One of the highlights of our Colorado vacation was getting to see my old buddy Carl Drews again. He and his wife Christine opened their house to us and, believe me, we took maximum advantage of it.

We met the very first day of freshman orientation. Stanford picked up incoming freshman from San Francisco airport and took them to campus on school buses. Carl and I rode the same bus, and got to see a sports car veer off the road for reasons that we still don’t know even today. We were dropped off at the same dorm (Toyon Hall). The friendship was sealed on the first day of classes and we were both in Physics 61 — physics for those man enough to think they had the stuff to be physics majors (for the record, not only were the two women who started Physics 61 not man enough to be physics majors, but also Carl had to wimp out and become a EE). 

Carl would conduct such classic experiments as “Can Kevin Recognize Beth’s Bicycle Chain Rattle From A Random Sample Of Those Who Park Under His Window?” and Carl was the control group for the experiment “Can Kevin Remember His High School Partial Differential Equations Better Than A College Student Can Learn Them?” But we went one experiment too far when trying to be roomates we switched Toyon and Roble on our draw cards and were forced to live separately for the rest of our collegiate careers. At least I was able to remain among the fair and noble towers of Toyon Hall while Carl had to survive the best he could among the squalor of Roble.

After graduation, Carl took off for the foothills of Boulder and I went to the beaches of LA. The inevitable occurred – we drifted apart, lost contact, but due to the brilliance of fellow engineers who invented the internet, we regained contact. When Carl was looking for a way to publish the second issue of the Hervert Family Newsletter six years ago, I was able to help. Carl and his bride Christine have promised a new issue, and I’m looking forward to publishing it as well. I have been sworn to secrecy on the subject, but what I can say about it is “Prepare to be amazed!”

But that’s all old news by way of an introduction. Carl has been a fellow internet content pioneer, and so I have invited him to join as a fellow blogger here on Funmurphys. We can only hope he takes me up on this offer so that once more Funmurphys will provide the finest content on the internet. So let’s please extend a warm welcome to Carl!