"Post No. 693"

A good friend of mine passed away a couple days ago named Donnie Jolly. I'd known Donnie since I was just a kid. In fact, the first time I met him I was too young to drive. Someone had told me he traded comic books so naturally I looked him up and asked him if he was interested in swapping some comics and arranged to meet him at his house to do so. Donnie was some years older than me so to my delight I was able to trade for books from the early 1960's and latter 1950's. I remember the best comic I got way back then was the first app. of Green Lantern in a Showcase #22.

Over the years Donnie and I remained friends and trading buddies, and even after I sold my original collections in the early 1970's, we stayed in touch, since he was local, seeing him on occasion and stopping to talk a bit. I can still hear his little girl shouting, "Don't give away my Archie's!", which always gave us a big laugh.

When Debbie and I got married in 1988 we had Donnie do some portraits photos of us as he was doing photography at that time. They still remain the best shots of us as a couple we've ever had made.

But as time went by Donnie developed several health problems confining him to his home and on oxygen most of the time. I really didn't know he was in "that bad" of a shape until here recently. He will be missed.

And I'd like to let the family of fellow blogged "Johnny Bacardi" know that Theresa and her sister Nan who have just undergone surgery are in our thoughts and prayers today, and wish them both a very speedy recovery.

In other news...

I picked up several DVD's at the local flea market this past weekend, one of which is the 2004 "Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow". This elaborate flick contains a little of "Captain Midnight", "Blackhawk", "Doc Savage", "King Kong" and "Things to Come", set in a 1930's style and was an alrght adventure, but I found the acting a bit "blah" at times. Still well-worth the watch just for all of the special effects.

Finally finished work on the exterior bottom of my garage, cleaned out my tool shed, planted some flowers for my wife, mowed at least 3 times this year, got some more dirt from that pile in the back and filed in some areas, etc. I plan on starting my vacation the first week in may, and, if I'm lucky, will actually get to attend Free Comic Book day at my "local" comic shop come the 1st.

And today marks my 10th. year anniversary at work, "Pier 19". A landmark record for me at any one job I must admit.