A truly good man moves on

I found out today a very dear friend of mine has died, from cancer.

Jack Meyers was 56. I met him in 1992. I had just bought my first computer a few months before that, and I figured I knew just about everything about computers, since I could write batch files. Jack had placed an ad in the paper looking for FoxPro programmers. I called the number listed, and we started talking about politics, and Limbaugh, and photography, and finally, something like three hours later, about computers. He asked me what kind of experience I had, and by then I had realized how little I knew, and told him I probably would not be able to do the job. He told me 'Bullcrap. Come get the software, play with it for a while, and call me when you get comfortable with it.' I did just that, and ended up working with him the rest of that summer.There is not much that beats cashing a three thousand dollar part-time paycheck.

Over the next years, we had a lot of marathon conversations about everything under the sun. He told endless stories about traveling the world and going to school - brutal practical jokes he pulled, driving through Turkey, you name it.

When he was diagnosed with (I believe) kidney cancer, he didn't tell me, until it appeared he had it beat. He was in a tiny percentage of people who had beaten it. He found doctors who were willing to try different things, and it seemed to work for a long time. He never whined or bemoaned his cancer, instead he did something about it.

I don't want this to sound like an obit, but I guess that's what this is. But obits never say enough, especially someone like Jack. Unless you knew him, a blog post is not going to show what a truly smart, decent, good man he was.