dan flies

With my first free weekend in some time I drove up to the wonderful college on the prarie.

As summer starts to draw in to full swing there was a sending off party for former UMM CSci Scott Lewandowski. Scott is moving from Morris to Marietta College in Marietta, OH.

This was a great time to reconnect. I’ve been out of the UMM loop for over a year and that is too long. So much of my life was dedicated to the discipline and the school. So much so I should be in regular, almost constant, contact. Life gets busy and sometimes I think that I don’t have the time to write an email, but later I’ll write it. Later, always later. It takes effort to bounce phone calls or emails back and forth, but it is well worth it.

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The coversation in the McPhee house flowed nearly seamlessly between the birth of Rock & Roll to books on the “Cognitive Style of Powerpoint.” Conversations of such a diverse and random nature are what I miss most from UMM. As usual I took notes, as time has told, when I don’t write something down I don’t remember it. When my professors talk I listen (or sleep if it class time) and when I listen I take notes or its forgotten.

UMM CSci alumnus Brent Heeringa was in attendance and shared stories from him time under the tooteledge of McPhee, SWL, and the rest of the UMM CSci faculty. I missed other alumni’s return to town but I’ll not let that stop me. As was leaving Brent commented that we need to keep a place where memories of UMM CSci and be shared and passed on and more importantly(in my mind) where alumni/faculty/staff can stay in contact in a nerdier way: on the web. I second Brent’s proposal and will starting working on it tonight.

With all of the randomness I’ve spilled on to this page I return to why we were together. I am sad to see and era end at UMM. Scott was a great teacher to all of us and hopefully will continue to be a great friend to many of us. Good Luck Scott! And now that I have a reason: I’ll be swinging by Ohio as soon as I can.