I first met Bob on TheServerSide.com, which I ran for a few years.
We would debate all things Java, at a time where that was the place to pioneer in a lot of ways. For real.
When I met him in person I was confused. He looked too cool for school. He carried himself in a certain way. He wouldn’t want to talk to me…
But no. He was an ultimate geek too. I saw him in many situations where he fit in there too. It always felt different.
And then there was the Vegas trip. We put on TheServerSide Symposium, and in one of the most surreal days ever, I ended up on the bridge of the Enterprise, celebrating Bob getting married.
Never a dull moment with Bob. An intense creative mind, and one that loooooved to have some fun.
I just went through some old emails, many of which had a common pattern in the thread of: