RIP to one of our own, one of our best -- Craig Stanke

Yep, same here. And some of the copy we got was painful to read. I did correct a few spellings of cities and such from time to time, but that was about it.

 

There's no non-tedious way, but here's the way I did it:

First, I sorted my PMs by sender so I could purge the ones I didn't want to keep. Then I resorted them by date, because that's how I wanted to save them. If you just want to save them all, skip that step.

Then I created a blank folder on my desktop. I clicked through each page of PMs and saved it as an HTML file into the folder. (With a fast connection, this took me about 10 pages/minute. Click "Next page", Ctrl-S, Enter. Rinse and repeat for 25-30 minutes if you've got 200 pages of PMs. Which, for me, is why the purging step was beneficial.)

Finally, I used Adobe Acrobat to instantly combine all those HTML files into one PDF (and later deleted the folder of HTML files.) The benefit of that is it's all text-searchable. So two years from now, if you're looking for a specific PM from SF_Express from 2007, it's easy to find.

 

247 toothpicks, 247 ...

 

Just resurrecting this thread on the day of Craig's memorial so as to let his family know that, although I cannot be there in person for the celebration of SF_Express's life, I've been with them all week.

It's amazing how much a message board poster can be on someone's mind and in their heart. But he has been.

I just wanted his family to know that. There truly is something to celebrate as far as this board is concerned, so I can only imagine how much more there is for his family to celebrate.

Those of us who aren't there in person are there in spirit, Amy, Krissy, Eric, Alyson and Ellen.

And so is Craig, I'm sure.

 

Amazing how often in the past two weeks I've thought about someone I never met. His presence on this board, and his growing absence now, really loom large. RIP again to the great SF_Express.

 

Rest in Peace, SF_Express
Condolences to friends and extended family of this man, who many here say they knew, appreciated, respected, and loved.

 

Thank you to those who were able to make it in person. For those who didn't, I'm not sure we could have fit you in anyway. I hope many of you took a minute yesterday afternoon to do your own toast to this wonderful man. There's still time if you haven't. I'm sure Craig wouldn't mind a few coming late to the party.

It was wonderful to see the tremendous turnout. Being able to talk to so many people and hear their memories, how he touched their lives, and of their love for him means so much to me.

The tears were few. The laughs were many. Craig would have loved it.

 

Amy, it was a pleasure to meet you and Krissy and the rest of Craig's family in person yesterday, and I'll say it again, your tribute speech was perfect. And Moddy, it was great to see you there and to meet in person for the first time.

I will echo what both have you said about the day. It was a true celebration of the life of one special man who I only wish I would have gotten to know better. Lots of laughs and great stories.

RIP Craig.

AK

 

I'm just back from the West Coast tribute to Craig. It was organized by some of the regulars at the bar he frequented in Orange County, Pierce Street Annex. About eight of us from the newspaper world showed up as well. I'm sure it was a little more subdued than the event in Florida, but some heartfelt words were spoken, and some toasts drunk. A couple boards were set up with pictures of Craig, which was cool.

I was reminded about one event in Craig's life by the pictures. When Craig lived out here, he had what might be charitably described as a piece of crap for a car. It was an old Toyota that had chipped paint and a bunch of dents. Craig was so loved by the people at this bar, that when he once went out of town, they "stole" his car, had the body work done and the car repainted. That's the kind of person he was--everyone wanted to do whatever they could for him.

Anyway, I'm sorry I missed the event Saturday, but we tried to make up for it out here this afternoon.

To Craig!

 

As many of you know, Craig was an avid runner. We've done a 5K run the past few years at both the APSE summer and winter conferences. To my knowledge Craig never ran with us but he did encourage many of us to get involved in running and improving our fitness, and I know he had talked about joining us when he could. I can speak from personal experience that he encouraged me, and running in the APSE 5K with friends and colleagues was a goal of mine toward improving my own fitness.

So, with that in mind, we're renaming this fun run the Craig Stanke Memorial 5K. It be a good chance to remember Craig and his contributions to sports journalism at this week's convention in Chicago, and we'll hoist a few sports drinks in his honor.