Good-Bye George

We learned this morning that George Carlin has died. I'd like to be sad, but his passing is more complicated than that. I loved the George Carlin of Class Clown, of the Hippie Dippie Weatherman, of Baseball vs. Football. But I detested the humour of the angry, bitter, frustrated old man he became.

Was it the drugs? The constant touring? The fact that society in the United States wasn't turning out the way he thought it should be turning out? How did the generally happy, somewhat well-adjusted comedian become the bitter cynic he showed us he was the last few years?

I don't have that answer.

What I want to write about, though, is a what-if scenario. What if George hadn't lost his faith in God? What if, instead, he had sought the divine? What if he had found a voice in spreading the word of God? What a powerful speaker he would have been! Had he sought guidance from the Lord, what a better life he would have had!

I try to understand why his life turned out the way it did. I listen to Class Clown and AM and FM and I hear a person a lot like myself. Raised Catholic, attended Catholic school . . . to be sure, there are a lot of differences, but it's close enough. I knew a bunch of George Carlin's at school. Class clowns. Funny guys. That completes the loop for me.

But whereas I fell deeper into faith, George fell away. He questioned, and, receiving answers he didn't like, turned his back. I questioned, heard answers I didn't like, and went looking deeper into the mysteries. But I am not the speaker he was. And whereas I find it difficult to put into words certain things I think and feel about my faith, my God and my family, Carlin never seemed at a loss to come up with a funny line, a funny story or some other hook to put into words those things he held dear, no matter what other people may have thought.

I pray that the Lord brings comfort to Carlin's family, friends and fans.

And, somewhere, I hope that George has awakened in the classroom of a Catholic school, and is in the middle of getting a good talking-to. And I pray that it's in the Lord's plan that the Hippie Dippie Weatherman finds a place in God's heaven, where all of his questions can be answered and the mysteries revealed.

Can it be June?

Can it be that I haven't posted since February? I guess so. So much has gone on in the past four months! Here's a sample, in no specific order:

• I've attended two conferences, both in Florida: the 2008 SAP NetWeaver Portal conference, put on by Wellesley Information Services, at which I was a speaker, presenting a session on my company's implementation of SAP NetWeaver Portal; and the 2008 ASUG/SAPPHIRE conference, which, at 16,000 attendees, was the largest conference I've ever been to.



• My boss retired, and found that it wasn't difficult to take! Mid-50's, kids out of the house, husband already retired . . . it was just the right time. I was asked to speak at her retirement dinner and the cake-and-coffee event; I had 'em laughing, so I consider it a success. Vera will be missed (though we've already had lunch together twice!)



• I attended my 15th anniversary service award luncheon at work. The company does a lot of nice things for us (kids parties at Halloween and Christmas, big summer picnic, et al) but the very nice gift we get to select at each five-year anniversary (5, 10 , 15, 20, . . . you get the picture) is above-and-beyond, as far as I'm concerned.



• I drove my father back to what would have been his 70th high school class reunion, if they had such a thing. (Instead, it was called an Alumni dinner.) My dad's class wasn't the oldest represented, though - the class of 1933 was.



• Stayed with family in St. Louis during the Kansas trip. Saw my cousin Joann, her kids and her kids' kids. (What's the term for that - third cousins, according to what I just read?)
  
  
• Easter has come and gone (along with Lent, of course). Our church choir presented a Don Moen cantata titled "I Will Sing", in which I played keyboards, adding some bass and strings/organ/electric piano.



• I've played several Sundays with our Sing A New Song contemporary worship group.



• Development continues on a Jazz and Blues Service, albeit slowly, though I've selected the songs I think I'll use.



• I've had a chance to jam with several good musicians from our church, primarily in a jazz setting. I find that I'm being drawn more to jazz lately, and having a really good set of musicians to play with helps! I've already committed to returning to the CLC jazz band for the fall semester. (I'm a little aggravated about the award I received as the



• Nancy's dad's health is continuing its slow decline while his daily outlook continues to be cheerful.



• Tim graduated from EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) school and passed his Illinois exam. Now it's on to becoming a paramedic.



• Amy was accepted to return to college for her Master's in social work.



• Kerry's still in Prague, scheduled to return in July. She's traveled a lot, and is in Budapest this very weekend, having been to Vienna this past weekend and Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago. Amy visited her in May; they traveled to Paris then. Tim visited over Easter; they went to Rome. Wow!



• I saw Spamalot a second time, in Milwaukee. Tremendous fun! Plus, I found a great used book store in Milwaukee, a couple of blocks from the theatre, one place to which I want to return!
  



• Last night Nancy and I saw Nunsense at the Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre. (But that was only last night, of course.)



• Nancy's college friends came up from southern Illinois for a visit.



• I saw Eric Clapton in concert for the first time, as part of the ASUG/SAPPHIRE conference.



• Nancy and I attended the Chicago Blues Festival (Saturday afternoon and evening) with our friend Carol. Had such a good time this deserves a post of its own!



• I've read a lot of books, including a biography of Jack Benny, two books on physics and several science fiction novels (besides a lot of data processing stuff). I'm still reading a book on World War 2 war reporting, and have a copy of U.S. Grant's memoirs, on which I want to start. (The latter courtesy of the used book store in Milwaukee.)



• Nancy and I both had food poisoning, though she ended up in the emergency room, courtesy of the paramedics, at 3:00 AM.



• Spent some time with our close friend Sue (and her husband Paul), who was recovering from double knee-replacement surgery. She has now recovered very well, thank the Lord! My admiration for her has deepened again, seeing how she dealt with this latest challenge, which was brought on by Rheumatoid Arthritis.

I'd really like to write more about some of these subjects, but I can't promise anything, given my recent four-month absence. Perhaps during jury duty next week.