I took a really long time composing a reply a little over a week ago, researching past exchanges, rewriting paragraphs, crafting an elegant and typically long-winded post about this really tragic event, and when I felt it was done, I literally was hovering over the Submit button when the power went out. Just long enough to lose my words to the ether.
I felt it was intentional. By whom, I won't guess.
I've decided the intention is that I simply tell a short anecdote and express my feelings. Again, simply.
Jeff has always been on the semi-sizable list of people with whom I'd really love to share a drink or several and, in his case, just listen to him talk for a while.
I always got the feeling he did very little editing in his posts. Where I write and rewrite incessantly until I'm happy with what I've written, usually meaning it'll have the reader asleep before the end of it, I get the feeling he just types and hits Submit.
And he uses profanity as simply part of the language. Somehow a profanity isn't profane when he uses it, usually. I'm sure a matter of context.
Our only direct exchange was some years ago when I PM'd him that he was getting a 3-day suspension for calling someone a dipshit. His simple reply was that the recipient was a dipshit and he didn't mind a suspension for having said so.
I reduced it to a day and the post remains intact.
That was one of those rare times I had someone really shoot straight with me over a matter like that. He didn't plead ignorance of the rules or disagree with them or argue that the word in question wasn't one covered by the rules. Just played it straight.
Jeff, you've been a key member of our family and you're really going to be missed by a lot of us. |
