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“Nothing is withheld from us what we have conceived to do” – God
I sat down at yet-another coffee shop in Portland determined to get some work done, catch up on some emails and write another blog post.
About 30 minutes into my working, an elderly gentleman at least 80 years old sat down next to me with a hot coffee and a pastry. I smiled at him and nodded and looked back at my computer as I continued to work.
“Do you like Apple? As he gestured to the new Macbook Air I had picked up a few days prior.
“Yea, I’ve been using them for a while.” Wondering if I was going to get suckered into a mac vs. pc debate in a portland coffee shop with an elderly stranger.
“Do you program on them?
“Well, I don’t really know how to code, but I write quite a bit and spend a lot of time creating online projects and helping clients run their businesses.”
“I’ve been against Macintosh company lately. They’re trying to get everyone to use iPads and when people use iPads they end up just using technology to consume things instead of making things. With a computer you can make things. You can code, you can make things and create things that have never before existed and do things that have never been done before.”
“That’s the problem with a lot of people”, he continued, “they don’t try to do stuff that’s never been done before, so they never do anything, but if they try to do it, they find out there’s lots of things they can do that have never been done before.”
I nodded my head in agreement and laughed to myself – thinking that would be something that I would say and the coincidence that out of all the people in the coffee shop I ended up talking to, it was this guy. What a way to open a conversation.
The old man turned back at his coffee, took a sip, and then looked back at me.
“In fact, I’ve done lots of things that haven’t been done before”, he said half-smiling.
Not sure if he was simply toying with me or not, my curiousity got the better of me.
Oh really? Like what types of things?, All the while, half-thinking he was going to make up something fairly non-impressive.
I invented the first computer.\Read More
Bad Brad
August 20th, 2012
I actually think this is the best thing I’ve ever seen you post here.
Geoff C.
August 20th, 2012
That my friends is the N.W. that I grew up in. Not the people that you read about in the news today. No pretense, just, we built that, like the rest of America has done. And will do again when we are unchained from Obama.
mkultra
August 20th, 2012
I loved this story. In 1979 I taught myself assembly language for the MOS 6502 8 bit microprocessor. As I learned the wonderful world of opcodes and operands I marveled at the genius behind this technology and the pioneers that made it possible. It’s nice to see that some of those old guys are still alive. God bless em!
D-Bad
August 20th, 2012
Great story. Serendipity can come visiting at any moment. This young man will always remember this encounter, and he already put the lessons he learned into practice: he created something – that blog post.
Xavier
August 21st, 2012
Inspiring. Very good post.
@mkultra
8086 16 bit ASM here. Still remember a lot of it, too.
shockuhzulu
August 21st, 2012
Could there be anyone who better represents the exact opposite of Obama?
Geoff C.
August 21st, 2012
Bad Brad, right now we need all of the feel good stories we can get.
Bad Brad
August 21st, 2012
Geoff C., you got that right. I love these old guys. I’ve met a few and they are some damn awesome.
I just reread my post and thought , hmm. I meant that as a big compliment not a derogatory thing. I’m copying this and forcing my kids and young employees to read this.
Geoff C.
August 21st, 2012
I forgot to add one thing from my first comment. God knows.
mkultra
August 21st, 2012
Same here, Xavier. I made the switch to intel when I became addicted to reverse-engineering copy protection code in the 80′s.
Katechon
August 21st, 2012
I’ve always believed that nothing is withheld from us what we have conceived to do. Most people think the opposite – that all things are withheld from them which they have conceived to do and they end up doing nothing.”
“Wait”, I said, pausing at his last sentence ”What was that quote again?”
“Nothing is withheld from us what we have conceived to do.”
That’s good, who said that?
God did.
Bad Brad
August 21st, 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PQ6335puOc
/
Deal with it.
dtm
August 21st, 2012
I had no idea his son is Walden Kirsch. Walden was a local TV news guy here in Portland and now works for the same company I do (Intel).
We also had an engineer working for us in Hillsboro (not in my group) that is the son of astronaut Fred Haise (Apollo 13). There is still a great deal of intellectual horsepower and innovation here in the Portland area; not everyone is a OWS-type loser.
Bad Brad
August 21st, 2012
dtm
I don’t know dude, Folsom guys seem to think they got you beat. LOL
What a great company.
Horseface
August 21st, 2012
O.k. This one hit way close to home. Here’s my old guy story:
I spent 22 years as a humanitarian aid worker and worked in a lot of nasty situations. When I finally came home for good and the war-zone adrenalin stopped, I fell into a hole of despair so deep I couldn’t get out, and, in fact, tried to end it all by swallowing a month’s worth of Ambien. I just couldn’t see a future. I was found and rescued, but the slogging continued.
Then I met Doug,an 81 year-old guy who lives down the road. He took me under his wing and cussed me back to ;life. Now we build stuff together at his “lab,” we explore the mountains on our 4 wheelers, and we are planning a hell of a road trip to the Yukon in a few weeks. Long story short: Doug taught “the kid” how to laugh again and to live again.
I owe my life to Doug, and it’s a damn good life.
Old guys rock.
Moxie Man
August 21st, 2012
What a fortunate meeting for Joel Runyon. I could have listened to Russell Kirsch for hours.
My techie career began in 1972, programming in B.A.L. & COBOL on IBM 360, 370, 4341, then System 3, 34, 36, 38, AS/400, iSeries. Now using RPG-ILE & SQL. References available upon request.
Patricia
August 21st, 2012
Awesome! I wept when I read this, don’t know why. I thought of our five beautiful babies – now there’s something new. “What we have conceived to do…” Amen!
Bad Brad
August 21st, 2012
I gotta share an old guy story.
I was working at a machine shop in the early 80′s and they had a tuff old dude, Norm that worked there that all the guys my age where warning me about. (My age at the time mid 20′s, young and pretty, not like now)
Norm ran engine lathes and always smoked a pipe. This is like the first week I’m there, outa of the corner of my eye I see Norms pipe go real straight in his mouth. I knew he was hurt. Shoved a file all the way through the meaty part of his hand. I run over there with a couple Kim Wipe and he’s screaming, “Get back on your machine ya little piss ant”. He grabs a hand full of Kim wipes, shoves a couple through the wound and tied them off. Works until lunch, goes and gets his hand stitched up and I swear was back at work before our hour lunch was over.
A couple days later during lunch he sits next to me, introduces himself and apologies for being an asshole. After that we were best of friends.
Turns out this guys was a professional boxer before ww2. He used to bring me old news paper clipping to read of some of his old fights. Apparently there was a time when Prize fighting was outlawed someplace on the East coast. He told me they used to hold fights on rafts out in the Ocean to avoid the federalizes. I’ve never found any credible info on that, but this old guy was so bad ass he had no reason to lie.
Plain Jane
August 21st, 2012
I’ve often thought and tried to act on, that if God put something in one’s mind, then He will guide one in doing it.
Plain Jane
August 21st, 2012
The article makes me realize how much we did learn from old people, and now DH & I now ARE old people. DH at least, is still guiding and teaching the younger ones.
Fantastic article.
Moxie Man
August 21st, 2012
In 1970, while studying to become a computer programmer, I was working in a machine shop.
One of the guys there said, “Why do want to be a programmer? In two years, all the programs that will ever be needed will have been written.”
I guess he didn’t get the message.
Bad Brad
August 21st, 2012
Plain Jane, I don’t know about your experiences, but mine wound indicate the youth of today is damn hard to teach. They think they already know it. And there’s no appreciation of life’s experiences. Norm would have bitch slapped them. I ignore most of them.
Bad Brad
August 21st, 2012
Moxie Man, Ya couldn’t me more wrong if ya tried. Mind you I’ve owned a shop for going on 30 years.
Moxie Man
August 21st, 2012
@Brad – What I’m saying is that guy didn’t believe computers had a future. Not a jab at machine shops …
Bad Brad
August 21st, 2012
Sorry, I didn’t realize how far back you where referencing and I went through those times. The state of the art process is all electronic, and closed loop, however feature based machining is 20 years from becoming a viable programing method. What’s making interesting leaps and bounds is additive machining. SLA’s have come a long ways.
Old York, OY
August 21st, 2012
IF: I count in binary when I have trouble sleeping
THEN: I fall asleep
ELSE: Toss and turn
Xavier
August 21st, 2012
@Old York, OY
Rem:GOTO Sleep
Bad Brad
August 21st, 2012
Old York, OY, Try alcohol, that;s what the rest of us do.
Strike-Anywhere Ukulele
August 21st, 2012
I started with GW Basic in 1992 but didn’t stay in the field, wish I could have. But I can program the shit out of a TI-83 calculator. HP-48gx too, but reverse polish is a pain in the ass. I write a lot of land surveying stuff and love to create mechanical and geometry programs too.
I never heard of this guy but now I know who to thank for the calcs and my digital camera.
Awesome story.
Mudbug
August 21st, 2012
Helluva story. Since I’m approaching old guy status in the oil patch, in one way it’s great to be here – these pipsqueak young popguns coming out of college with bravo sierra between their ears and work ethic, couldn’t get hired onto a rig or work in a producing field if they had a gold bar hanging from their worthless necks. Fun to watch that process as various oil companies keep dangling more and more loot before my sixty-something eyes; hellsbells, I might just stay offshore until my mid-eighties at this rate. Somebody’s gotta learn these kids how to think…..and quit stealing other people’s logical processes.
reddecaesari
August 21st, 2012
really impressed with all here who clearly know their stuff on programming, codes etc.
there was an old gentleman who lived around the corner from me. he had a small house on a big piece of property and kept to himself. after he died, i found out he started one of the first computer companies. kaypro. mr. kay was his name.
his daughter was very proud of her dad.
Boobie the Rocket Dog
August 21st, 2012
My, my, my. I took a quick look at the comments BEFORE walking the dog and am I glad I did. I wondered whether any of our people who are well-versed in the Bible could cite Kirsch’s quote.
Some good things have been posted here but I think I have to agree with Brad’s first comment. And subsequent comments have been just as inspirational as the article itself.
Thanks, Fur. Off to walk Boobie, then come back and read the rest of these.
the aardvark
August 21st, 2012
Thanks for the post. God does indeed know everything. And old guys do rule, my Dad is 83 and his oldest brother is nearly 94 with another 86 yr. old brother. Gotta love these older guys from the greatest generation. Both of my Dad’s brothers are WW2 vets. My oldest uncle started working for the Civilian Conservation Corps, before WW2, joined the Navy, was a CPO during the war and went to work in the old Navy Supply Warehouse here in Spokane after the war and ended up retiring as the top dog at the Bremerton Navy Shipyard in charge of all the Naval supplies all from learning about electronics way back in WW2. Quite an accomplishment for someone who never went to college. And he still drives by himself which amazes the heck out of me. I saw him last Sat. at my Mom and Dad’s house. I want to look as good and be as active as my Dad and 2 uncles are when I get into my 80′s and 90′s. If I remember right I believe they had an uncle who lived to be 100 and some others in their mid 90′s.
maryd
August 21st, 2012
My first read of the day. What a great story! He looks like my late grandfather too, so I got lost in the picture. Love it! Thanks for sharing.
Aunt Liz
August 21st, 2012
Thanks Fur. This is an awesome post. My dad was on the team that computerized Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. – when computers were huge behemoths. In later years, he marveled at our laptops and with twinkling eyes,joked that now he’d not even know how to turn one on. Sure do miss that guy.
Anonymous
August 21st, 2012
What Brad said…loved it!
Billy Fuster
August 21st, 2012
Incredible and inspiring.
norman einstein
August 21st, 2012
Great story. Thanks for posting.
I’m convinced that most people miss out on opportunities like Runyan had, every day.
My mother taught me the value of not being afraid to engage “strangers” in conversation, and I’ve had many encounters with interesting older people.
Mr. Kirsch is correct, of course, but I’m afraid his philosophy is not shared by young people these days.
Perhaps we need to go back to the Stone Age so people can learn to “think” again.