“Irish” Gegen 1989-2005

My cat died today. Now, that will come as a surprise to most people since I've never actually had a cat, however from 1992 to 1994 I shared a house in Wappingers Falls, NY with Pete Gegen and Irish, the cat.

Irish was a bit of a character. He was very much an outdoors cat and where we lived was perfect for him. We were in a house on a 5 acre lot with a small pond (just right for Fishkill-Myers Corners hockey games in the winter). Irish would go out at night and come back in a half hour on most nights. Occasionally, though, he'd return in the morning, scratch or thumping against the door.

These morning returns usually involved Irish returning and presenting his trophy of the night: a mouse, bird, or the occasional small rabbit. For awhile we kept track of his kills on our whiteboard (being both IBMers, we had to have a whiteboard in our kitchen). Unfortunately being from the pre-digital-era, I have no idea where the photo of the board is.

Irish moved around a lot, following Pete through various transfers (IBM == I've been moved). One move involved my following Pete down I-81 from Poughkeepsie to Winston-Salem, NC with Irish riding alongside in the passenger's seat. On the plus side, I had air conditioning in Pete's Accord; on the minus side: the car had a manual transmission, and Irish was quite vocal about being caged for nearly 12 hours of driving. He also managed to comment whenever I mis-shifted.

I last saw Irish last year. He sort of looked at me like Who the hell are you? and then seemed to recognize me. Given it'd been ten years since I last spent any significant time with him that was a bit surprising. Irish and Frisket have even met, briefly. Irish wasn't too keen about a dog in his house. Frisket of course seems to think of cats as friendly creatures to play with. We managed to keep the two separated.

Anyway, Irish was a fun cat. I'd write something up here about how he played some seminal role in the development of the Internet at IBM but other than putting up with Pete and I working late nights on the Books On Internet project in 1993 his role was to demand food, brushing, and adoration for his catch of the day.

Adios Irish...may the mice be plentiful and the racoons declawed wherever you are.

If you ever met Irish or know Pete, drop him a note.