So, yesterday sucked.
As many of my friends know, I'm a member of the Emo Walleye Classic organizing committee, which, with the schedule I'm working and schooling right now, is about all the volunteer time I have. Yesterday, Sam Visser, who was the co-chair of the committee, and a good friend, died after battling pancreatic cancer for the last six months. He was 55.
Sam and I didn't really get to know each other very well until he joined the committee in 2003, but we had chatted on quite a few occasions. And, they were always about technology.

Sam owned part of Visser Automotive, an auto parts supply store in Emo. The place is like every other parts shop -- shelves stuffed with boxes and junk, and stacks of parts everywhere else. But Sam was a big technology junkie. We'd be chatting, and it would go something like this:
Lincoln: So, I was looking at those 17" LCDs from Samsung. The image is pretty sharp on them.
Sam: Yeah, I've got one in the store right now.
Lincoln: Did you hear about that high-speed satellite connection? Sounds like it's got potential for some of the camp owners around here.
Sam: Yeah, it works pretty well -- I put one in at the shop.
You get the point.
And Sam was never bragging -- he just saw something he thought was neat, and added it to his setup.
And he was a good guy. He loved his grandkids tons, and he loved his community almost as much. Gareth and Rachel are in the same class at school, and played T-ball together last spring, and Sam was over there several times to watch Rachel.
If you want to see a little more about Sam, his web site is at www.svisser.com.
Goodbye, Sam. Clear skies.