family death, & brief notes on spam & veganism.

my grandfather john passed away last night. he lived in west seneca, ny, alone for the last four years or so. his wife, my grandmother, has already passed away. he was fine three days ago; he was able to get up and move around. two days ago he developing a light cough, after which he was unable to get out of bed. then, hours later he died. he was already losing weight and growing weak, so a slight cold seems to be all that was needed to snuff out the light. his 98th birthday is in two weeks. that is quite a long time to live. when he was born, men who fought in the us civil war were still alive and around 85 years old. it’s pretty amazing to reflect back on the era he was born into and the times he lived through. throughout his life he enjoyed ales and cigars and would drink and smoke one or two each night until about five years ago. perhaps the secret to his long life was daily, light alcohol consumption.

he was a hard working individual. he was a notable buffalo-area boxer and once knocked a man out in the ring in merely eight seconds. apparently, the crowd was upset because they paid money to see a good fight, not one that is over in an instant. he was an engineer by trade and an avid sports player too. he played soccer when young and volleyball in his 80′s. my father respected him a great deal. he told me one of the hardest things to accept about his divorce from my mother was breaking off contact with my grandfather. john taught my father how to weld along with other carpentry and mechanical activities that are presently alien to me.

my grandfather taught me how to skate and play hockey some twenty years ago.

my older sister lara is close to him. she is saddened by this event, as am i.

in an unrelated topic, yesterday i received my first five comment spams. this will only pick up as this blog grows. a spam filter or captcha will soon be implemented to catch or restrict spam comments. this should not impact real comments, but as is the case with any filter false positives are inevitable. i will likely manually go through the comments to make sure real ones have not been blocked.

i am almost done with my milk yogurt and chocolate milk. once those are depleted in about three days, my vegan diet will begin.