditzy of my friends, she's still palatable - she cares(d) about hall politics, she likes the same kinds of movies as us, and besides, she lived in the 3S Quad with Rene and Mel. That, and she was always fun to gossip about - when you have a new boy every couple of weeks, them's the rules. She later replaced me as Allen's Internal Vice President, and temporarily took over the ropes of <FISH>< House in my absence; then she lived in the New Quad for a year. The last I heard, she was working as a teacher in North Carolina, but that's been a long time now.

allen19; Like Disco (Spring 1998)

Anatoly Delm - Allenite

Having joined the Gang through his connections to Andrew, Toly was our resident Evil Empire representative - he interned for Microsoft for two summers, and we all thought he'd end up working there when he graduated. He changed his mind, though, and just went to Chicago (to work for Motorola, IIRC). Through all of the evil, though, he's a good guy - terrible at Starcraft, the mortal enemy of Caitte, always fighting on Usenet, newly Libertarian, and generally friendly whenever he gets the opportunity. Now if we could just get over his former evil... He's working for Motorola now, in some kind of manager-track position with Marketing. I know I should be afraid of his new powers, but I just can't bring myself to worry...

Eva Gang; allen19; MeatNews

Brijeet Dhaliwal - Allenite (by Relationship)

I met Brijeet through Dan Wright when they were both in college, after they had been dating for several years and several years before they finally got through the family issues and got married. I was amused with her from the beginning, as an amusing, very-liberal, strong-willed woman that knew her way around computers, but didn't actually deal with them for a living. After going to Loyola University for a while, she finally came down to UIUC, occasionally showing up and coming to parties as reasonable. For a while she worked for our research group as well, working on some web stuff and some surveys and the like. Since she and Dan broke up, though, I haven't seen too much of her except on-line; hopefully I won't lose track of her.

Co-Worker: TCBG (2004)

Amber Donner - Allenite (by Relationship)

Amber is Jacob's fiancee. She works at the American Players Theatre in Spring Green, WI, which is where the two of them met; Jacob is a sound engineer, and she works on the costumes. She's a strong-willed girl, who has put a lot of effort into making sure that Jacob will talk; and she has seemed to fit in pretty well with those of us that have been able to meet her. Jacob and Amber plan to move to Denver after this season of APT, and will be getting married in Iowa (near her family, which is *really* important to her) next August.

Belle Drake - Allenite (Deceased)

It has been three years since my friend Belle died of liver cancer in July 2004. I had, at that point, known her for nine years; she was the oldest Eva Gang member, having graduated in Summer 1997 (and she was already older than usual for that). Belle was one of the most cheerful, optimistic, *friendly* people I ever had the privelege to know; and I'm proud to say that I stayed close friends with her for as long as I knew her. She still remains an inspiration to me; she knew she was dying, but she pressed on anyway, buying a house and working through a year of vet school through it all... I miss her. And I don't think I can ever be as eloquent as I am in the above link.

/I can't recommend the above link enough/
*Nor can I*
Deceased; Eva Gang; Monday Movies

Randy Duax - Allenite

While I was there, Randy was Ground South's troublemaker, the guy who put stuff on people's doorknobs, made prank phone calls at all hours, and generally got himself into trouble almost all the time. But I still liked him. Rather than say anything more, though - well, he's asked to be taken off of this page, and while I refuse to do that, I can at least minimize the damage... After graduating, he spent a year living with Tunji and Smoot, then a year in the Hamptons, and is now wandering the New York area causing trouble. Like I'd expect anything else... I still hear from him pretty regularly over LJ and AIM, and I'm fairly shocked at how much I value his advice and his friendship.

allen19; Like Disco (Spring 1999)

Shaun Edmonds - Allenite

Shaun is a tester at Volition software here in C-U. I met him back in college, when he was one of the most flamboyantly gay people I knew - which was saying something, given where I lived. After leaving Allen, he spent some time in Japan being a half-Otaku; it was nice to have him back when he returned, because he had really gotten his life together. For a couple of years I saw him semi-regularly on the bus to work, until he got himself a car and didn't have to deal with that anymore; now I don't see him enough, and I feel bad for it. But it's always satisfying when I do see him, and Beth sees him a lot in the mean time.

Jon "Hippy Jon" Fisher - Allenite

Jon Fisher was dubbed "Hippy Jon" when he lived in Ground South with us my junior and senior years; it's never been *entirely* appropriate, but at least it differentiated his name from the rest of the Jo(h)ns of the world. Outside of his name, he's never had a reason to worry about it; he is truly a unique individual. Jon is a devout vegan, and the founder of the Campus Vegetarian Society (who, as president of Campus Carnivores for Christ and such I regularly fought with in college [ritualistically anyway]); he loves cooking, video games, and generally carrying on silly with as many friends as possible. Our social groups have tended to mesh pretty well, somehow, even after he moved to Washington DC; and years later I still get to see him fairly regularly. And every time, I can live in awe of his 8-bit skillz...

Jeanie Froman-Bohall - Allenite (by Marriage)

Jeanie is James' wife. I could tell all sorts of stories about her - how they met (James' odd courtship procedures paid off!), about her family (on the last plane out of Vietnam before the war), etc - but all I really have to say about her is that she's incredibly friendly, sharp, and fun. James did well for himself, and I'd say that Jeannie did well to snap him up. I should also note that I am proud to have been in their wedding.

Erik Gilling - Allenite

I met Erik in my Math 242 class, but it took me a few weeks to realize that he was a fellow Allenite and lived next door to the GS Quad. When I found this out, and threw in his geekiness and other credentials, he rapidly became one of my best friends - and he probably should have been for years before, if our schools had just meshed or we'd at least been paying attention. He never actually graduated, instead heading to San Francisco to enjoy the night life and work for Sun/Cobalt. The last I heard, he was working for OQO in San Francisco, but given that nobody in our section of the country ever (*ever*) hears from him, he could be anywhere by now.

allen19

Aaron Gutierrez - Allenite

Aaron started hanging around the Quad after his girlfriend dumped him; after all, he lived just down the hall, he no longer had anything better to do, and that's what the Quad is there for... He really was a worthwhile addition to allen19, taking to heart our anti-Coke stances, understanding how the sleep schedules worked, and always willing to bring us more video games to play and music to listen to. Besides, listening to him rant about his roommate Mike was loads of fun, and he actually guards the room well when necessary. He currently lives in the House of Ground South with a bunch of other people, and has begun DJing semi-professionally. I'm not sure how this fits in with this degree, though. I haven't heard anything from Aaron for a while now, and I hope that he reappears at some point.

allen19

Dave "Diode" Hayashida - Allenite

Over the last few years, Dave actually managed to change his nickname from "Jiggy Dave" to "Diode". I was impressed, but not convinced. Dave was an alternately electrical engineering and graphic design major from Hawaii, who lived with us in the Quad for a year and managed to add quite a bit of amusement to our lives. He was amusingly stuck up about silly things, prone to great silliness when drunk, and so over the top that we really should have figured out he was gay *before* he moved out the next year. Mind you, that would have been fine, the whole lot of us was just impressed with our lack of observation. Dave is currently living in Boston, and is...buff. Scarily so.

Eva Gang; Roommate: allen19 (Fall 1997 - Spring 1998)

Rene Hendrix - Allenite

Rene is pretty hard to describe, because she changes her personality radically every now and then. For a while, she was a typical SanFran techno-girl, working for Sun/Cobalt with Erik and Moshen during the day, but that didn't really cover it. None of it changed her basic personality - a female computer geek that constantly manages to get herself into trouble by trying to do too much. It was almost fun trying to de-stress her occasionally. I still see her occasionally when she comes back to C-U for something or other; this is far too rarely.

allen19; Roommate: h0l (Summer 1998, Summer 1999)

Dave Hoffman - Allenite

Dave started out in Allen a year before me and set the path that I was eventually to follow - sure, I added a few jinks here and there, but overall the direction was the same. I met him when I joined Disco, when he was working becoming director of the troupe; we became fast friends, watching lots of movies in his Quad and spending long nights in the Commons just talking. Due to the Ch@os schism we finally began to part ways - he spent a year just hanging around on his floor and not talking to the outside world much, and then moved out. I, of course, did pretty much the same thing the next year... I've done what I can to rebuild our friendship, but I'm not sure it's going to last anymore - he just wandered too far away. But he was a good friend once, and I won't forget that... Last I heard, he's now off in Hollywood doing editing work, so he's happy.

Like Disco (Fall 1994 - Spring 1997)

Dan "Dannyman" Howard - Allenite

Dannyman is an interesting individual. Originally a CS major, he finally graduated after five years with a degree in Rhetoric; the change was, as far as I could tell, made to give him bragging rights over the rest of the CS majors in the area. Like me, Dannyman tends to spend his life fighting the system for no particularly good reason, though he doesn't tend to get in as much trouble as me; instead he just gets people ticked off for a while and then they give up and forgive him (this includes me). He hosted killfile.org for a couple of years, and therefore knows the Daemons fairly well; hey, they're good guys... I mostly follow Dannyman's life through his journals lately; he seems to be doing pretty well for himself, and documenting many of the same technical issues that I go through on a regular basis.

Darren Hron - Allenite

For about five years I lived with Darren, and we managed not to kill each other. Given our significantly different personalities, this was no small feat. Mind you, we're still pretty similar - Darren works for CITES, the main campus computer organization, as a Windows admin (compare to my Unix); he was my successor as the director of Like Disco; he even took my place in the Quad when I left. But he's neater than I am, psycho about different things, and...well, I'm not CITES' favorite person, which makes things difficult for him sometimes. I finally moved out a couple of years ago when I bought a house, which caused interesting wrinkles in our relationship - he's figured out that he has a whole house to himself, for starters, and we now have to run our social groups from two different corners of town. It's actually worked out pretty well, with him running games and me running movies.
Hannah is now moving in with him, which should be exciting. I'm happy for him! And I'm glad that he was able to stand up in our wedding.

*On Beth's side*
/She wanted him/
Like Disco (Fall 1996 - Spring 2000); Buffy Crowd; Monday Movies; Sunday Games; Thursday Games; Bridesmaid; Roommate: BDOD (Fall 2000 - Summer 2001), BTOD (Fall 2001 - Summer 2002), Darren's House (Fall 2002 - Spring 2005)

Sarah Ibis - Allenite

I met Sarah during our sophomore year, when she joined Disco in order to get more theatre experience than she was going to get as an English major. A good friend of Valerie's, she was already a member of the Eva Gang at the time but I hadn't really dealt with her much; the Disco experiences got me talking, though, and our friendship was cemented during the Ch@os mess of Winter 1996. Now, years later, I still try to talk with her whenever possible; we may not have that much in common *directly*, but sometimes there's just something satisfying about having a friend for the sole sake of friendship - and besides, I still need to get her back for calling me a 'social butterfly' Back In The Day. *grin* She and Sean recently got engaged, after dating for ten years; hopefully they'll stick around the Chicago area, so I can continue to see them on a regular basis.

Eva Gang; Like Disco (Fall 1996 - Spring 1997)

Andrew Kaczorek - Allenite

Andrew was one of the original core of the Eva Gang, since he lived with Ed, Rachel's then-boyfriend; he's also one of its oddest members, and one of its biggest computer geeks. Andrew, who graduated in CS in May, is more into toys than I am - he has loads of computers, old video game systems, strange electronics, two NeXTs, and plenty of other random stuff to keep us all amused. His sense of humor is about as warped as mine, too, as shown by his originating the Big People project and finding Captain Pecker to order; he's even got a cat named Holstein, thus beating me to the cat-loving punch. I don't see Andrew as much our proximity should dictate; I just don't get to Indianapolis enough. It is strange of me, I admit. But now that he's got a Skyline Chili... Andrew and Nicole (his wife) are currently looking for a new house in the Indianapolis area; I should really get out to visit them soon.

Eva Gang; allen19

Nicole Kaczorek - Allenite (by Marriage)

Nicole is Andrew's wife, and is one of the biggest sweethearts I've ever known. I met her at some Eva Gang event or another, and was instantly impressed; it's rare to have someone act so friendly to strangers. Since then we've become fairly close; it's always a pleasure to stay at their house overnight, and to just wander around and eat Skyline and otherwise play silly together. For that matter, it's always fun to see what she's knitting; she gave us a knitted sushi-colored toilet paper doily for our wedding, for instance. So cute!
And I'm impressed with her website, if I hadn't mentioned that.

Amy "R-A" Katscher - Allenite

Amy RA (Rosenblatt-Andris, when I first knew her) was a long-time Allenite that left after Winter 1997 due to continuing sickness and a certain desire to get the hell out of Champaign. Her purpose at Allen was to get us all sorts of Toyz and Candy from catalogs (well, and to be friendly to everyone and stuff, which she was actually pretty good at), and to remember the old times about as well as me...oh yeah, and to have an email address without vowels. Amy got married in 2001 to Chris Katscher, and has moved to Arizona (last I heard). I'm still in periodic contact with her, and she even visited town not too long ago. It's nice to have at least a few contacts from that early Allen era...

Bryan Kieft - Allenite

Bryan is He-Who-Laughs, a naturally cheerful guy that I met early in my sophomore year (his freshman year) when he joined Like Disco and started hanging around a lot. And then I killfiled him. It was such an auspicious start to a friendship... He eventually got better, though, and started making friends with whole bunches of my friends - and so we got to actually talk, and it was good. And so over the last few years I've watched him change majors, come out, live with Chuck Bohall and my brother, become an RA (Allen 3 Center), fight with his family, get the cover story of the local newspaper, go for boys and sometimes succeed, try to learn real responsibility and leadership skills... And I've enjoyed it all deeply. If nothing else, Bryan is a kind of embodiment of what college was all about for me, though I doubt he understands why. While like many people I don't see enough of Bryan lately, I do know he's alive, if for no other reason than he's my masseur. Mmm, licensed Bryan...

Like Disco (Fall 1996 - Spring 2000); Buffy Crowd; Thursday Games

Jacob Krimbel - Allenite

Jacob is a quiet-but-not-unassuming IMSA graduate. I met him during my sophomore year, and we became friends if for no other reason than he would occasionally talk around me; to others he was always just silent, looming, and omnipresent, and most of my friends were scared of him. But he eventually got himself into the allen19 crowd, and began down the path of self-destruction with the rest of us. He eventually moved into the Quad with me, and we addicted each other to video games and comics and what have you as we wreaked havoc throughout the dorm. A year later, he failed out as a result. He came back as a History major, and really did pretty well at it by completely ignoring it - he worked for CCSO, and spent his spare time doing lights for various local shows. But he still didn't talk. He lived in the New Quad with Ray, Mel, and Jesse/Chris for two years; then he spent a couple of years in a Virginia theatre troupe, and then in Wisconsin in another one, where he found his fiancee (Amber) and, as far as I'm concerned, had his life put together. All in all, he's one of my few friends to actually find work in the field he *wants* to work in (well, besides the engineers). I wish him luck, but I really do miss him greatly.
I'm also supposed to be in his wedding next August. Hooray! Of course, I hope that my speech is better than this entry...

allen19; Monday Movies; Best Man; Roommate: allen19 (Spring 1998, Fall 1998 - Spring 1999)

Tori Lease - Allenite

Tori was one of the old-school Allenites - one of the most psychotic people I've known, and also one of the most style-laden and interesting. I won't get into everything about her - she's one of those people you've got to have met before you start having long discussions of her history - but I will say that she was one of my major influences in Allen. That should be enough to understand her power, at least... Last I heard, she's in California somewhere. Maybe.

Matas Morkevicius - Allenite (by Marriage)

Matas is the man that caught Valerie. Unexpectedly, he did it with a long-distance relationship - he and Valerie met in Lithuania, and dated by phone and internet for several years (with a few trips here and there, to be fair) before finally getting married last December. Matas is an MD in Lithuana and, now, in the United States; the two of them are living in Chicago now, where he practices and the two of them take care of their two kids, Emilija and Ingrida. And now that my wedding's over, I've been able to see them more often, which has been wonderful.

Valerie Morkevicius - Allenite

When I first met Valerie, she was older than me - or, at least, that's what I thought, since I didn't have any conception that people were allowed to counsel me and not be older. As time went on, though, and I became the counselor, I began to spot the fact that she's actually a year or so younger than me. Valerie graduated from UIUC in Japanese and French, after a year-long trip to Japan and one final year in Allen living with Eva; now she's off at grad school in Chicago, where I don't see her as much and really regret it. I should really visit her more often; at least we can talk quite openly when we do visit. She got married to Matas a few years back - I got to participate as a candle lighter - and currently has two children, Emilija and Ingrida. With any luck, I can make it up to Chicago often enough to be a fun part of their lives; at the very least, Val is encouraging it.

Eva Gang

Jess Olson - Allenite

For my first couple of years in Allen, Jesse was my best friend - a nice psychotic kid from Minnesota that was oddly attractive to women and more than a bit obsessive, and just someone I was always willing to talk to about anything. He was a CS major, too obsessed with the machines for his own good - which, considering that he really wasn't the best with them, didn't serve him well, and he began to slip. Then he dropped out and joined the Marines. He finished training after a year, and was then stationed in Okinawa Japan for another three; now he's back in the States, living first in the New Quad and then a house with Ray and Mel (as he got himself two BS degrees from UIUC; he done good!), and then in Chicago and New Mexico. He got married in 2004 to Sarah Auvenshine, and I still regret not being able to make it to his wedding. Jesse is currently in training with the Army, where is is training to be a helicopter pilot. I wish him luck, and I hope he stays safe, so I hopefully see him regularly again some day...

/He actually switched the name over to 'Jess'!/
*Yes, but not the description. I guess it's a start*
allen19

Lavesh Patel - Allenite

I met Lavesh through Toly, even though he'd lived in Allen for a while before that; by the time I really became friends with him, though, he'd finally moved out. That doesn't mean he'd moved on, of course; much of his last year here as a CBA major was spent studying in Allen, or at least hanging around and talking about The X-Files with me and anybody else that was interested. Of course, now he's graduated, and I don't really see him much anymore; it's a shame, really. He should really at least make it to Eva Gang events...

Gautham Rao - Allenite

Gautham is one of the guys in the Gang that I never got to know all that well, mostly because he spent all of his time studying in his room - a different situation than the rest of the compulsive studiers, because he wouldn't hang around in the Commons like the rest of us. He always said it was because we were too much of a distraction, which of course we were, but that's unfair anyway... He was Sean's roommate for two years ('96-8), during which most of the times I saw him were when I was looking for Sean, trying to invite Gautham along for something, when we were watching The X-Files (the one distraction he allowed himself), or on his birthday, when we'd all drag him out to some fun place and actually force him to have a good time. Oh yeah, and when Eva would talk him into studying in the Ice room. After graduating in Biology, he went to Yale to get his doctorate; I've seen him once or twice since, but not as much as I'd like.

Eva Gang

Bill Renner - Allenite

Bill was one of the few to join allen19 that wasn't in any way a computer major - and, well, I think I'm a bit proud of his persistence. Bill was almost a Quad resident - not quite, since he didn't live there and was hard to talk into anything, but he played so many video games... I'd count him as an ex-roommate, except that he returned to his room to sleep. He currently owns at least two spare souls - one that we thought was Tunji's for a while, and one that he won in a bet over the fore-mentioned Tunji soul. Yay. Bill is currently in Hawaii, programming and enjoying just living on an island, but I suspect that he's going to move somewhere else soon; he's the restless type, you see.

allen19

Hadas Ritz - Allenite

Hadas was the only person from my high school to join anything resembling my social group - and even that was tenuous. She liked to watch Empire Records with us, which was quite fun; otherwise, she kinda stayed off in the distance doing her Mechanical Engineer things. The last I saw her was at Mel's wedding, and even then I didn't get to talk to her much...

allen19

Tom Saleh - Allenite

Tom is a CS major from Princeton, a small town upstate that sent its entire population to this school. His most prominent relation to me is as a co-worker; he got me hired by CRHC early this year, which both meant that I had a really cool job and that I saw a whole lot more of him. I knew him before that, though; he was an old member of Ground South, and 4N before that, and remembers my roommates of the era with a level of awe and disgust that nearly matches my own. Anyway, he's a fun guy, if prone to act a bit silly at times (putting down "UK" as his country of origin on his tax forms wasn't a particularly bright move, for instance). Tom's currently in Caltech working on Earthquake Detection stuff, the last I heard anyway.

Co-Worker: CRHC

Pat Sanders - Allenite

Pat came to the U of I as an ECE freshman, wide-eyed and open and wanting to do all the theatre stuff that he saw - something fairly well after my heart, considering how I turned out. He joined Disco, he did some computer stuff, he made a lot of friends - and then left, and didn't come back for several years. When he got back, his life was definitely back on-track; he worked at Cheddars for a while as he went to Parkland, before heading off to Bloomington to go to ISU. I'm in close contact with him again; he became close friends with Beth for a while there, and spent a year living with Vered and Stuart, before settling down in Bloomington and visiting on a semi-regular basis. He's currently finishing up his Education degree at ISU, and then he'll be off to some other part of the state; but for now, I'm happy to have him around as much as possible.

Like Disco (Fall 1998 - Fall 1999); Buffy Crowd; Monday Movies; Sunday Games; Usher

Jen Schneider - Allenite (by Marriage)

Jen is Jimpy's wife. I met her when I was dating Jenny and hanging out at the ASL; she seemed friendly and cheerful, and definitely the center of Jimpy's world. They got married reasonably quickly, the first of our social group to do it; then we didn't see them much for a while, as they established themselves in the world. I've begun to see Jen more often over the last few years, mostly while she's doing an impeccable job as hostess and enjoying re-meeting all of Jim's old college friends. It's been a pleasure to see the two of them...

Jim Schneider - Allenite

Jimpy is a nice, normal looking tall guy that, while he was at the U of I, worshipped Winnie the Pooh, collected Kraft Macaroni and Cheese boxes, acted, spent his life at KCSA (Krannert Center Student Association - theatre major wannabes), and just plain radiated an air of "I'm kindof strange, follow my example". But when he graduated in Electrical Engineering and Math, he took a decidedly more normal path - he moved in with his girlfriend Jen and proceeded with wedding plans. Jim and Jen have begun to reconnect with our group over the last few years, throwing parties and coming to ours. Now we just have to make it up to more of their events!

Eva Gang

Don "Smoot" Smoot - Allenite

Smoot was a Math major from Boston that managed to appear on our floor and quickly gather a following, if for no other reason than the beauty of his name - "Smoot" just has such a nice ring to it, and even has some important cultural significance for us geeks (an MIT bridge was once measured in Smoots). He was quickly assimilated into Quad culture - a bit too well, in fact, considering his tendencies to not sleep. Aah, well. He's a good guy, a source of a large car, a great fan of The Matrix, somebody easy to order around, and a useful person to know. And he's got a great blanket which he doesn't get too overly offended when we steal it. Yay. Smoot eventually moved away, back home as far as I know.

allen19

Eva Sueto - Allenite

Eva, leader of the Gang, never thought that she was going to be in charge of a group of people like what she got - she was just setting up a small list, she claims, why would it turn out to be a group that would virtually take over Allen for a while? Little did she know originally that I was going to get involved, and how I would react to being in such a group - I was a latecomer to the group, having met Eva my freshman year talking about gg's roommate Todd, and through her involvement in my life I managed to actually make myself social. Really - she was it! All that follows in my life is because of that time. She's currently working in a Chicago blood bank after finishing two Bachelor's, which still seems a bit...overeducated. Accursed economy! I'm still in close contact with her, and hope to continue that way for a long, long time.
I was honored to have Eva stand up with me at my wedding. In fact, I'm still honored that she was so willing to do it. For whatever reason, I figured she'd be the most difficult to convince; silly me.

*Also, she made him learn to use chopsticks*
Eva Gang (Leader); Groomsman

Nate Sweeney - Allenite

Nate was the first freshman I met during my junior year; he moved in early, and actually had the presence of mind to come sit and talk with the upper- classfolk. I'd actually heard of him before that, as he was one of Sarah Ibis' friends from home; still, it was interesting actually seeing him, and it's been particularly interesting knowing him. He's a bit clueless at times, but I'm pretty sure that was always intentional; he still can't stand my taste in music, either, but it's for the same reasons as I don't like Alternative (he lived in Holland for a year and heard it on the radio all the time), so I can forgive it. And his friends even like me now... Nate also gave me a really cool fish belly-pack which was used in Europe, ostensibly as a graduation gift even though I wasn't done yet - hey, at least it's a cool toy. He's graduated now, and last I checked is working in Baltimore.

Like Disco (Fall 1997 - Spring 1998)

Dave Terrell - Allenite

Dave was the first of my real friends to have a kid. This still bothers me a bit, though I have no excuse for it now that he's upped the number to two. He's a UIUC dropout that went to California to find his fortune; oddly, it worked pretty well, as he kept his job through most of the Troubles until he found another back in Chicago. Now he's back in our state, and I suppose I should track him down in person at some point... He used to be the patriarch of h0l, the guy that made the parties happen, gathered the technology to make it interesting, and generally was in charge of its social circles. He was also the one that invited me there. Now he still runs meat.*, the newgroup hierarchy for current and ex-UIUC folk, and continues to do neat techie things whenever possible.
I finally met his wife and kids at my wedding, which was the first time I'd seen him in way too many years. He looks good! I've really got to stay in closer touch with him.

MeatNews; Roommate: h0l (Summer 1998)

Tunji Toogun - Allenite, Deceased

Tunji was Allen19's younger brother, the kid that was trying to learn the ropes but gets made fun of all the time for it. He was really a pretty nice guy - he started out terribly obnoxious, when he lived in the 3N Quad his freshman year (1997-8), but we all grew to really enjoy his antics, and enjoyed watching as he grew to bring his oddness to the whole campus instead of just our floor. His accent was amusing (he's Nigerian), and he had a tendency to be belligerent for no reason, but that was just charming. And once he gained a position of seniority in Allen, he was truly a force to be reckoned with - and befriend. Of course, by the point he got there I already owned his soul seven times over... After his undergrad, he began a PhD program in Molecular and Cellular Biology; he was originally expecting to take just three years, but this increased over time, like with all students. And while I mostly fell out of touch with him once he hit grad school, I did still see him around town, almost always on the arm of ~3 attractive women...
All was looking good for him when I last saw him at my wedding - he was graduating soon, and was planning on leaving town to find a job or a postdoc or whatever seemed likely. But one evening in August he fell into a lake and drowned. And the world just seems smaller now.
The above link points at his eulogy.
I miss him.

*He was a good man*
/Ave atque vale, Tunji/
allen19; Like Disco (Spring 1999)

Aaron Vanderwerff - Allenite

Aaron lived across the hall from me my freshman year, and basically taught me the ropes of a lot of Engineering ("these classes are hard" especially). While he was here he was a major B5 fan; through his work he managed to move me up from Lurker to Fanatic status, by introducing me to Peter Baer. That, and he was part of the Eva Gang before it officially existed. He was in Africa (Burkina Faso) with the Peace Corps for a few years, and is currently teaching high school Physics in Oakland, CA. And we're back in contact! The Friends page wins again...

Eva Gang

Laura Walker - Allenite (Associated Empire)

Laura was one of Caitte's Speech Geeks. She was a Computer Engineering major here at UIUC that graduated, what, a year and a half ago? She lived in Busey-Evans and worked as a NetTech for the buildings. All in all, she was an excellent example of a female geek - so strange, so refreshing, to see girls in the role.... Of course, I have a better reasons to like her - mostly involving her treating me like I'm one of the Gods' pet projects, sent down here to spread goodness and strangeness to all around me. It's nice to have someone look up to you that doesn't look *up* to you. *grin* I've used her as a good source of counseling through the years, and she's always there to provide her unique viewpoints on life. She's an interesting person, and I wish I could see and talk to her more.

HOMMAJ

Brian "bwang" Wang - Allenite

bwang (the best login name on campus) showed up in Allen as Jimpy's roommate my sophomore year, an old friend from home that quickly insinuated himself into Allen culture and, of course, the Gang. He was a CS major, always overworking himself at the task; because of that he was always a good study partner, and, when we had time, video game partner. I'll never forget our nights of CS225 MPs, working until 5am twice a week on some piddling little bug that refused to budge, with bwang occasionally taking time out to go beat up a post in the Commons... bwang moved out after his sophomore year, and nobody really talked with him much for the rest of his college career; he just playd too many video games to keep with, and of course had to graduate and all. Last I hear he has recently stopped working for CITES in Chicago; I'm not really sure where he is now. Hopefully I'll get to see him again soon; if nothing else, he's one of the primary drivers of new camera technology in my life. (Is that a good thing?)

Eva Gang

Dave Watanabe - Allenite (by Marriage)

I actually met Dave on my first day of high school, when he was a few years ahead of me and introduced me to Battletech. Fast forwarding about a decade, he began hanging around Allen Hall, where he met his future wife, Karen; and a decade after that, we're now hanging out fairly regularly, both in the new-to-me Sunday Board Games group and whenever there are parties or events around town. It's been great getting to really *know* Dave for once, rather than just intersecting on the outsides of our social circles. Who would have guessed it back in the 80s?

Uni High; Sunday Games