I know it’s late in the day for a Blip, but I figured I should probably post something because while I was out for a couple of days to give a talk in Seattle, Rory seems to have implied that I died in his but as far as I can tell, I haven’t died, at least not in any ways that are clearly visible externally, and I just wanted to clear that up because I’m tired of getting weird texts from people asking if they can have my shoes or kidneys.

Also, if you’re trying to text a dead man, you’re probably wasting your time. And if anything does happen to me, my kidneys are strictly first-come, first-served, just like it says on my neck tattoo.

This is also a good reason to showcase that Volkswagen Type 2 up there, which is likely the rarest Type 2 the VW factory ever built, since they just built one of those cabrio-hearses, for the 1968 funeral of VW head Heinz Nordhoff, the man who took over VW from British postwar control and grew it into the automotive powerhouse—sorry, powerhome—it remains today.

Looking at the hearse, I think it likely started as a single-cab pickup and had its bed doors removed, along with its roof and rear window area.

So, despite what Rory may have teased, I remain unlike Heinz Nordhoff in many, many ways, including my not being dead.

Sorry for the confusion.