That’s a picture of tiny Liv Arwen Berreth, the daughter Kim and Mitch, some good friends of Ashley and I. Liv (pronounced “Leave”) was born at 6:40 pm on Saturday the 9th, many weeks too early, and only weighs 810 grams. That’s one LITTLE baby! Both baby and mother are doing well. Welcome to the big world Liv!

VIOLANTE – Crystal Alison (nee Hehr)
March 2, 1976 – December 12, 2007

“It is with profound sadness that Crystal’s family announces her passing after a courageous battle with cancer. Crystal passed away on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at the age of 31 and will be missed immensely by those whose lives she touched.

Crystal was born in Calgary and attended Mount Royal College, graduating in 2004 with a Bachelor of Applied Communications (Public Relations). She met the love of her life, Anthony in 1999 and they have been inseparable since. Crystal loved music, dancing and traveling but her biggest joy and passion was Anthony and Mattea, family and friends. People were drawn to Crystal because of her passion for life and her magnetic personality; her motto was “love always, live life and no regrets.”

Besides her loving husband Anthony, Crystal is survived by their daughter Mattea René; mother Mavis (Gary) Nugent of Creston, B.C.; her sister Holly Hehr of Calgary, AB; father-in-law Domenik (Patrizia) Violante of Kingston, ON; mother-in-law, Barbara Violante (Bryon) of Chestermere, AB; adoptive father Murray Colclough (Jo-Anne) of Calgary, AB; grandmother Mary Hehr of Caroline, AB; and numerous extended family and friends.

A Celebration of Crystal’s Life will be held at McINNIS & HOLLOWAY’S Chapel of the Bells (2720 Centre Street North) on Sunday, December 16, 2007 at 2:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, tributes may be made directly to Rosedale Hospice c/o Hospice Calgary, Suite 900 833 - 4 Avenue S.W., Calgary, AB T2P 3T5, Telephone: (403) 263-4525, www.hospicecalgary.com. Forward condolences through www.mcinnisandholloway.com. or visit www.loveforcrystal.com.

In living memory of Crystal Violante, a tree will be planted at Fish Creek Provincial Park by McINNIS & HOLLOWAY FUNERAL HOMES, Chapel of the Bells, 2720 CENTRE STREET NORTH Telephone: (403) 276-2296.”

A few minutes ago Ashley called and told me that our friend Crystal passed away. She had been in a local hospice for the past couple of weeks, and her body finally succumbed to the cancer that was ravaging it. The world is a darker place today without Crystal in it - she had such a light, such a love of life, such vibrancy. Crystal loved butterflies, so the above photo is for her.

Cherish your loved ones today and always - you never know when life will turn your world upside down.

The title says it all: the Vibe 98.5 contest that I posted about earlier is now over, and Crystal and Tony didn’t win. The couple that won sound like they really needed it (the husband has colon cancer), so it’s great that the prize is going toward a couple that will really benefit from it…but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t really hoping Crystal and Tony would win it. I emailed the radio station Webmaster and urged him to implement something to block repeat voting next time - I hate to think this, but their voting system was so open it would have been ridiculously easy to cheat; you just never know (I’m sure others would be thinking the same thing if Tony and Crystal won).

I’m deeply grateful for all of you who voted, for the blogs and emails that went out around the world rallying support, and for the donations that were made to help Crystal and Tony - you guys are awesome.

[For the geeks among you: I've gotta' say though, no thanks to the cold-hearted people who read Digg - only 13 votes? Really? Nothing but coal in the stocking for anyone that read the story and didn't vote for it. Digg is a ridiculous farce in many ways - the premise sounds great, but the reality is so much different.]

[Crystal on her wedding day in July 2007]

I’ve written about my friend Crystal before, and she’s not doing very well - the cancer is laying waste to her body. It’s only a matter of time, and my heart feels heavy when I think of what she’s going through. She’s such a vibrant, fearless, loving person - and the world will be a lesser place when she’s gone.

There’s an opportunity to bring some light into her last days, however: Crystal, her husband Tony, and their seven-month old daughter Mattea have been nominated for a “Dream Baby Shower” in a contest a local radio station is running. There are $50K in prizes, including a $5000 Registered Education Saving Plan that will grow to $9000 by the time Mattea is 18 years old, $5200 worth of grocery gift cards spread out over a year, and bi-weekly house cleaning for a year. When Tony is on his own with Mattea, having food and house cleaning taken care of would be a burden off his shoulders.

Their profile with a brief backgrounder can be read for further details, and voting is done on this page. I’m sure the other contestants are wonderful people, but winning this contest is something that this family needs right now. I don’t think I’ve ever made a request like this before online, but please forward this blog entry to others and vote as many times as you can (yes, you can vote an unlimited number of times) until the November 25th deadline. Thanks for your support - let’s make this happen!

[A technical note for you geeks out there: the voting system doesn't block multiple votes via cookies or IP, so it seems designed to be a "repeat popularity contest". I was able to vote 50+ times in a matter of minutes by positioning my mouse cursor over the vote button, clicking it, using my previous page mouse button, then clicking again. Please, no automated scripts though, let's keep this fair - well, as fair as a voting system like this can be. I've also submitted this to Digg, so please vote for it there as well to get the issue more attention.]

That’s my friend Crystal Violante (formerly Crystal Hehr) - and the headline sadly speaks for itself. Here’s the article that ran with it recently.

There was also a story that ran in the Calgary Sun that was basically the same (24 Hours is a Sun publication), and an online version. Crystal is a vivacious, wonderful woman who gave birth to a beautiful daughter (Mattea) then was told she had terminal cancer only a few months later. Her friends have rallied around her, creating a Web site, a blog, and a trust fund to help them with their daily expenses. Crystal’s husband Tony isn’t working because he has to care for her and his daughter, so any funds you can donate to help them out would be greatly appreciated by them and by myself.

There really aren’t words to express how much it sucks to watch one of your friends, someone you love, be slowly taken by cancer. It hurts.

George Dunn in 1939, around age 22.

George Dunn at age 74 enjoying a four-olive martini.

It’s been just over a month since my grandfather (whom we all called “Nampy”) passed away, so I thought it appropriate to publish these two photos as a way of saying one last goodbye. Goodbye Nampy, your family and friends will miss you…

After being away last week from Monday to Sunday night, it felt so incredibly good to come home - I always miss home after a while on vacations and travelling for business, but in this case because our week was so hard (my grandfather passed away on Tuesday night) and full of alternating periods of being busy and then standing around for hours, I think it made me miss home ever more. I’ve never been so involved in all the aspects of a family member passing away as I was this week, so there was a lot of learning for me. I try to be a lifelong student, always learning, improving, and growing. I took away lessons about the importance of having a living will, something I’ll likely write about in the future as I drafted one for my parents on the way home from Penticton.

This blog will likely take a slight turn away from technology over the next couple of weeks as I process this experience and what it means to me.

I’m typing this sitting at a Starbucks in Penticton, British Columbia. On Sunday night I received a phone call from my sister telling me that my grandfather was suffering from kidney and liver cancer, and was near death. This came as a complete shock to everyone - a few weeks ago he was healthy and walking around. Ashley and I got on a plane and flew to BC Monday afternoon, and got to see him open his eyes and acknowledge we were there. Last night, while I was holding his hand, he passed away - his lungs filled with fluid and his heart stopped. I’ve never experienced death in such a direct manner before, so it was an experience unlike anything else - and likely something I’ll be exploring on this blog in the future. We’re going to stay in Penticton until the funeral on Saturday, then we’ll be heading home.

I have no connectivity unless I walk over to the nearby shopping mall and pay $8 for an hour of online access ($13 for the day) so if I don’t respond to email messages, that’s why. I’ll likely be back on Sunday night and returning to work Monday morning.