Grandpa Sgriccia

I found out that my Grandpa Sgriccia died this morning in Punta Gorda, FL. The last time I got to see him was "thanks" to Hurricane Charlie, which forced him and my Grandma to leave Florida for my parents' house in Broken Arrow, OK.

It was there that I took this picture and had what I'm pretty sure was my longest one-on-one conversation with Grandpa, mostly about patents.

He was the inventor of patent number 3055311, "Trolley Control," in the 1960s. At the time, I didn't have any granted patents, but I do now -- still, can't help but think his is better, since it is for a real physical object, and mine is just for software.

Once when I was a little kid, I woke up crying from a dream where I was in heaven, but all they did there was golf for infinity, and this really upset me for some reason. But for Grandpa, this really would be heaven -- I'm sure he's already there, chippin' and puttin'!