I had originally found
out about Keith's intention to leave Tumbleweed when we were having lunch
with Eric a couple of weeks ago and decided to organize a going-away lunch
for him. It took a number of emails before the majority of people agreed to
a time. Tumbleweed has a tendency to keep very quiet about people leaving,
perhaps thinking it is a possible detriment to morale, so I have always tried
to throw a party when one of my friends leave (if only not to have to answer
the question "Whatever happened to...?").
The turnout was large and occupied a table that stretched
down the length of the restaurant. Most people were in PSO like Keith, but
IT also turned out in force (all but Jones and Jim) as well as a large number
of Engineers. It is always fun getting together with people from work in a
non-work (i.e. much less rigid) environment, but the table arrangement made
it hard to socialize with people at the far end. There was a bit of shuffling
throughout the meal (mostly by Keith), so people at one end could socialize
with people on the other end without resorting to cellphones.
People were in good spirits, especially Keith. Matt kept making faces at
the camera. For those of you who don't know Matt, he actually does not normally
look like a retard (nothing against retards, of course) - only in pictures.
Coincidentally, my friend Bill Weisman, who lives in
Southern California and works for SUN, just happened to be up in the Bay
Area and just happened to be sitting in the table next to ours! Boy, was
I shocked to see him! What a small world! Bill said he was up north for a
seminar and the group decided to go to lunch together. Their table
was almost as large as ours.
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