Jeff Duke: 1952 - 2004

MIAMI - This weekend turned out to be an even shittier one than I'd first thought.

It was bad enough that we lost Ronaldus Magnus to Alzheimer's Saturday.

But I just found out a couple hours ago that I lost my best friend Sunday morning in a car wreck.

Jeff Duke was one of the first honest-to-goodness friends  I made in that little network of computer amateurs called Fidonet about 12 years ago.  He welcomed me into the Fidonet echomail conference called LIMBAUGH, and tolerated me when I ran through what used to be my schtick ("Cragerization") on the liberal shits who used to do their drive-by postings therein.

Later, our little group-within-a-group evolved into a semi-regular dinner group, where we'd gather at Chili's to sample their offerings. We're a loose-knit band of emailers to this day, in fact, although Jeff dropped out of the Internet/e-mail scene shortly thereafter.

Through it all, Jeff & I remained close.  We'd go on occasion to Chili's, where we'd always lament how the wings sucked, whereas they once were the best in town.  And he'd always try to analyze what was in the sauce - and he usually got it right.  Probably one reason why he was a helluva cook - at least, if his steaks were any indication.

Sunday morning, he lost his life driving up to help my friend and fellow blogger Randy Peterson.  That was the type of guy Jeff was - he'd give you the shirt off his back, or whatever you needed, if you were in a fix.  And though he might get pissed off at you at times - he did at me, once - he couldn't stay mad at you, for your friendship was too valuable to him.

Jeff Duke was a programmer, a cop, a soldier, a cook, and whatever else came to his mind while he was talking to you.  He was a writer/raconteur/grouch before Kim du Toit ever thought about being one (sorry, Kim).

He was also the best friend I've had during the last 12 years I've been in the online community.  And I already miss the hell out of him.

May God be with his widow and daughter during this time.