Adam Finley: Making Heaven Laugh

I first met Adam Finley at the Merle Hay Mall Applebee’s in Des Moines, Iowa. We were discussing Lockergnome writing assignments, for which he was so perfectly matched. His humor was dry, and his demeanor was generally reserved. Just about everything he wrote for us made me laugh out loud. Take, for example, this review of some software in 2001:

When I first started working for Lockergnome, I was thrilled that I finally had the chance to work out of my home and wear pajamas all day. At least, I was thrilled until I tried to put on an actual pair of jeans, and for some reason they were a tad more snug than I had remembered. Apparently, typing really fast didn’t burn all the calories I thought it would, nor did it provide much muscle stimulation. As anyone who has put on a couple of pounds knows, there’s only one option: build a time machine and travel to the year AD 7006 when the human race no longer exists. Trust me, the superior race of super-intelligent monkeys won’t care that you’re overweight. Or you could get this program. It’s not an alternative to exercise, but if you’re working at home or in your office, it will provide you with some ergonomic stretching exercises to keep your arms, hands, neck and back from permanently fusing to your chair. Just set your stretch breaks to occur whenever you’d like, then follow the animations (the utility’s best feature). You can also listen to soothing music while you stretch. Those of us who work on computers all day have to force ourselves to get up once in awhile, but if your cubicle is too small for Tae-Bo, here’s another option.

He was struck and killed by a bus in Minnesota a couple of weeks ago, as I would discover last night through Brad’s post. Adam’s writing talents took him far beyond Lockergnome, so I know that parts of the blogosphere have been just as saddened with this news. His iPod helped identify him:

Until Friday afternoon, authorities were baffled as to his identity because he was carrying no identification. The medical examiner had sought the public’s help in identifying the body and was preparing to release a sketch. But Friday afternoon, an investigator for the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office took an iPod recovered from the victim to an Apple outlet. An employee there contacted Apple corporate security, which in turn called back with the name and address of the person who had registered the iPod’s serial number with Apple, investigators said.

I can only imagine the quick-witted eulogy he may have written for himself, but I certainly don’t want to imagine this world without him. Here’s to hoping that heaven is a happy place, Adam…

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