it isn't a contest. Just enjoy the ride.
The tweet from Seth Vidal, talking with another software engineer about the best tools for tracking cycling stats
A decade ago we learned of the passing of Red Hat/Fedora Linux software engineer Seth Vidal on . I had the privilege of working with him in my time as a hobbyist contributor to Fedora and KDE and during my internship on Red Hat's Community Architecture team while I was in University. Seth was very much one of those "bristly" Linux Sysadmin types but had a huge heart and was always honest and helpful and hopeful. I only got to meet with him and hack in person a few times at FUDCon and the like but I enjoyed talking with him online and I appreciated his mentorship.
Like many deaths, of course it was normal life, and then suddenly it wasn't. He died after a driver hit him while cycling and drove away without stopping.
I wasn't a cyclist then but I am now and I am in my 30s now, and at times I'm reminded of his passing when I end up on narrow roads or in tense situations with traffic. I had been talking to him on IRC and Twitter only days before his passing, having just recently moved from Phoenix where everything was 20 miles and 120F apart, to San Francisco where biking was and is still terrifying to me.
I was wondering if the road he was killed on was made safer after Seth's passing, here it is in June '22: https://goo.gl/maps/7nEYgLhcFEWP1pURA... I guess not. I'm glad his ghost bike is still there, at least, the city of Durham was going to remove it in 2015 based on some complaints of residents. It's important to remember these things even if, especially if we won't do anything to prevent their occurring again.
Looking at his Flickr page is peering in to a frozen time capsule of a man who loved bikes, and the outdoors, and his partner, and his work. And my heart still aches. He's someone who I could see myself still being friends with despite not being a Fedora contributor since I fell in to that Silicon Valley Rat Trap back in 2013 and lost most of my FOSS friends. And now as an adult, looking at the bikes he had then and the attitude he had toward them, I could see that he would be a joy to ride with if I had the opportunity today.
Loving kindness to Eunice and the rest of his family. Rest in peace, Seth. I'm gonna go enjoy the ride.
//live.staticflickr.com/8041/8001256559_e431bbe14e_z.jpg
In Memoriam of Seth Vidal
References
Anyone who’s ever participated in a mailing list discussion with him knows his famously curt manner and his complete lack of desire to entertain (what he deemed were) foolish ideas. He spoke his heart and his mind, and he was widely known for it. But Seth also cared — passionately, genuinely cared. He cared about his friends and about his family. He cared about his dog and about his co-workers (pretty sure it went in that order, but Cori is a very cute dog). He cared about his projects and about his ideals. When he asked you “hey, you doing okay?” that wasn’t because of some feeling of social obligation. He really wanted to know if you were okay.
The Fedora Project community mourns the loss of Seth Vidal
Robyn Bergeron's memorial post https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/announce/2013-July/003174.html
36-Year-Old Open Source Guru Seth Vidal Has Been Tragically Killed
References
News piece from the time:
As if this story wasn't sad enough, one of the last tweets he sent, on July 5, was about bicycling.
He was responding to a question from fellow open source developer Ryan Tomayko who works at GitHub. Tomayko wanted to know which apps are best for keeping track of bike riding stats.
"@rtomayko don't track things. Just ride," Vidal tweeted in reply.
Here's the rest of the conversation:
@mislav @rtomayko it isn't a contest. Just enjoy the ride.
— seth vidal (@skvidal) July 6, 2013
Seth Vidal's Ghost Bike memorial page
References
“We lived next to Seth for three years,” neighbor Trish Christie wrote. “He was smart, personable, and caring. My husband talked to him last night. We will miss his smiles and waves as he walked his dog. We are heartbroken.”
//ghostbikes.org/files/ghostbikes/seth.jpeg
