Birthday Homage

With nothing of my own to report this week, I'm using this blog entry as an homage to my co-worker and friend, Cary Rowells, who is celebrating his 40th birthday today. When not serving as the GIS analyst for my department at work, Cary is the bass player for the doom metal band, Confessor. Although you may not have heard of them, they have been around since the 1980s and have quite a following in Scandinavia. As a testament to their durability, they have even survived an "article for deletion" debate at Wikipedia.

These photos show Cary with his bandmates back in the '80s and more recently. He takes the ribbing about his former big hair and current lack thereof in stride.

I have two stories about Cary to share on his birthday. The first took place at another co-worker's housewarming party, which I attended with Craig and my old housemate, Jenn. Jenn, upon meeting Cary for the first time and having heard about him for several years, exclaimed, "you're her favorite!!!" This was slightly uncomfortable given that Cary was one of several folks, including the party host, who report to me at work. Cary quickly took advantage of my blushing and further pointed out, "well, perhaps I'm second now," in reference to Craig and my recently-made-public romance. He's a quick wit.

The second story is from my recent vacation in the Florida Keys. I used my cell phone to take a photo of Craig in a tropical setting and sent it to Cary with the text message, "Get back to work!" Cary, of course, quickly topped our humor. He replied with this photo of himself at Craig's desk with the message, "Don't hurry back!"

Happy birthday, Cary!!!