This isn’t a spiritual quest article. I’m not talking about love or friendship or intangibles like a good reputation or a clear conscience. Nor am I talking about that other form of intangibles, financial “securities” (which many of us have recently learned can disappear into the ether as easily as love or a clear conscience). No, I’m just talking about physical, buy-and-sell-without-cosmic-implications kinds of “things”. Short of cars and houses (which I didn’t actually own anyway; several banks did), I’ve held title to one physical item so far in my life with a five digit market value. And since it’s now gone, I’m going to take a moment to document it; after all, it’s possible that in my next 43 years of life I’ll not own anything this cool again.
And now, my other MIA VIP: Elizabeth Anne Shirey-Mizobuchi, a.k.a. Beth. When we met in Gainesville, FL, in 1985, Beth was the accompanist for and best friend of my girlfriend at the time, Vanessa Kissel. [Vanessa isn't missing, tho. Hi, 'Nessa!] When I needed a roommate to help pay the rent, ‘Nessa suggested Beth and believe it or not, it worked out fantastically well. We became friends and re-connected now and then up until about twelve years ago. Since then, nadda.
One way or another, I can find just about anyone on the Internet. It’s one of the things I love most about it — every relative, friend, neighbor, coworker, girlfriend, whoever, from any phase of my life, probably has some sort of Internet footprint that can be found. (Long-dead ancestors too, for that matter!) Usually, it’s as simple as a Google search. Sometimes it takes more work. But as long as the person is still alive, they can probably be located and contacted on the Internet.
Probably. But not always. There are a handful of people, a couple of them very important to me, that I’ve never been able to track down. Since I’ve tried almost everything else, I’m going to try posting here about my two main missing friends that I’ve a) lost contact with and b) cannot for the life of me find current info for online.
My ex-wife (Elizabeth) has a cat… a white Siamese named “John”. He’s meant to be an outside cat, but considering the wild animal population where they live now, letting him out there isn’t safe. He’s not doing well inside — poor guy has become neurotic and keeps looking at the wall, nervous all the time and peeing where he shouldn’t. I was planning to take him when I move into my own place up there, but since I’ll likely have an apartment, the situation won’t be much different.
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Before I tried to get this job with Altiris, I tried for a position at Symantec’s American Fork, UT, development center. Just before my scheduled interview, the position was moved to Cupertino, CA. Since relocation was not an option at the time, I withdrew my app. Considering how things have worked out… Boy, am I glad that happened! Not only did I get the best product assignment a PM could hope for, but I ended up working for Symantec after all! 
Excelsior!
Last week, I found out that one of my best friends is dead. I first met John Midtgard in 6th grade. Since we left the cradle of Zephyrhills High School back in 1984 (me) and 1985 (John), we have each moved several times. We’d be apart for a few years, but then once we got back together, it would be like no time had passed. We’d just pick right back up, still good friends. The first parting was when I went off to UF a year before John did. He of course caught up with me soon enough. Then I joined the Navy for four years while John went off to Seattle for a while, and we regrouped again back in Gainesville, Florida, in 1990. It sucks that he died during another one of those forkings of our paths, and the most prolonged.
