The Kirby Wiese Question

Early in my career, my mentor was a wonderful woman named Maria Wiese. She was married to Kirby Wiese and he was “a guy”. “A guy” in that he had a strong technical and leadership skills. While I didn’t get to work with Kirby much since I was in the sequestered VM/CMS systems group, I knew of his reputation. He knew things. One day I found myself in his office. I don’t recall exactly why, maybe it was to ask a question, maybe he saw me on the floor and asked me in. I have a strong impression of his office. Large (for tech), perfectly rectangular, with a large desk centered in the room. He sat behind the desk, also centered, and we exchanged some small talk. I was young and despite my obvious limitations was performing really well. It was possible I could eventually become “a guy”. A Kirby Wiese.

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The Paper Route Years

Two bundles of papers dropped in the driveway. My elder brother Matt would bring them into the “new room” and fold them (the “new room” was a converted garage my parents had made into an extra room for the house).

Fold them meant roll them and place a rubber band around the paper. Or slide them into a plastic bag if it might rain. He’d load the papers into a cart for delivery purposes. An early aside is needed for the cart. The cart was a 1970’s era supermarket cart. A big, metal crate on rubberized wheels. Something like this:

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