One night in Austin, Skizo.

[j2k4]

Oy.

'Bated breath, and all that.

Hey sir. Hope you're well.

How's clocker? Better, I hope.

I'm doing much better, Skiz - thanks for asking.


It breaks my heart to tell you that Steve Roen - our Clocker - passed in March of last year.

I had been trying not to bother him with my troubles (old farts talk about their health problems, you see), and I calculated his were worse than mine, given his terminal diagnosis.

I had not quite been up to pestering him - we had to sort of make email appointments in order to do our Zooms, and I didn't want him to be overly concerned with how I looked, etc.

A few months ago, for other reasons, I had to check a gmail account I NEVER used, and I found a note from his sister, telling me the sad news.

He was truly one of my favorite humans.

Damnit, now I'm crying...

[anon]

Heartbreaking indeed I always looked forward to reading his replies, especially when it came to hardware projects, something he had equal shares of skill and enthusiasm for. Someone here once said that one post from him was worth ten from anyone else... I couldn't do but agree.

The one comment that immediately springs to mind when I hear his name, though, is the one explaining how he got it and showing what a talented person he was.

https://filesharingtalk.com/showthread.php?p=3693933

[j2k4]

He told me once...well, several times - that he didn't believe in God or Heaven.

Last time we spoke he repeated that, but added that if it developed he was wrong, he'd see me up there.





Crap, crying again...

[megabyteme]

I believe it speaks to the quality of the man that I barely knew him, only had a handful of direct interactions, but I am truly saddened by his passing. He was very easy to like, and even easier to respect.

[j2k4]

Steve and I started chatting about the Beatles, back when The Lounge was new, just as Audiogalaxy birthed FST; I told him no matter the state of the chase for certain files, I was never compelled to pursue any of their stuff, because I could play any of their songs in my head with all due fidelity.

He said "me, too."

We certainly didn't share ideologies or religious beliefs, but that aside, we could have been brothers.



Crying again.

[Skiz]

Well shit.

I lived close to Clocker for 7 years. Like, across town. We chatted a bit when I first moved there for some general tips about the area but we never discussed meeting up. Not sure if we'd have had much in common tbh. But that shouldn't take anything away from the fact that I really liked him. He was always friendly, certainly interesting, and endlessly helpful. I have no doubt that describes how he was in life. At one point many years ago, I was convinced he owned his own small computer store. J2, do you feel comfortable sharing anything else about him?

[anon]

At one point many years ago, I was convinced he owned his own small computer store.

Here's another post I remember (in part due to Macky's comment immediately above ).

https://filesharingtalk.com/showthread.php?p=3609823

[j2k4]

Well shit.

I lived close to Clocker for 7 years. Like, across town. We chatted a bit when I first moved there for some general tips about the area but we never discussed meeting up. Not sure if we'd have had much in common tbh. But that shouldn't take anything away from the fact that I really liked him. He was always friendly, certainly interesting, and endlessly helpful. I have no doubt that describes how he was in life. At one point many years ago, I was convinced he owned his own small computer store. J2, do you feel comfortable sharing anything else about him?

The last job he worked was a small computer shop - sounded like he was the blood and guts of the place, to the extent that if the owners (two other fellows, as I recall) had their shit in the same sock, they'd have given him a rooting interest, rather than treating him like an employee constantly.

It was only the three of them, and Steve was essentially the only reason anyone ever walked through the door.

They loved him like a rock, but they were stingy as fuck.

One day he decided he'd had enough.


We had a common - and deep - interest in cars and other mechanical stuff.

His Dad (who is still with us - late 90s) was a Morgan guy and fostered a love of foreign cars in Steve - MGs, Triumphs and the like.

Steve was a resto-tech with a Triumph place back east, early-on - also was a race-wrench for a guy who raced open-class Yamahas here and around Europe.

He'd restored an old 240Z he drove up here to visit - I'd been out of cars for years, but I'd bug him to do a V8 conversion, and he'd beg off; later he found a Mazda RX7, an FC, and I was in his ear again to do the V8 thing, so he found a guy about 20 minutes from him who advertised he needed help to do a V8 FD; they became friends, and built probably the baddest LS7 Chevy-powered Mazda in the country.

Anyway, the guy's boss had made him a gift of an old Stealth Twin Turbo, but his wife bitched about too many cars in the drive - he offered it to Steve, but after calling me, he decided to stick with his Mazda.

I asked if he thought the guy would sell it to me, and he went for it - I was on the next plane to Denver and we visited for a week while we tweaked the TT before I drove it home on the front edge of the worst winter storm of 2010 - made to to the interstate just as the cops were closing the on-ramp, and drove it back to the Yoop - probably the most enjoyable drive of of my life.

He never did the V8, but he loved that Mazda; he drove it until he became too ill to enjoy it - ended-up selling it to a neighborhood kid who'd admired it since since Steve first drove it home.

The kid's dad bought it for his 21st birthday.

There's more, but I'm getting weepy again...