» On 7/22/2011 06:15:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Patricia Anne Schroeder (13 Oct 1951 - 19 Jul 2011).

I went to high school with Pat, but we rarely spoke to each other. Four decades later, we reconnected on Facebook and began interacting quite a bit. She helped me set up a virtual community for the members of our high-school class and provided several photos and links. She also offered her list of everyone from our class who had died. It was a sad list with 19 names, but we all appreciated her effort in compiling it.

Now, she's the 20th name on that list...

***

Patricia Anne Schroeder of N. Chelmsford

N. CHELMSFORD -- Miss Patricia Anne Schroeder, 59, of N. Chelmsford, MA, died Tuesday, July 19, 2011, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Patricia was born in Woburn on October 13, 1951, the daughter of Mildred (Geoghegan) Schroeder of N. Chelmsford, MA and the late Leonard Schroeder. She graduated from Chelmsford High School with the class of 1969, and went on to Newbury College where she received an Associate's degree in Culinary Arts.

Patricia volunteered with the Table of Plenty as a chef. She was a member of the Chelmsford Alumni Association.

She enjoyed traveling, Foxwoods, and spending time with her family.

Besides her mother, she is survived by her sister Donna Schroeder of N. Chelmsford, her brother and sister-in-law, Lenny and Cheryl Schroeder of Westford; nephews, Charles Provost of N. Chelmsford, Brendon Schroeder of Dracut, and Ryan Schroeder of Westford; nieces, Shannon Provost of N. Chelmsford, and Elizabeth Schroeder of Westford. She is also survived by grand-nephew and grand-niece, Connor and Gwendolyn Stenquist of N. Chelmsford.

SCHROEDER -- Miss Patricia Anne Schroeder, 59, of N. Chelmsford, MA, died July 19, 2011. Visiting hours Fri. 4 to 8 p.m. Funeral Service Sat. at 8 a.m. from the DOLAN FUNERAL HOME, 106 MIDDLESEX ST., CHELMSFORD, with a funeral Mass at 9 a.m. at St. John's Church in N. Chelmsford. Memorials may be made in her name to the Table of Plenty, First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, Central Sq., Chelmsford, MA. 01824. ARRANGEMENTS BY DOLAN FUNERAL HOME 978-251-4041. Guestbook at www.dolanfuneralhome.com

Published in the Lowell Sun on July 21, 2011

***

Somehow, I felt it was my duty to notify Facebook and try to get her FB profile turned into a memorial. Here's the reply I received:

Hi,

We are very sorry to hear about your loss. We will review your report and take the appropriate steps based on our policies described below. You may not receive a confirmation email when we've taken action, but we take this matter very seriously and review all reports.

Memorializing the Account
It is our policy to memorialize all deceased user accounts when reported. This sets privacy so that only confirmed friends can see the profile or locate it in Search. Additionally, the profile will no longer appear in the "Suggestions" section of the home page. The Wall, however, remains so that friends and family can leave posts in remembrance. We cannot provide login information for the account for any reason.

Removing the Account
Immediate family members may request the removal of a loved one’s account. This will completely remove the account from Facebook, so no one can view it. We will not restore the account or provide information on its content unless required by law. If you are requesting a removal and are not an immediate family member of the deceased, your request will not be processed, but the account will be memorialized.

If you would like to submit a special request for a deceased person's account, please use the following form:
http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=memorialize_special_requests

Please note that we may not be able to honor all requests.

If you have further questions, please visit our help center here:
http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=842

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

 
» On 7/10/2011 03:33:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
How to delete the "Friend Activity" tab on a Facebook Page.

OK, so you've created a Facebook Page, and you're really stoked. Proud as a peacock.

But under the "Wall" and "Info" tabs, you notice a tab called "Friend Activity," and it seems as useless as t*ts on a boar hog.

This tab represents the integration of Facebook Places and will display any recent check-ins by your Facebook fans. But if you haven't set up your Facebook Places page, the "Friend Activity" tab will remain empty.

So if you want to get rid of it, just click the "Edit Info" link and move your "Address, City/Town, and Zip" information into one of the other boxes, like "Description" or "General Information."

And the "Friend Activity" tab will disappear.

You're welcome. ;-)

PS: You can even leave the "City/Town" entry intact, if you want it to appear on the top of your Page. It won't generate a "Friend Activity" tab by itself, without the "Address" and "Zip" entries.

UPDATE: Facebook recently decided everybody has to have a Friend Activity tab, so the above doesn't work anymore. Sorry.

 
» On 7/02/2011 02:00:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
We never even know we have the key.

On The Border, Eagles:

Already Gone
Written by Jack Tempchin, Robb Strandlund
[...]
Well I know it wasn't you who held me down
Heaven knows it wasn't you who set me free
So oftentimes it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key
[...]


Honky Chateau, Elton John:

Honky Cat
Music: Elton John, Lyrics: Bernie Taupin
[...]
You better get back, honky cat
Living in the city ain't where it's at
It's like trying to find gold in a silver mine
It's like trying to drink whisky from a bottle of wine
[...]

 
» On 7/01/2011 09:10:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
30-foot flames.

‎80,000 homes in Mesa lost power yesterday, including ours. The outage lasted nine hours. Do you know what it's like to have no air conditioning, on a 112°F (45°C) day?

Then, after darkness fell and it was still over 100°F (38°C) with no TV or Internet, 80,000 idiots re-discovered fire, and started experimenting. Candles. Tiki torches. 30-foot flames in the adjoining back yard.

Police choppers were circling and fire trucks were called to our neighborhood. Twice. I used to think this was a nice area, but apparently a group of pyromaniacs recently moved in.

***

Over the past few months, we have been hit with a rather long string of nasty events (which I won't whine about), so we're looking at the outage as our mythical "Phoenix" moment: the bad stuff was consumed in the flames and our new firebird is rising from the ashes.