My Friend and Mentor.
19?? - 2001
This page is dedicated to the life I knew with a good hearted person that changed my life. His name was Craig Morrison. He died recently. I wanted to share my thoughts and memories with those that visit my site. He had a profound impact on it and with out him, I do not think there would be this site or me still around for that matter. So, I share this with you, some thoughts and memories so he is not forgotten. This man was the closest thing to a father I had.
This is a work in progress. Because, I do not think I can write it all down now. For I grieve the loss of a great friend and mentor.
Craig was a stout, warm hearted man. I used to call him the giant Leprechaun. He lived his life amongst his computers and was a big part of the Southern California BBS community. (Online before the internet) We knew him as Catherwood others knew him as Craig.
When I was 19, I met Craig in the summer of 1989 in his office at the back of his house in Long Beach. I met him through one of his employees and friend of mine, Jason (aka Jester). I dropped Jason off to work at Craig’s on that summer afternoon. Craig was having some problems with a batch script (a series of commands that tell the computer what to do) that I helped resolve. So, he offered me a job working with him on his computers and scripting in his consulting company he ran from his house.
At the time, I was still struggling with my addiction to methamphetamines. I am sure Craig had some idea that I was not “well with the world” and yet he still kept me on. Craig somehow knew what to say to keep me coming back. Eventually, working with Craig became a haven for me. I found that I enjoyed working in his cramped office more enjoyable than doing drugs.
Don’t get me wrong, in the beginning, he was not an easy person to get along with, but I was so fascinated by all the things he was doing or trying to do with computers and networking that I just kept coming back. He would do things like send me home if I was 5 minutes late, make me redo a project if it did not fit within his strict guidelines, and I don’t think he ever paid me on time. Oh, but I loved being there.
His office was this 12 by 12 room in the back of his house. The walls were surrounded in computers. He even modified a medical filing cabinet to house computers in pull out trays so they were easy to work on. There were cables, books, disks, and computer parts everywhere! It was heaven for me and I wanted to be there for as long as he would have me working there.
And work I did, he had me on all sorts of projects, coding this and modifying that. We would spend long hours talking about computers, where they were now and where they were going to be. I did not think about it at the time, but that office was to be the framework for the rest of my career.
I learned a lot there. Craig taught me a lot. He taught me what he knew about computers and how it applied to the business world. He showed me, through his clients, what the practical uses for various types of systems are. He also let me play, he encouraged me to explore and learn.
Craig also knew when to take a breather of sorts. Late in the evening, after many hours of work, he would pull out the Bacardi and we’d have a couple drinks and sit around and chat. I miss that.
I worked for him through that summer and through the next year. Sometime during that period I just stopped doing drugs. I found that it hampered my ability to work.
Prior to meeting Craig, I had gotten in trouble with the Law because of the drug addiction. During the first year or so I worked for Craig, I was going to court for the trouble I had gotten into. Eventually it led to my serving prison time. I served close to 15 months and was released shortly after my 20th birthday.
Craig never judged. We talked about what I did to get me there and if I had learned anything from the experience. Then, he asked when I could come back to work. He never lectured me, just listened, gave his two cents, and moved on.
So, I returned to work with Craig, eventually handling some of his client calls for him. Here and there, he would talk about my joining the real world and getting out on my own. I eventually took a job with Costco and thus began the rest of my career.
I still visited Craig from time to time. He became more than a friend, boss, and mentor. He was like a father to me. He was there when a lot of my own family had turned their backs on me. He was a source of great insight for me, both professionally and non-professionally.
He followed my career through the years and my trials and tribulations of being the pain in the arse that I can be at times. We had our ups and downs yet it was the computers that always brought us back together. He had these ideas about computers and networking that kind of took root in my head.
When I was working for Craig, he used to talk about these meetings he had with some old friends of his from college. He called them the “Computer Smart Guys” meetings. He would always shoo me out of the house when it was his turn to have them there. I always wanted to attend but he would never let me.
Eventually, after several years, sometime in ’94 I believe, he finally asked me to come to one of those meetings. It was an experience I will never forget. I met several of Craig’s friends and colleagues. One in particular, whose name escapes me (he brought a GPS to the meeting attached to his laptop), had a profound impact on the way I view the business world.
Now, at the time, I thought of myself as an Entrepreneur. I had realized that I could never be someone who worked for someone else regularly. Craig had me chat with that friend of his that had made it in the entrepreneurial world. We talked about how he did it and he imparted to me some of his insight, which I still try to hold true to this day.
As I moved from Southern California, Craig and I kept in touch over the years. We remained close friends. His friendship and his insight will be sorely missed.
Craig came to visit me in Las Vegas shortly before his passing. We had some good times. We sat one day talking and he told me he was proud of me. I miss you Craig.
Josh - aka Toxic Avenger aka The Grimm-Reaper
September 16, 2007 | 12:11 pm1
It’s been a day since I learned Craig passed away, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it until now, because I’ve realized that I also feel a debt of gratitude towards him. So I’m going to post another message here and hope Joe approves it.
Craig gave me a chance to be a professional computer consultant for the first time, when I was still in high school. He helped jumpstart my career.
After working for him a bit, he basically explained that I understood the work he did, knew his client’s systems, and was capable of doing the same work, so therefore I should.
Since I became old enough to drive while I was working for him, he started sending me out to his clients on my own. And that’s when my dream of being a computer professional started to come true. Craig was the encouragement that I needed at the time. It wasn’t that he taught me lots of technical skills, but instead he taught me to have the confidence to do the work and charge the clients for it. He taught me that it didn’t matter if I didn’t know something, as long as I kept that fact to myself and didn’t let the client perceive it at all, or to perceive it as a weakness, so long as I figured out how to get the job done and done correctly. Nobody knows everything, and as long as you have a good relationship with the clients, that what matters. In the years since then, I’ve met some brilliant computer engineers who just didn’t have the people skills to instill confidence into the clients. Those people failed because they read too many books, and didn’t socialize enough. Craig warned me about them, and I took his warning seriously. If a client has no technical skills, they will judge/infer your skills by how you carry yourself. Fair or not, it’s a fact. Being a young guy in front of clients that know nothing about computers, you will fall into 1 of 2 stereotypes: The young and inexperienced guy who should not be hired, or the brilliant young computer whiz whom they should be happy to have at a discount.
Thinking back, I suspect that he gave me work to do (at times) in the same way as buying an artist’s painting to encourage them and benefit them, not because you like the painting, in fact you may throw it away when you get home. Craig acted busy, but now I suspect he was assigning me work for my own benefit, so he could watch me grow into what I dreamed of becoming.
Craig wasn’t perfect. Like all of us, he had his flaws.
He served as a warning to me, of the type of person I did not want to become. I don’t say this as an insult to him, especially here on a web page dedicated to his memory. I hope this web page exists for a hundred years. Craig did not adapt to adult life well. He basically never grew up. And at the time it was a bit of an alarm to me.
Part of me felt that it was soooo awesome that he was able to live his life in that style, the perpetual hobbyist who does what he enjoys and makes enough money to scrape by, since his cost of living was very low. But another part of me wanted to grow up at that point in my life. I was there to learn, that’s why I wanted to work for him initially. I had wanted to become an expensive suit and tie professional, a ninja, a wizard, who could make computers do anything. I wanted to be valuable. I never really understood why, but seeing a client gladly write a check for my services, then hand it to me, was more rewarding than spending the money. Money talks, and they wouldn’t voluntarily do that unless I was actually worth something. I experienced that the first time when working for Craig, and looking back it was almost like smoking crack: I wanted MORE of that… Forget friends, women, good times, traveling, etc.
Craig had spotted the professional desire in me right away. It wasn’t exactly hidden though; my mom dropped me off at his house (I was 15) for my first interview and I was dressed in business clothes, but no tie. Craig laughed and said “don’t ever show up here dressed like that again.” My first reaction was thinking he meant something like ‘you don’t know shit kid, so you don’t deserve to wear the uniform’ or perhaps ‘HA, what makes you think that YOU’RE going out on site?’ But I quickly learned that he preferred wearing flip flops at all times, and showing up at the client’s when he felt like it. I now wonder if Craig would have even accepted an uptight CPA firm as a client. In more or less words he told me to kick back and enjoy life, and I dismissed the advice because I felt coming from him it was biased the wrong way. Now when I look back, his advice was right. I was in too much of a hurry to grow up.
Craig didn’t work; he pursued his hobby/passion, which just happened to generate money. He did not live a balanced life, but not many people who are really passionate about something do, in my opinion. I know it’s been a struggle for me. A struggle that might have gotten the best of me, had I not known Craig.
We had a falling out back then. I wish I had also kept in touch with him, like Joe did. I’m certain he also would of been proud of me.
Josh - aka Toxic Avenger aka The Grimm-Reaper
September 16, 2007 | 12:08 pm2
It’s been a day since I learned Craig passed away, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it until now, because I’ve realized that I also feel a debt of gratitude towards him. So I’m going to post another message here and hope Joe approves it.
Craig gave me a chance to be a professional computer consultant for the first time, when I was still in high school. He helped jumpstart my career.
After working for him a bit, he basically explained that I understood the work he did, knew his client’s systems, and was capable of doing the same work, so therefore I should.
Since I became old enough to drive while I was working for him, he started sending me out to his clients on my own. And that’s when my dream of being a computer professional started to come true. Craig was the encouragement that I needed at the time. It wasn’t that he taught me lots of technical skills, but instead he taught me to have the confidence to do the work and charge the clients for it. He taught me that it didn’t matter if I didn’t know something, as long as I kept that fact to myself and didn’t let the client perceive it at all, or to perceive it as a weakness, so long as I figured out how to get the job done and done correctly. Nobody knows everything, and as long as you have a good relationship with the clients, that what matters. In the years since then, I’ve met some brilliant computer engineers who just didn’t have the people skills to instill confidence into the clients. Those people failed because they read too many books, and didn’t socialize enough. Craig warned me about them, and I took his warning seriously. If a client has no technical skills, they will judge/infer your skills by how you carry yourself. Fair or not, it’s a fact. Being a young guy in front of clients that know nothing about computers, you will fall into 1 of 2 stereotypes: The young and inexperienced guy who should not be hired, or the brilliant young computer whiz whom you should be happy to have at a discount.
Thinking back, I suspect that he gave me work to do (at times) in the same way as buying an artist’s painting to encourage them and benefit them, not because you like the painting, in fact you may throw it away when you get home. Craig acted busy, but now I suspect he was assigning me work for my own benefit, so he could watch me grow into what I dreamed of becoming.
Craig wasn’t perfect. Like all of us, he had his flaws.
He served as a warning to me, of the type of person I did not want to become. I don’t say this as an insult to him, especially here on a web page dedicated to his memory. I hope this web page exists for a hundred years. Craig did not adapt to adult life well. He basically never grew up. And at the time it was a bit of an alarm to me.
Part of me felt that it was soooo awesome that he was able to live his life in that style, the perpetual hobbyist who does what he enjoys and makes enough money to scrape by, since his cost of living was very low. But another part of me wanted to grow up at that point in my life. I was there to learn, that’s why I wanted to work for him initially. I had wanted to become an expensive suit and tie professional, a ninja, a wizard, who could make computers do anything. I wanted to be valuable. I never really understood why, but seeing a client gladly write a check for my services, then hand it to me, was more rewarding than spending the money. Money talks, and they wouldn’t voluntarily do that unless I was actually worth something. I experienced that the first time when working for Craig, and looking back it was almost like smoking crack: I wanted MORE of that… Forget friends, women, good times, traveling, etc.
Craig had spotted the professional desire in me right away. It wasn’t exactly hidden though; my mom dropped me off at his house (I was 15) for my first interview and I was dressed in business clothes, but no tie. Craig laughed and said “don’t ever show up here dressed like that again.” My first reaction was thinking he meant something like ‘you don’t know shit kid, so you don’t deserve to wear the uniform’ or perhaps ‘HA, what makes you think that YOU’RE going out on site?’ But I quickly learned that he preferred wearing flip flops at all times, and showing up at the client’s when he felt like it. I now wonder if Craig would have even accepted an uptight CPA firm as a client. In more or less words he told me to kick back and enjoy life, and I dismissed the advice because I felt coming from him it was biased the wrong way. Now when I look back, his advice was right. I was in too much of a hurry to grow up.
Craig didn’t work; he pursued his hobby/passion, which just happened to generate money. He did not live a balanced life, but not many people who are really passionate about something do, in my opinion. I know it’s been a struggle for me. A struggle that might have gotten the best of me, had I not known Craig.
We had a falling out back then. I wish I had also kept in touch with him, like Joe did. I’m certain he also would of been proud of me.
Josh - aka Toxic Avenger aka The Grimm-Reaper
September 14, 2007 | 1:01 pm3
Oh wow… I was looking for a guy named craig who lived on Senasac st. in long beach, as part of updating my resume to show that I have experience from this timeframe. I was going to give him a call, and now I find out he’s passed away. I’m quite sad to hear this.
I used to work with him too, and I think it was the summer of 88, if I remember correctly. I was 15. I didn’t work for him for a long time, but it was a good experience. I stopped working for him shortly after I got my drivers license. I was active in the BBS community at the time, that’s how I met him. I had wanted to become a computer consultant after I graduated high school, and Craig offered me a job during the summer. I did gain some experience, but I soon quit and studied Novell Netware full time and became CNE certified as fast as I could, then started working for computer network consulting firms. I figured that since I was still living with my parents I ought to take advantage of the free rent and study, not try to earn money fixing hardware problems, but instead getting computer experience.
Just writing this is bringing back lots of memories. I’m going to open up my old diary file that I haven’t touched in a long time and fill it up with things I remember from this time frame.
I recognize the name Doug, from another commenter here. Is this Master of Puppets? Or was doug D/\arklord? I used to dial the Wine Cooler, and a few others. I started my own WildCat BBS while I was in Jr. High school, that’s how it all started. I would really like to get a hold of others from that era like Bullwinkle, Ed Bartles, and Green Dragon? “I’m not schizophrenic, and neither and I.” I remember when Ed realized that his alias should of been Ed James, and I laughed so hard… Oh the old online memories… Does anybody have any text file captures of the old email conversations? Anybody remember the online game where you mined planets and such. I’d like to get a hold of some of you. After I post this comment I might contact the owner of this site.
Doug
November 27, 2006 | 11:43 pm4
A continual inspiration, even today. I miss you Craig. Joe, a very thoughtful tribute, CC filled many of our lives with direction, advice and understanding.
Jazz
August 18, 2006 | 2:54 am5
Be great to hear from you. E-mail me. We’ll go from there.
Hope all is well. I’d be blown away if you remember me.