David L. Harris

David L. Harris
August 1, 1947 - October 2, 1999

This picture was taken using one of them "Snappy" gizmos and a video camera, as far as I can remember. He's just sitting there in front of his computer set-up wearing his "Maxwell's Equations" t-shirt. Not much to do in Abilene, Texas. Nope. Just sit there, wearing a t-shirt. That's about it. Although he does wear a suit and tie when he teaches at the Texas State Technical College, he claims.
Born in Honolulu he was, back in 1947. Known him since the 7th grade, which was ... 1960? My, that's a long time! He's vastly older than I am. 19-days older in fact. Wow, that's old!

And here he is atop the Space Needle in Seattle about 1982 or so. Amazingly enough, it was a clear, sunny day. In Seattle. Wow. How often does that happen, eh? No Maxwell's Equations t-shirt on this time, although I think he had it back then. This "Space Needle" thing is just like the one in San Antonio, Texas, as far as I can tell. It was made for some kind of big fair or something like that. I will admit the view in Seattle is better than the view in San Antonio. For one thing, San Antonio is flat. Way too flat, in fact; it's the thing that gives me the creeps whenever I visit Texas. Flat land is creepy. At least Seattle has big mountains and good-sized hills to keep it from being so creepy.

And here he is working at Tektronix, where he used to design cutting-edge state-of-the-art microwave test and measurement equipment until he got laid off. He got laid off because, well, young engineers right out of school are a lot cheaper than guys with a lot of experience. Never mind that them young guys don't know nothing much, but hey, you can get two of them for the price of one somebody who knows what he's doing. Ain't accountants wonderful?

[Update]
And on the morning of Saturday October 2, 1999, I received a call from his sister that he had died that morning of a heart attack. He'd had several back in the spring, and hadn't really gotten over them. He came home from work the previous day and then went to the hospital. He died in ICU early the next day.
I was planning to leave for Abilene the following week to visit my family and my friend. Just missed him.
Friends for 40 years.

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	This picture was taken using one of them "Snappy" gizmos and a video camera, as far as I can remember. He's just sitting there in front of his computer set-up wearing his "Maxwell's Equations" t-shirt. Not much to do in Abilene, Texas. Nope. Just sit there, wearing a t-shirt. That's about it. Although he does wear a suit and tie when he teaches at the Texas State Technical College, he claims. Born in Honolulu he was, back in 1947. Known him since the 7th grade, which was ... 1960? My, that's a long time! He's vastly older than I am. 19-days older in fact. Wow, that's old!
	And here he is atop the Space Needle in Seattle about 1982 or so. Amazingly enough, it was a clear, sunny day. In Seattle. Wow. How often does that happen, eh? No Maxwell's Equations t-shirt on this time, although I think he had it back then. This "Space Needle" thing is just like the one in San Antonio, Texas, as far as I can tell. It was made for some kind of big fair or something like that. I will admit the view in Seattle is better than the view in San Antonio. For one thing, San Antonio is flat. Way too flat, in fact; it's the thing that gives me the creeps whenever I visit Texas. Flat land is creepy. At least Seattle has big mountains and good-sized hills to keep it from being so creepy.
	And here he is working at Tektronix, where he used to design cutting-edge state-of-the-art microwave test and measurement equipment until he got laid off. He got laid off because, well, young engineers right out of school are a lot cheaper than guys with a lot of experience. Never mind that them young guys don't know nothing much, but hey, you can get two of them for the price of one somebody who knows what he's doing. Ain't accountants wonderful?