“When things get weird, the weird turn pro.” H.S. Thompson
Services for Erek Wayne Adams, 37, of Alexandria, VA., formerly of Start, LA, were 2:00 P.M. Wednesday, October 17, 2007 at the Start Baptist Church with Rev. Brian Canuteson officiating. Interment to follow in the Start Cemetery.
Erek was a member of Start Baptist Church and was employed as a Unix Systems Administrator for The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, VA. During Erek’s career, he made significant contributions to the development of SNORT, a computer securities program.
He is survived by his loving and devoted wife Christi Whitlock Adams; stepdaughter, Brandi Williams; and his parents Bobby and Bonnie Adams.
Pallbearers will be: AT3 (AW) Brandi Williams, Tommy Johnson, Elliot Colvin, Don Parker Bennie Robinson, Chip Goodson, Jesse Planck.
Visitation was 6:00 P.M. till 9:00 P.M. Tuesday at the funeral home.
Memorials may be made to the Building fund at Start Baptist Church, P. O. Box 219 Start, LA 71279.
Erek is on the right.
I just came across this very old note that mysteriously appeared on my desk one day at iAmerica.
15 Comments
Erek hated stupid questions, but I probably would not have half of the skills I have now without being an annoying luser. The first gem I remember was Erek telling me to RTFM.. “Type ‘man ‘.. This was in early 96′ and iamerica.net’s Web site was on one of the Sun DNS servers. They moved it a WinNT machine, but at that point it was too late… I had my first glimps at a Unix CLI.
The world is worse off for the loss of him and the downright intimidated feeling you’d get when he’d start laughing at you.
Erek was a great guy, always full of that southern cheer and politeness. I’d been trying to track him down for a while to give him a job offer and I cannot express how sad and disappointed I am to have not spoken to him, and to have this be the last news I get.
Ok so it’s dark right, and I am hidden up in a set of steel girders with a load of drunk missiles and I have my eye on a respawn spot. It’s quiet, a little to quiet. Suddenly through the door shoots a player on a dead run, so quick I couldn’t even get a shot off… what in the hell has him running that fast? Then I hear it, that damn wail. That wail means only one thing… dammit Erek has the GOD MODE power up again. Erek, can’t do anything else but get GOD mode. I mean damn… oh there he is, boom one enemy seeking ball of energy right up the gazoo. I swear I’m going to hunt him down and as soon as GOD mode flips off I’m going to vaporize that clown.
Now you pick the level, day, month, year of the game and SOMEONE was saying the above about Erek. I mean it wasn’t always fun and games at iAmerica. It was a business and all. And yes we were a little ragged to begin with but a great team developed from there. And in the end a new family was born of strangers. We worked hard and we played hard. And it does not matter how long I have been away from iAmerica, I have never had more fun at a job in my life. Erek was part of that fun. Man you could not help loving that goofy skinny boy with the shit eating grin. The torture he would put newbies through just for fun was a joy to behold. He gave as good as he got that was for certain. I had not talked to Erek in a long time, but I kept up with him through the iAmerica family. Dis functional as it seemed at times, it was still a family. Erek, you are missed my friend. Try not to reboot all the servers where you are until the rest of us get there. And lay off the GOD MODE, my Rise of the Triad(ROTT) is a little rusty.
Bob
Erek and I used to torture each other for fun. His most notorious prank was to imitate the owner of the 411Locate web site, Doug Berger. He knew that it would flip Josh Bain and me out. It did until we figured out the scam and turned the tables. It was never a dull moment with him around. I will miss him.
Erek was one of the best guys I have ever known. He was like the big brother I never had complete with the worst hazing ever but also there when you needed him…always willing to help. He would give you a rash of shit for asking…but he helped!
I don’t think I ever ran across a technical question he didn’t have the answer for. His brain always amazed me! I hadn’t seen him in forever, but just like the rest of iAmerica peeps, he will always be in my heart!
Here is another memory. Erek killing a whole forest when he tried to print out the Windows 95 Registry.
It’s a real shame. I remember Erek’s infamy with the Snort Drinking Game…I hope it wasn’t an attribute to his death. He was too young!
I was sad to learn of Erek’s passing. John Becton phoned me from Memphis on Wednesday afternoon.
I just finished reading the comments about Erek and other memories of the time we shared at iAmerica. Brings back lots of other memories, many of which are still just unbelievable. The things we accomplished (with so little to accomplish it, at times) still amaze me. It was a great place to work, a great team of folks.
During the first months at iAmerica (I started there in September 1995) tech support was still quite small. If my memory is correct, Erek and John were the full timers; Steve Green and Brantley Jones were part time while in school. Customer service and Tech support shared the big room; John and Erek really liked to aggravate each other for ANY POSSIBLE REASON, or so it seemed.
We were all pretty young then, and had been given an opportunity to work in a truly unique set of circumstances. The diversity of talents and personalities is really what made iAmerica.
As for me, I left the telcom sector when WorldComm shut down the Monroe facility on Sept 28, 2001. I now own my own business (DicksonCatoHomes.com), and am a licensed residential contractor in Louisiana. Sharon and I still live in Calhoun; we have 4 children ages 10 to 4.
More time has now passed since working at iAmerica that was spent working there. But the memories and lessons will forever be a part of who I have grown to be.
Thankfully, no one calls me ‘Ox’ anymore!
–Scott Dickson
I don’t know really where to start or what to say, except perhaps allow for a stream of consciousness….
I remember meeting John Becton and Erek Adams at the one of the duelling West Monroe Waffle Houses when we were just firing iAmerica up. If I recall, Jay Hughes and I were eating and noticed a fella(John) in the booth behind us wearing an SMC(switching) t-shirt and thought that was funny…. as we had just been working with SMC gear earlier that week setting up the first POPs in Shreveport and Dallas. We thought that surely no one else would have heard of them in West Monroe, and here was someone at the Waffle House of all places wearing their t-shirt!
So we turned around and gave them a little ribbing, and the next thing we knew, we were getting their names and letting them know about iAmerica.
In some ways that seems like a lifetime ago, and in others just the other day.
One of the things I remember about Erek in the iAmerica days was his “featured music” in the “Sysadmin Office” across the hall from mine. He would put Blues Traveller or somesuch on, and have the CD case sitting on the whiteboard shelf, with a little arrow and note saying “Today’s featured artist” =P
And Erek would sometimes get so irritated with customer support issues that he’d write an email, then yell down the hall that he was sending it to me to “proof” before sending it out for fear of ripping the recipient a…. well, you know.
After we all paid our dues at iAmerica, many of us went our separate ways, and iAmerica itself of course eventually went the way of the dodo. Some of us stayed in touch more regularly than others, but most seemed to manage to at least keep track of everyone. So there must have been something special about that time and place.
And I think all of us remember those nascent days of Internet bubble and exuberance fondly… the excitement, frustration, opportunities, new technology, and the long days and nights always learning something new.
Few people get to be there when the world changes, and I think all of us were lucky enough to be part of something everyone takes for granted now. And that bound our experience together.
I will always remember Erek fondly, and I regret that I didn’t take the time to catch up with him and Christi when they were out in California. But I always meant to. Sadly, isn’t that how it goes sometimes.
Ironically, somehow I never knew that Erek had worked closely on SNORT development. I spent the last 3 years focused on developing IDS/IPS signatures and code for Cisco’s product, and even reverse engineered several SNORT signatures, but never knew of Erek’s involvement with SNORT. It’s a shame to realize you’ve missed opportunities to share common interests with friends, family, and colleagues until too late.
We’ll miss you Erek, and my thoughts are with all the family and friends you’ve touched over the years.
Al
P.S.
And yes, I still think ROTT is better than any subsequent multiplayer FPS. It’s goofy simplicity made the gameplay and camaraderie center stage, and I’ll always remember those afternoons fondly.
The memory that stands out best for me. I was in Erek’s office in the back, working on some problem with several customers on the phone. Erek told the customers he was going to put them on hold, check something and be right back. Erek hit the mute button, but could still hear the customer. One of the guys said something like “this guys is a loser, he can’t help us.” Erek swings back around, hits the mute button and says “I can still hear you SIR”
One of the funnier moments at iAmerica to me, I can close my eyes and see it, just the way he said it was so funny.
I am really sorry to hear this news. I too have not spoken to Erek in years.
Jay
I was only at iAmerica for a short time but I remember Erek well. Erek, if you are peering into cyberspace and reading these comments, just know the world will suck more with you gone.
My love to friends and family—
Kevin
In my heart and memories - Erek was one of the primary colors in the mosaic of what was iAmerica - which, along with Electronics Boutique - was the coolest place I have ever worked.
Not sure what is was - maybe mystic planetary gravitational field flux, or the fact our birthdays were only weeks apart - but Erek and I were always bumping into each other. At college, on bbs’, in MUDS, and then finally working together at Electronics Boutique (what a great place to test out the latest games - “Erek! We’re out of shrinkwrap again!”) and then at iAmerica.
I still have a retina-burned afterimage seered in my cortex of that ‘grin’ Bob mentioned Erek had. This one - was due to the unboxing (or ‘unCRATING) of the new Sun news server. I turned a corner just as the bubble-wrapped unveiling occured, and Erek turned and flashed that unforgettable grin, followed by a list of the ‘f’ing specs of that beast’.
The passion of people at iAmerica was incredible and contagious. It would be at the top of my list of places to go back to if time travel was possible - just slightly behind watching Star Wars in the theater in 1977, with a trip to Montgomery Wars afterwards to get C3P0 Underroos. Erek - I’d have to guess you’d do the same brother.
Throat bandwidth throttled. You are missed Erek.
-Touz
Little did I realize when Erek told me that “the family” had purchased the domain that I would find myself reading the contents of the site and how much the site would mean to me. After reading and re-reading these messages, I realized that all of you knew exactly what made Erek tick. With you all he shared his true colors, some of which were not too pleasing to his Mama… But, the IAMERICA family really knew Erek. Of the places he worked, he never enjoyed the spirit of family and the sense of pride that he felt at his first real computer job. To have been a part of the beginning of internet providers was indeed a special time. Sharing the thrill of new knowledge was Erek’s greatest joy.
Please know that your comments have been a great source of comfort to us. Knowing that you all really knew him and that you recognized his goofy smile, appreciated his sense of humor, valued his expertise and put up with all his frustrations about dumb questions made us so thankful that other people appreciated Erek. We were extremely blessed to have enjoyed Erek. He was a great son!
We appreciate everyone of you who posted your comments, those who called, those who were able to come to visitation and/or the memorial service, those of you who served as pall bearers and for Tommy who spoke at the funeral. Your actions have been a source of great comfort.
Time passes by–and steals the days and years. Changes are many, and often. They always will be…but a good
friendship lasts a lifetime. Continue to keep the IAMERICA friendships close and special!! You will always be important to
us because you were to Erek.
Thanks again for loving our son,
Bob and Bonnie Adams
When I first started IAmerica I sat across the hall from Erek and being the new kid on the block I didn’t know anyone. I am not gonna lie, Erek scared me at first because I didn’t know how to take him, but once I got to know him he was absolutely one of the nicest guys and fun to be around.
I learned alot from those days and made alot of friends that I will never forget. I just can’t seem to get away from some of them, they followed me to CenturyTel!!