The Dolmars

Dorothy Dolmar — 11/28/1920 to 6/14/2009

My grandmother died last week. She’d been dealing with Alzheimer’s disease for years. At the end she passed peacefully. When my grandfather died, I gave a eulogy. Since that time the computer that I wrote that eulogy has been retired, I grabbed the hard drive and it’s sitting in my basement. I keep thinking one of these days I’ll put in a case so that I can get some of the data off, but it hasn’t happened.

I don’t want grandma’s eulogy to go the same way. So I’m taking a different tact with it. I’m posting it. It’ll be indexed and archived by people with really serious data backup plans. (I’m looking at you Internet Archive and Google).  It’ll be preserved in HTML which means that decades from now, I’ll still be able open it and parse it without needing to resort to any software more fancy than a browser or text editor. And if someone goes looking for my grandma on the internet, well her name isn’t that common so I suspect it’ll be found. I’m hoping it’s a good way to give her memory a bit more life, and she certainly deserves that.

So without further ado, here’s the text of the eulogy that I spoke at my grandmother’s funeral last Friday.

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Tweets on 2009-06-14

• Dorothy Dolmar — 11/28/1920 to 6/14/2009 — school teacher, mother and grandmother. Travel safely and say “Hi” to grandpa. #

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Tweets on 2009-05-30

• I just reached level 2. #spymaster http://bit.ly/playspy #

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Tweets on 2009-03-23

• Set up a “Survivor” station on Pandora. Playlist = Heart, Journey, Cutting Crew, Mr. Mister, and Van Halen #

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Tweets on 2009-02-25

• Wondering why faceless corporate bureaucrats are better than faceless government bureaucrats for my healthcare… #

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Tweets on 2009-02-05

• happyGoLuckyLittleDude - (soreThroat + earInfection) = crappyNightsSleep #

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Tweets on 2009-01-20

• Just added a cool new avatar of myself in the app I’m working on… #

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Tweets on 2009-01-13

• weather.com: -19°F feels like -33°F. I walked 10 blocks from bus stop. I like my parka. #

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2008 Year In Review

Welcome to the first of the Dolmar household’s annual Christmas letters (at least the Ben, Erica and Finn branch of it). It’s been something Erica and I have been meaning to do for a few years. And while we didn’t get it out before Christmas this year, there was just too much that happened in 2008 not to send some thing out to our friends and family.

The Highlights

• We welcomed our first child Finn Raymond Roste Dolmar on August 23.
• Taylor our dog for the last decade developed breast cancer and passed away.
• Ben ran his first (and perhaps only) marathon, and he is still inordinately proud of the fact
• Some combination of the family’s members travelled to Chicago, Alberta, San Francisco, and Georgia during the year.
• Our work has been going well. Erica continues to work at Children’s Home Society and Family Services as a volunteer coordinator. Ben got to add a “Senior” in front of his job title of “Developer” at Sierra Bravo Corporation and has been working on a number of cool projects.

Finn Raymond Roste Dolmar

We’re parents!!! Holy crap, we’re parents!!! Starting 2008, we were adjusting to Erica’s pregnancy and the upcoming birth of our son. Through the spring and most of the summer, we did a lot of prep work to get ready for the baby. Wallpaper came down, paint went up, and a dishwasher was installed in the house. There were baby showers. It was a busy time. Then in August, one week and a day after his due date, Finn Raymond Roste Dolmar was born.

Erica totally kicked ass during the delivery. We went in on Friday evening at about 7 p.m. and at about 3:30 p.m. the next day we had a kicking screaming healthy baby boy. During the event, Ben was supportive and mostly awake. He did post updates through the night and you can read the play-by-play in our archives.

So far parenthood has been a blast, Finn is a rock star baby. (Publisher’s Note: It’s is possible we might be biased on this subject.) He started sleeping through the night in November and generally has a very even temperament. He likes to kick, play with his feet and suck on things. He drools and laughs occasionally, too. We love him (and he seems to be doing a pretty good job charming his grandparents, too).

We’re looking forward to seeing him grow into a holy terror in 2009.

Taylor R.I.P.

This summer we also lost a member of our household. Our 14-year-old puppy, developed a tumor. It was the kind of thing that hit fast and there wasn’t much to be done for here. Ben had brought her home from his last summer working at Camp Metigoshe in 1997. She was sweet (most of the time) and we miss her. She never did get to meet Finn.

26.2 Miles in 4:34:54

Ben finally evened things up with Erica by running a marathon this year. In the process, he discovered that 26 miles is a really long way to go on foot. Ben’s race started with him crossing starting line to the Imperial March from Star Wars — the really ominous scary music that accompanies Darth Vader and long panning shots over Star Destroyers. By mile 9 things were feeling good and by mile 13 he had hit his stride and was actually enjoying the race. By mile 20 he was… uhm… not enjoying it so much, but he finished the race. Afterwards he felt miserable and nauseous until he’d gotten some solid food back into his body and convinced it that he really was done abusing it.

It was a great experience and both Ben and Erica plan to be out running with Finn again this spring.

Travels Hither and Yon

In February of last year, we visited Chicago for a weekend to celebrate our 4th anniversary. We were staying over near the printers district and had a great time visiting Millennium Park, the Field Museum, and Miracle Mile. We made a point of stopping at Rick Bayless’s Frontera Grill which was great. It was a good trip.

In October, Erica and Finn traveled back to Alberta to visit Grandma and Grandpa Roste and to show Finn off to our Canadian friends. Finn received the traditional Canadian sacrament of a first visit to Tim Horton’s where he learned a greater appreciation for his heritage.

In December, Ben got to pretend to be a traveling rock star when we he flew with his band out to San Francisco to play at a friend’s ordination. After much consternation about traveling with his guitar, the actual travel with the instrument turned out to be mercifully easy.

Also in December, the entire family travelled to Georgia to celebrate the Holidays at Erica’s brother Vaughn’s home. Finn was totally awesome on the airplane rides and made barely a peep during the entire flight. 

Work: The Stuff That Pays the Bills

Erica completed her third year with CHSFS as a volunteer services coordinator. She continues to enjoy her work and friends that she has made there. She also has been volunteering on the board of the Corporate Volunteerism Council.

Ben’s work has shifted to an emphasis on programming for Flash in the last year. In his work, he’s been doing a lot of subcontracting for ad firms and very much enjoying it. At the end of the year, he was promoted from a developer to a senior developer which is pretty cool.

Wishing You All A Great 2009

Tags: Christmas Letter

Tweets on 2008-11-05

• Woot!!! #

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