Louis Gray › Likes

Living in England until I was 12, I didn't have too many opportunities to get sunburned. But one time around 8, we visited my grandmother in Miami and then drove to Disney World. We stopped at some interim hotel halfway there and settled in to play in the pool and meet up with my cousins, about two days before we were to visit the park. Despite my parents' best efforts, I managed to get bad sunburn all over my back and shoulders. - Stephen Mack

The next night, at a different hotel, with about 16 of us sharing two hotel rooms (the kids all camped out in sleeping bags all over the floor), I couldn't sleep. My skin was peeling. And I started picking off the peeling skin, somewhat obsessively, instead of sleeping. And I picked it way too much, basically raw. The next morning I was a bleeding red mess and everyone was horrified. At the park, I got burned even more on the first day, all over my face. The next day I had hives and rash and fever. - Stephen Mack

Still made it the park though, despite being miserable. Some Disney bus driver took one look at me and diagnosed sun poisoning and gave my parents advice on how to treat it. - Stephen Mack

I was a lot more careful with lotion after that... - Stephen Mack

...until high school, my senior year, we had a weekend car wash fundraiser for the speech & debate club. I neglected to apply lotion to the tops of my feet on Saturday. They burned horribly. A day later, my feet were covered in tiny blisters. I tried to stay in the shade that day and they put me on cashier duty, but one point I was running over to grab some guy's money, and I felt the blisters slosh around and they coalesced into one big old plum-sized blister -- one for each foot. - Stephen Mack

The next week these mega-blisters were so painful that I couldn't wear shoes. I was not big on attendance and had used all my sick days, so I had to attend school and walk around barefoot. This one guy, Dave Basiji, wanted to be a doctor. He advised me to self-lance -- run a bathtub for a few inches of warm water, dump in Epsom salts, then pierce with a red-hot needle. Why I believed him and didn't see a real doctor? No idea. I stupidly followed his advice. - Stephen Mack

I'm sure my scream of pain could be heard in the next county. - Stephen Mack

I was dumb enough to repeat it for my second foot. - Stephen Mack

You can still see the marks on my feet, 27 years later. - Stephen Mack

Yikes! - Spidra Webster

That same year, one weekend my friend Kyrie and I drove down to Santa Cruz. She and I had an ongoing joke about how we both burn really easily. She put lotion on my back, but I should have been suspicious about how long it was taking her to do it. It turns out she was spelling out a message with areas she didn't apply lotion to. - Stephen Mack

So for a week after, my back spelled out her name. - Stephen Mack

It hurt like crazy. Took me a long time to forgive her. - Stephen Mack

One time in Hawaii, I was lazy and tried to apply the lotion to my back by myself instead of getting help. I covered about 40% of it. The swirl burn pattern that formed clearly showed my fingers' shape. It looked like abstract art. - Stephen Mack

Later, a woman I was dating saw my back and commented. I thought she said, "You have a muscled back," so I said thank you. She was confused. It turns out she said, "You have a mottled back." This was a full two years later. - Stephen Mack

In conclusion: I am pale. I burn very easily. - Stephen Mack

I'm pale for a beach-going Californian, but not nearly as pale as when I was a British lad. I have a cream-colored spatter of a birthmark at the base of my belly. Currently it's the lightest part of my skin. But when I was 12 it was the darkest part of my skin. - Stephen Mack from iPhone

Next time we get together, remind me to show you my hands. Vitiligo makes for fun times with sunburns and skin colors. - Neal Krummell

Neal, that Hawaii story was with my friend Rick who also has vitiligo -- he got some interesting burns that trip too. - Stephen Mack

Oh dear... - esther

Stephen, clearly our skin was separated at birth. I have some similar horror stories. Suffice it to say, sunscreen is now my best friend. ;) - Kelli H.

I'd've used the bookmarklet but it doesn't seem to work on that page. - Stephen Mack

From the page: "FREE CLASSIC COVER TRACKS (BY NICK DEDINA): Something special happens with a great cover version. UB40 proved that Neil Diamond’s "Red Red Wine" works as a reggae love jam, Lenny Kravitz reclaimed the Canadian "American Woman" for the U.S.A. and Coldplay showed concert audiences their love of classic James Bond theme songs with "You Only Live Twice." Before Dylan and The... more... - Stephen Mack

Continues: "Massive Attack's version of "Be Thankful for What You Got" brought the buried soul gem back to the fold; other times, Corinne Bailey Rae just wants to tip her hat to Bob Marley while Robert Glasper adds even more jazz ripples into a Sade slow jam. The Concretes removed the disco-punk swagger from "Miss You" and reminded people what a brilliant songwriting team... more... - Stephen Mack

i'm annoyed Google makes you add payment info to be able to download the free stuff now. :| - holly #ravingfangirl

Holly, yeah. You have to order each track one by one, too -- with 5 clicks to get through the confirmations. They make you work for the free stuff. - Stephen Mack from iPhone

Right on! Congrats, Ben. - Micah

Congrats Ben! Also, congrats to FF you are lucky to have him! - Jason Shellen

Data storage and scalability rock. :) - Louis Gray

Ben's feed is here: http://friendfeed.com/bdarnell - Bret Taylor

Congrats, Ben! :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Yeah Ben!!! - Rachel Lea Fox

so i finally get my answer to this :) http://friendfeed.com/chris... - MG Siegler

Yeah, sorry I couldn't respond to that one before. :-) - Kevin Fox

well i be darned .... we now can rejoice, since fast paced additions to already good product are surely fastly coming about off the feedpipe ... it'l be a hectic season of finest upgrades ... I'm sure they'l start with keyboard shortcutze. ... I mean Google Reader rules on that. Intelligent to the extreme. ..Google.com, on the other hand - are we sleeping? .. not even "/" ??.. and that... more... - pb:

Congrats Ben! Totally agree with Jason. Our latest project wouldn't have become feasible without Ben -- I'm just so glad we managed to get a fraction of his time before he left! :) - Simon

Congratulations, Ben! You're joining an awesome team. - Anne Bouey

Woohoo! Another Googler :) - Tim Hoeck

Congrats, you are now a "big company"! ;)))) - K.D.

That's not my picture! They got the picture wrong! In fact, I didn't get the letter of hire either. :( Oh, Hi there, Ben...if that's your real name. ;) - Josh Haley

Good luck Ben! With you our preferred service will go more interesting - Roberto from fftogo

you're building a friendfeed army there :-) - Dobromir Hadzhiev

Congrats - Özkan Altuner

Nice, any former Google Reader-er is a friend of mine. - Mike Reynolds

gratz Ben! - timepilot

Welcome Bret! - Michael_techie

So, Facebook...? - Daniel J. Pritchett

Poor Ben Darnell. The last to enter are always the first to leave in mergers. - beersage

Either that or he scored big time with some accelerated vesting. - Ken Sheppardson

Hiring new staff while in secret acquisition talks, not exactly classy guys. I hope Ben knew what he was getting into - Glenn Slaven

Why on earth does he use the Duck Hunt theme? - Vezquex

I don't know.. but it is awesome! :) - Tim Hoeck

Wow, looks like somebody bumped this! - Kevin Fox

I think there were a bunch of spam comments made to some 2009-era posts by FF employees. For some reason even after the spam is nuked, the post stays bumped. - Stephen Mack

Yes, I blocked a spammer that was bumping old posts about FF themes and what not. - Zulema ❧ spicy cocoa tart

OH HAI! - Eric - B Easy

Well, let's see this as an opportunity to raise a virtual glass to Ben and FriendFeed-that-was! - Kevin Fox

It probably had something to do with the Tornado 2.2 release. I noticed Ben was the one who posted about the release on HN earlier. Edit: Or it could have just been a spammer. *shrugs* - Jimminy, CoG of FF

I don't think it had anything to do with the tornado release - a spammer bumped a bunch of Bret's old posts today. - Ben Darnell

Nereye katiliyo pic! Sattiniz gittiniz dukkani! - Ali Kerim

Here, let me save future spammers some time: Hello my name is ____ and I am an attractive young ____ _____ and I would like to contact with you so that together you and I can ___ with ____ while _____ in a highly ____ manner. Please to be responding as soon as is practical. Without your help, the _____ in U.S. dollars will go unclaimed, and the herbal ______ remedy will wither and die. Yours in all urgent seriousness, _____. - Stephen Mack

i love that place. :) - holly #ravingfangirl

Me too, Hookuh, me too. She usually has such a hard time falling asleep in the car -- between the long day, her bad sleep three of the last four nights, all the clam chowder she ate today, and her getting lost in the museum today for 15 minutes (absolutely terrifying), she's worn out. Me too, actually. - Stephen Mack from iPhone

Holly, at risk of repeating myself overmuch: Me too. :) - Stephen Mack from iPhone

Cute pics. - Ac0n (former Franc)

LOVE that girl!!! And at the risk of sounding like a militant mom, her carseat straps are not on correctly. :-D - Yvonne from FFHound!

You mean the pads? - Stephen Mack from iPhone

No, the buckle. It should be as high as her armpits. And you shouldn't be able to pinch the fabric. And it's scary that I'm not even as 'bad' as some moms I know. =) - Yvonne from FFHound!

Killing that butterfly changed the history of the world. I hope your physical fitness is worth it :-) - Todd Hoff

And the Supermoon is thus explained. - Akiva

The Capalaba Chupacabra. - Josh Haley

I love this thread so much. - MoTO Strange Fat

No WONDER my son had a night terror this weekend! *shakes fist* - Zulema ❧ spicy cocoa tart

I just wanted you to be happy. - Akiva

You're AIGHT. I GEUSS. - Akiva

And I have a sitter for this evening, so I do believe I'll head out to see The Avengers. RT says it's 93%, great: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m... - Stephen Mack

:)))))) - Kelli H.

Hi Kelli! Saw Avengers with one of my brothers. It was fab. - Stephen Mack from iPhone

Shopped! - SAM

How dare you question the integrity of my photojournalism, sir. - Stephen Mack from iPhone

I can tell from the pixels. - Kevin Fox

Huh, that's weird, you guys must have better eyes than I do -- I don't see any pixels. - Stephen Mack

What is ITIL? - imabonehead

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - Stephen Mack

Oh, doh. I should have known as my profession somewhat touches that area. - imabonehead

I will withhold opinions until I finish the training, but I will say this: Even the instructor agreed the material is "dry." - Stephen Mack

You should be teaching this class. Own it. - Louis Gray

Hah, definitely not qualified. - Stephen Mack

Foundations is very dry...it gets better after that. Service Operations and Service Transition are much more interesting. - Ryan Kaisoglus