ResQgeek

 A week ago today, i started noticing a number of condolence messages popping up on my Facebook feed, indicating that someone I used to know had died. This prompted me to do an internet search for news about the accident that was referenced in those posts. What I found was more than a bit of a shock. My old friend, Rod, had been killed in an accident, along with two other employees of the ambulance company he worked for when their car drove under a jackknifed tractor-trailer on the interstate between Syracuse and Watertown, in upstate New York.

I knew Rod from my time at Clarkson University, when I joined the Potsdam Volunteer Rescue Squad. I took my EMT class with his wife, Patsy, during the fall semester of my junior year, right after I joined the squad. The next autumn, I took my Advanced EMT-Intermediate class with Rod. He was one of my mentors in the squad, and I considered both him and his wife to be friends. I have fond memories of time spent hanging out with Rod at the rescue squad during my senior year at Clarkson. I even returned to Potsdam a couple of times during the first couple of years after I graduated to visit.

However, the distance proved to be too great an obstacle in that pre-World Wide Web world, and I mostly lost touch with them. Eventually, we reconnected on Facebook, but he was apparently not one of those people who spent lots of time there, so our Facebook connection was mostly symbolic. For my part, I felt some nostalgia for my college/rescue squad days when I saw his name, but otherwise there was no real connection to his current life. Specifically, I did not know that he had begun working for R.B. Lawrence Ambulance, a private ambulance company that provides inter-facility medical transport services for the North Country region of New York, and certainly did not know that he had become an EMS Supervisor for the company. I have no idea how active he was with the Potsdam Rescue Squad, but during my time there, I know he was a huge part of the organization. Given what I know about him, I know that he was a huge asset to the emergency services in the communities up there.

This week, I have watched Facebook fill up with notes and photos from his funeral.  It is clear that he was widely respected and that his sudden passing was a shock to the community.  These photos of the funeral procession moved me deeply:

              

The other surprise were the photos that showed that members of the FDNY Pipes and Drum Corps came up from New York City to pay their respects to a fallen brother. And the photos of the funeral procession passing underneath the giant US Flag hanging between the extended towers of two ladder trucks from different fire departments brought tears to my eyes. This was a funeral on a magnitude that is probably unprecedented in these small communities, and I think it shows just how widely spread the reaction to this tragedy was felt.

There was just no way for me to be able to attend the funeral myself, but I am comforted by the images of the massive outpouring of support. Rod dedicated his life to helping his community, and the community went to great effort to acknowledge his work on their behalf. Well done, all. Rest in peace, Rod. You will certainly be missed.

This afternoon, we skiied with a work colleague, who is also at Steamboat with his family.  He is a friend and a supervisor (though not directly my boss).  His kids were in lessons today, so we joined him and his wife for lunch and then set out to ski a few runs with them.  I thought he might enjoy a little challenge, so I led him off trail in the the Morningside Park area of the resort, away from the nice groomed trails and into the trees.  I picked a spot that wasn't very steep and where the trees were pretty widely spaced.  He seemed to be enjoying himself, right up to the moment he hit a bump he didn't see because of a shadow and took a pretty nasty spill.  As we gathered him and his equipment, I realized that the rear binding for his right ski had come off the ski.  Of course the ski brake is attached to that binding, so the ski was sliding away down the slope, and my daughter had to chase it down.  Luckily, I was able to reattach the binding to his ski, and we skied with him to the base area, so he could take the skis back to the rental shop to exchange them for a different pair.

Watching him crash was a scary moment, especially since skiing in this area was my idea.  Luckily, he wasn't hurt, and we managed to get him safely down off the mountain.  I have never seen a binding come off of a ski on the mountain before, and as bad as his crash seemed, I don't think it was bad enough to have damaged the binding.  I think these bindings were already damaged before he started using them, and the crash simply revealed the underlying flaw.  I'm just thankful that everything ended up being okay.

My high school friend has another movie coming out. "The Stepfather" opens in theaters across the US on Friday. Not entirely sure if this is my kind of movie, but I'll have to see if there is some way to work a night out into the schedule.

I've written before about Patrick Cady, one of my high school friends, who is making a name for himself in Hollywood. My parents just e-mailed me a link to an article in the local paper back home about Patrick and his latest project. He has made a documentary about "The World's Biggest Trivia Contest" which takes place each year in Steven's Point, Wisconsin. This is his debut as a Director and Executive Producer, and now I guess I'll have to buy a DVD...

Check out the film at its website: Triviatown.

My high school buddy, you know, the film maker, just sent me the following e-mail:

Howdy,

This mass email is to let you know that "Kings of South Beach" will
be premiering on A&E on Monday (March 12th) at 9pm/8c. There is a
website about the movie at:

http://www.aetv.com/kings-of-south-beach/index.jsp

We shot on HD cameras in Puerto Rico last summer, and it was a hot &
fast shoot. I'm excited to see the final results as I was unable to
be at the final color correction. Please tune in, give it a look,
and support your relative / pal.

Anyone care to guess what I might be doing Monday evening?

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This really isn't my type of movie, but since my best friend from high school is the Director of Photography, I'll probably try to see it. The release date has not yet been officially announced, but it should be out sometime this year.

My best man got married on Saturday (better late than never, as they say), and my wife and I drove up to participate in the festivities. ( cut for length )

I was beginning to despair of finding anything worth watching tonight when I happened to hit IFC at the beginning of "Jump Tomorrow." I've been wanting to see this movie for a while (it was made in 2001) because the Director of Photography is my best friend from high school, Patrick Cady*. I'm really glad I stopped surfing when I saw that, because it was a great movie. My friend's photography is amazing, and the movie is very funny.

What happens when a Nigerian, a Frenchman, and a Hispanic girl share a ride from New York to Niagara Falls? The result is a wonderful multi-cultural farce. I won't get into the details, but the resulting situations are a lot of fun to watch, and if the end is a bit predictable, well, it still feels right. And yes, the river in the background of the final scene really is the Niagara. However, the road Girard dances down in the closing doesn't really exist within miles of the Falls.

To my friend, Patrick...you done good, boy! I'm proud of you for following through on your dreams. Keep up the good work, and I'm looking forward to your next film...

If you're looking for a good movie, but are tired of the mainstream, mass market movies, look for "Jump Tomorrow" at your local rental outlet. You won't be disappointed.

* Patrick was also Director of Photography for "Girl Fight," another independent release that I would highly recommend and "Sunshine State," which was beautifully shot, but needed better editing, as it ran about 20 minutes too long. He also was Director of Photography for 10 episodes of CBS's "Cold Case" during the 2004-2005 season. I'm proud to say that I knew him when...

It was another glorious day, comfortable temperatures and blue skies. I spent almost two hours at the grill, cooking chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers, but I still had plenty of opportunity to visit with our friends. We had about fifty people here, half of them kids. The trampoline and pool both got a heavy workout, and the kids went through a LOT of cotton candy, slurpies and home-made ice cream. We did get an afternoon rain shower, but by then almost everyone had left, so it didn't really mess up the day. Overall, I think everyone had a good time, though I'm about ready for bed, even though its only a little after 8pm.

We had company for dinner last night. My best friend from my college days was in town, and he came over with his fiance for dinner. I haven't seen him in several years, so it was a treat. He was one of my rescue geek buddies during school, and it was fun to rehash the old stories. His fiance is another EMT, so she seemed to enjoy the "war" stories as well. I also enjoyed cooking for company, which I don't get to do very often (I smoked some country-style ribs, and served them with cole slaw, potato salad, and a salad made with black beans, corn, green and red peppers).

My friend and his fiance were came to town to meet his fiance's sister and brother-in-law. Her parents decided to join them, and it eventually grew to become a full fledged family reunion. Unfortunately, that meant that they only had a limited amount of time to spend at our place. As nice as it was to see him again, and meet his fiance, I couldn't help but be disappointed when they left early to meet her relatives for a night time tour of the monuments downtown.

My parents arrive tomorrow evening, so at least I have something to look forward to...