Planet's
Edge
A Search for
the People Who Slipped Off...
Jude A.
Thomas
|
This page was originally posted on the Internet in 1996. Just for fun, I decided to bring it back in November 2004 and I'm happy that I did, because Kelleigh Miller found me via this page in 2005 and she is now my wife. It's interesting to see some of the changes that have taken place since I first put it together, especially in light of the growth of the Internet over the years. This page even has a sort of 90's website look and feel to it, if there is such a thing. Keep in mind that this material was written more than a dozen years ago! |
· What's this page
all about? Gimme the short version, and quick!
This page contains a list of everyone
I can think of who I lost track of, one way or another. It's the "lost:"
section in my personal classified ads. This gets slightly more interesting, I
promise...
· Why bother?
Don't you ever wonder what happened to
your best friend from the second grade? Or that almost-but-not-quite romantic
interest who's number you lost in college? I do. Well, not necessarily those
specific examples, but there are a lot of people I've known who have dropped
off of the edge of my side of the planet. People pass in and out of our lives
like traffic on a busy street. You'd probably be surprised at the number of
people you've known (and liked) over the years who you will likely never see
again. At any rate, I don't really expect to run into all of them in an
airport. Then again, maybe that's what happens when you die: heaven is just a
big airport where everyone you've ever known is coming in on an arriving
flight...
· You've flipped,
Jude. Where do you come up with this garbage?
Ok, ok, so maybe not everyone is as
sentimental as I am. The truth is, I tend to regard the past with some
seriousness. I take stock in the theory that who and what we are is the sum
total of our experiences, and those experiences include the people we have
known. Therefore, understanding our peers helps us to better understand
ourselves. You might call it "social genetics"--the traits we inherit
from others through interaction. I wonder if that term has already been coined?
· Ok, I'll bite.
But what do you really expect to accomplish here, in WWW-land?
The World Wide Web provides an
opportunity for communication that has never before existed; this is quickly
becoming universally realized [ed. note - this HAS become universally realized
since I first thought about it in 1996, although of course I was not the first
to think about it]. Search engines, fingering, and web links seemingly should
reduce the randomness of chance encounter between ordinary persons. In other
words, we may not all have access to the FBI's database, but more and more of
us have the Internet at our disposal everyday. It is almost dizzying to try to
imagine what twenty or even ten more years of Internet progress will do to the
comfortable anonymity to which we have become accustomed. But I digress...the
point is this: it'll be interesting to see how many of these people (if any)
will actually turn up because of this page. A good search engine tweaked with
the right parameters may land one of the people listed below on this page. Or,
it may land someone who knows one of these people on this page, etc., etc. You
get the picture...
· Stop babbling!
Just show me the stupid list!
|
Name |
Association |
Last Known Location |
Found |
|
Jennifer
Bivens |
The
only person I knew who was from my hometown AND went to my prep school |
Western
Reserve Academy, Hudson, Ohio |
Located
via Facebook 2008 |
|
Jeff
Caimi |
A
prep school friend and fellow x-c runner; aka "Javier" |
Grew
up in Hudson, Ohio. Now in NYC? |
Located
in NYC in 1999, but then I lost his address; located again via Facebook 2008 |
|
Matthew
Felber |
Prep
school friend. |
Ohio |
Located
via internet January 2005. Sadly deceased. 2010. |
|
Chris
Headings |
Best
friend in 8th & 9th grade, lived in my hometown |
Moved
from my town to Conyngham, PA, and then disappeared |
|
|
Imran
Afzal |
College
friend and classmate, lived in my dorm |
W&J
College early 90's. |
|
|
Lee
Daniels |
Worked
and went to college & dental school together |
Philadelphia |
Found
via mutual contact |
|
Andy
Donato |
Lived
in the same building while I was in dental school and he was in medical
school, both at U. of Pittsburgh. |
Finished
med school and flew south with the USAF |
|
|
Dave
Fox |
Frat
brother, artist, occasional maniac. OK, not really. Great guy. |
Reportedly
in the D.C. area |
Facebook friend |
|
Ron
Juratovac |
Fellow
waiter/host at "The Italian Oven" restaurant in '93. |
Mount
Oliver section of Pittsburgh |
Located
via Internet 2006 |
|
Quan
Luc |
Lived
in my building, kept me up late at night when I was trying to study for my
dental boards. |
Moved
back to California to work in politics. |
|
|
Jeff
Siperstein |
Fraternity
brother, aka "Sippy" |
Grad.
school somewhere in the south, or back home in New Jersey |
Located
1996, 2006 |
|
Dave
Tachna |
Fraternity
brother who got along with everyone |
Podiatry
school in Philadelphia. Now living somewhere in the south. |
Located
via Internet |
|
Robert
Thaeler |
We
grew up, ran, cycled, and hung out together |
Gettysburg,
PA area. |
Located
via Internet |
|
Andy
(Anders) Tyslan |
My
fraternity brother's girlfriend's roommate... or something like that. |
California. |
Located
via Internet 2006 |
|
David
Vangura |
Fraternity
brother, M.D., aka "High Speed, Low Drag" |
Graduated
med school and ran off with the army |
Located
via Internet 2005 |
|
Doug
Zimmerman |
Frat
brother, accountant, summer-school cohort |
Took
a job with a company in the D.C. area. Rumored to be in D.C. still |
Located via Facebook |
|
Mary
Allen |
Dental
hygienist friend while I was in dental school. Kept my teeth shiny! |
Married,
gave birth, and settled around Pittsburgh somewhere |
|
|
Greg
Engel |
Dental
school friend & a better guitar player than me |
Finished
dental school and ran away with the Navy |
|
|
Kelleigh
Miller |
Met
her in college...we have the same birthday |
Graduated
from Point Park College in Pittsburgh, PA |
Located
via Internet Feb. 2005. Married her in 2007! |
|
Jeff
Simmons |
Dental
school friend & research partner |
South
Carolina. |
Located
via Internet |
|
April
Sutton |
Friend/
girlfriend in ninth, tenth grade |
West
Virginia |
Located
via Internet 2006 |
|
James
Lee |
Prep
school friend, artist, aspiring physician |
Maryland |
Located
2005 |
|
Paul
Triggiani |
Prep
school friend, roommate, teammate |
Western
Reserve Academy. Now in NY? |
|
|
Sachin
Apte |
Prep
school friend and fellow cyclist |
Stowe,
Ohio |
Located
via Internet 2008 |
|
Neville
Douglas |
Prep
school friend. True blue. |
Hometown
was Cleveland, Ohio |
|
|
Matthew
"Tuggy" Fifer |
Prep
school friend, very talented guitarist, all around great guy. |
Boston
area. |
Located
via Internet |
|
Dana
Pawlicki |
Prep
School friend. |
Lived
in Hudson, Ohio. Now NYC. |
Located
via Internet. |
|
Scott
Benson |
Prep
school friend and mathematical genius--could solve 98,858,372 x 46,959,822 in
his head...quickly |
Went
to college somewhere in the Northeast. Rumored to be working for Google. |
Located
via mutual friend/Internet 2008 |
|
Keith
Lowe |
Prep
school friend, genuinely nice guy, and talented athlete. |
Grew
up around Pittsburgh, PA, and went on to play college football in Boston. Now
married and living in North Carolina. |
Located
via Internet |
|
Andrew
Mulcahy |
Prep
school cross country teammate; the only person from Australia I have ever
known |
Went
back to his home in Shepparton, Victoria, in Australia. Now in the UK. |
Located
via Internet |
E-mail Jude