I remember the first time I met Jeff and Les Veen. At least, the first time I remember meeting them. I believe the year was 1994, but I wasn't taking notes, and I could be a little off there. Of one thing I am sure: it was a Thursday. Everyone was gathering at Great Lakes Shipping Company for nachos and Long Island Iced teas. It used to be Killian's red, but they'd dropped the happy hour specials on pitchers of beer a while back, and those Long Islands sure were tasty.
Anyhoo, most everyone at the tables already knew the Veens. But I was new to the group, so I'd never met them before. I'm pretty sure that Matt was there, since I remember a lively discussion about the subtleties and sheer GENIUS of the recently released "Pulp Fiction." I hadn't seen it yet, but that didn't stop me from sitting there quietly, hoping no one would notice that I had no idea what y'all were talking about and learning awful truth about how un-hip I was.
Fortunately, Les was there, too, and also more subdued. So nice and pretty, just like a good Calvinist girl. Seeing the two of them together made me wonder to myself when I'd get my shit together and find a nice Calvin girl to settle down with. But, rather than dwell on it, I ordered that one extra Long Island to push myself over the edge to "pleasant buzz" when I wouldn't feel so inadequate, and could delude myself into believing that others were interested in my stories about the Financial Aid subsystem at work. The rest of the evening passed in a blur, so I can't provide any more details about the first time I met the Veens. Given time, I might be able to remember (or confabulate) additional details of the evening , but it hardly seems that important.
Today, I'm living on the peninsula in Bay Area, California, and the Veens live in one of those "sections" of the city that only city dwellers can keep straight, and thus, still have a massive leg-up on the hip factor on me. And I'm still trying to get my shit together... unless I've got a pleasant buzz on as this is read, in which case, I'm probably attempting to amuse you with stories of obscure DB2 JDBC driver corner cases as they relate to our latest product release. Let's hope not.