Solace (lyrics)

For those who have had an opportunity to listen to the music of solace at the earlier link, we thought we'd share with you the lyrics to the music (which can be seen by clicking on the following links) which explain why these selections struck us the way they did. The first two songs are by Emmylou Harris. The first is "All My Tears." The second, with Ricky Skaggs, is "Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn." The third song is "Ring Them Bells" by Dylan. The final song is Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's song, "Hallelujah."

Into (and Out of) Africa

As reflected in an earlier blog entry, Alex continues to fulfill her life plan. A few months ago, she achieved a significant accomplishment in this regard by traveling to Africa. You can view Alex's many photos of her memorable trip by clicking here, here, and here.

Solace...

...through music, courtesy of Vin Scelsa at WFUV-FM in New York can be heard by clicking here.

Thanks...

... from all the little geeks being helped by "the big geek." Such was the message we just received from some of the students at Mother Catherine Spalding School who are the beneficiaries of JW's memorial scholarship fund. Many thanks to all have contributed. John's love of others and of technology lives on. (Click on the photo to see a close-up).

Johnny 5

Recall the very first post to this blog wherein we related the origin of the blog's title -- that it was only after JW's death that we learned that he had wanted to be called Johnny, and in fact, was called Johnny by some of his friends. For John, I guess anything was better than the mouthful "John William" that his Mom & Dad sometimes still called him, even though he was thirty-years-old.

Well, it turns out that John had many nicknames. "$20 Johnny" was one, "Johnny 5" another. "$20 Johnny" was due to the fact that JW always showed up at a poker game with only $20.00 in his pocket. After loosing the $20.00 (which was always inevitable) and asked if he wanted to buy back in, John would always say no -- that $20.00 was his limit.

It turns out that his nickname "Johnny 5" is from the 1986 movie "Short Circuit." In that movie, the wayward robot renames himself "Johnny 5" after hearing the song "Who's Johnny?"

As such, what better tribute to JW than a "Johnny 5" Virginia Tech football jersey which his brother Mike had made earlier in the football season. After having worn it to his share of VT games this season, Mike presented the jersey to his sister Jes this holiday weekend. As indicated in these pictures, the jersey looks very good indeed on JW's little sis.

In any event, in answer to the song's lyrics, we know there is no doubt in everyone's mind as to "Who's Johnny" and what he means to all of us!