Rick is a 62-year-old man who was diagnosed with ALS in January 2007. Currently a resident of Southwest Florida, he has lived in four other metropolitan areas, but greater Chicagoland will always be “home.” Rick is a degreed engineer, spending his career in the medical device industry. He’s had the good fortune of extensive travel throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. He writes, in part, to be an ALS advocate. Additionally, it is his hope that his output will help dispel the myth that technical folk and digestible prose aren’t mutually exclusive.Courtesy of Rick Jobus It is with deep sadness that we inform the ALS News Today community of the passing of our friend and treasured columnist, Rick Jobus, on June 19, 2022. Rick published the first installment of…
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“Will you still need me, will you still feed me, When I’m sixty-four” Paul McCartney wrote the song “When I’m Sixty-Four” four decades before reaching that age himself. McCartney admitted that the number was chosen arbitrarily. He later…
“Keep off the path, Beware of the gate, Watch out for signs that say ‘hidden driveways.’ Don’t let the chlorine in your eyes, Blind you to the awful surprise, That’s waitin’ for you at, The bottom of the bottomless,…
“‘There must be some way out of here,’ said the joker to the thief, ‘There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief.'” When I first heard “All Along the Watchtower” by Bob Dylan, I thought, with my…
“Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book? It took me years to write, will you take a look? … If you must return it, you can send it here, But I need a break, and I want…
“Cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct Red dogs under illegal legs … She is watching the detectives ‘Ooh, it’s so cute.'” Elvis Costello’s homage to film noir crime drama, “Watching the Detectives,” inadvertently became a musical tipping point as 2021…
“Mirror in the bathroom Please talk free The door is locked Just you and me.” The time for annual resolutions to be implemented has arrived. The most impactful betterment…
“Catch a Cannonball, now, to take me down the line My bag is sinkin’ low and I do believe it’s time To get back to Miss Fanny, you know she’s the only one Who sent me here with her…
“And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it But I probably will Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture A little of the glory Well time slips away and leaves you with nothing,…
“In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” Last week, my pastor humorously suggested I should challenge folks to put forth songs or lyrics they believed I wouldn’t be able to kick-start a column with. He further suggested the above mentioned track by Iron…
“I been one poor correspondent, and I been too, too hard to find But it doesn’t mean you ain’t been on my mind.” In retrospect, I fear that much of my life has…
“You hold the key to love and fear All in your trembling hand Just one key unlocks them both It’s there at your command Come on people now…
“All our times have come Here but now they’re gone Seasons don’t fear the reaper Nor do the wind, the sun, or the rain We can be like they are.” I was 18 years old when the band Blue…
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