Ryan
I was going to post something here saying that I’ve now been at Google for one year, but I received some mail today that kind of preempts that. I just learned that Ryan VanderWall, one of our young helpdesk guys at work, was diagnosed with advanced, metastasized liver cancer a couple weeks ago. He’s spent the last couple weeks in the hospital undergoing radiation therapy.
Go check out Ryan’s blog, and consider donating if you can.
Update: December 23, 2006.
Just an FYI, I worked with Ryan down here in San Diego, he was an awesome guy. Just so you dont think he was always a wholesome tech support guy, I hope he wore his leather jacket with spikes to work and frightened people! All in all he was a good guy and he will be sorely missed. Glad he had some friends up there who will remember him as well!!
-Mario
I helped Ryan get a job with me here at Expedia when he first moved to Seattle. Its amazing how many lives he touched in the short time he spent with us. He will be missed.
One of the last things he said to our friend was “Viking Funeral”, which was so Ryan. So they built a small boat, set it afloat and afire. Putting little bits of his belongings in it. Here’s a link to the gallery. A lot of his friends will miss him. I was at another wake of his on the 20th. He was such a great guy and we all had a blast talking about him and his whole odyssey through life and death. Enjoy:
http://23b.org/gallery/fleasalmostdeadguysvikingfuneral1-19-07
Oh and don’t be alarmed at the “Almost dead guy” moniker in the gallery name. The story behind his name is that one DEFCON he went to, he just decided to take a nap in the grass, leather jacket, comnat boots and all. Guess he didn’t respond when people tried to wake him up, so paramedics were called and they grabbed him threw him on the gurney and were wheeling him out to an ambulance when he woke up and was kinda freaked out at the excitement. Since then, his nickname for DEFCON was “Almost Dead Guy”. :)
Awww. They took it down. Rest assured he had a grand send off!