suddenly, sort of

I started this blog last May, almost one year ago, because my dad had been unemployed for nearly three years and it was wearing on him. I had just moved to Los Angeles and he was back in New Jersey. Thrill Bill was my way of telling him that I was still rooting for him from the other side of the country.

Of course, he got a job in the middle of May, a few days after I wrote my third post.

My job here was done. I started sending things I might have posted on Thrill Bill to Bill's new work email. I was thrilled. :)

But less than six months into that new job, while I was in town for a friend’s wedding, Bill died suddenly, sort of. Suddenly, because he got sick suddenly with a severe case of acute pancreatitis. Sort of, because he improved in the ICU for almost two weeks before quickly slipping away.

A few times in the almost six months since he died, I've thought about this blog. I picture him reading the posts for the first time. I picture him tearing up at all the parts where I was trying to make him laugh.

I considered deleting Thrill Bill because it's hard seeing his name in the followers list and it's hard seeing the comment he left on one of the posts. But I realized there’s a whole new group of people that need to be thrilled. And the stuff that Bill would have loved is the stuff they like, too. So, suddenly, sort of, we’re back! Prepare to be thrilled. :)

Gene variant in the Solomon Islands

I originally considered posting about Yemeni camel jumpers (if not a skill to boost Bill's resume, at least something fun to do to pass the time. Take a look.) The photo below and the headline with it describing a gene variant in a small, unstudied island population (always thrilling) changed my mind.

I like to imagine this guy's saying "You think unemployment's bad? Check out my hair." But in reality, the hair's pretty cool. And so is the short article about why it's so blonde. Read it here.

Photo credit: Sean Myles, New York Times

Because robots are fun

Anyone who knows cool likes robots, and Bill knows cool. The image doesn't do this article justice, but the video does, so watch it (and read the article) here.

This probably won't get Bill a job, but it does provide some good advice on how to stay standing when the market tries to knock you down (compute close to 200 foot placement possibilities in about a millisecond and choose the best option to keep yourself from falling :)

Photo credit: Automaton, spectrum.ieee.org

An introduction to Bill

In 2009, my dad lost his job. He became part of the 4.6% of unemployed people of working age in New Jersey. Over the past few years, that percentage climbed to about 9%. That's a lot of unemployed Bills in New Jersey. He's still one of them.

Bill didn't love his job, but he's looking to get back to work. He's also taken up a number of hobbies to keep himself distracted along the way.

But somewhere between the last Rosetta Stone Italian lesson and the first of a series of squirrels-sunbathing-on-the-roof-of-our-garage photographs, he began to feel sorry for himself. So until the market improves, I'm going to do what it takes to thrill Bill. At least until he lands and settles into the next job he, inevitably, won't really enjoy.