AtomicInternet Archived News

Almost a month ago, Duane wrote an article that moved me in the appreciation of a good friend who I've taken for granted way. When I first started working with Duane we quickly realized we shared the same twisted sense of humor and appreciation for computers and motor sports. At the time I was just getting into my car and had a pretty sad web site. His Impreza had just been run off the road by an SUV and he was driving his 89 Firebird with side pipes. Both of these cars fascinated me because they were so different than what I had ever been exposed to. At the time, Subaru was a rare brand and most 89 firebirds had long ago lost their side pipes. I found this attraction to oddball vehicles refreshing and thoroughly enjoyed the animated "moving car" icon on the dash of his Subaru to indicate he was indeed driving.
Duane had been working on web sites longer than anyone else I had met and consequently launched me out of the stone age in terms of web design. Some of his initial work involved the Amiga community which was at the time a thriving computer platform for multimedia. He quickly became a well-known and respected name in the late 90's for the platform, and to this day gets correspondences from people needing help with this now unfortunately neglected platform. This passion for his work motivated me, and when he discovered table-less designs using strict XHTML and CSS I jumped on board without hesitation. He made easy examples to follow and helped get me up and running. It fueled the separation of logic and presentation that first attracted me to ASP.net, a product of the evil empire that is designed from the ground up to completely separate the two.
His passion is contagious, especially with the Macintosh platform. He single handedly supports the growing Macintosh community at work, and has convinced those around him it is the platform of choice for front-end web development. Judging by the results I'm forced to agree it is the best system for the job (I had traumatic experiences supporting early MacOS machines). Plus they have great places to hide slim jims while they dry to a brittle stick.
Our preference in cars and computers are in heavy contrast, but we clearly share the same passion. With someone of such strong convictions, disagreements are inevitable, but in a world where many people are content to live their lives in the status quo Duane trusts his instincts and experiences to make his own path. This self-confidence is something I envy, as I sometimes attach myself to the popular method rather than the right method. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a sprinkler to jump through.