"M" is for Me

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Karen Perkins

Original Intro to herself

Personally, I find myself dull, so I can't really understand why anyone would want to know more, but... because I've gotten more than a few "who the heck ARE you?" messages, here it is.

My name is Karen Perkins. I live in Northern California. My "screen name" is Sea Fore, which is the name of our boat. I enjoy water sports, including boating, scuba diving, snorkeling... if you can do it in or on the water, I'll probably give it a shot. I am no bathing beauty, however, and tip the scales above the "large" mark (she said delicately). (Let's put it this way... if most people are the 12 oz. dishwashing soap, I'm the Costco Super Economy Saver Size dish soap.)

I crochet, and I tend to do small, odd projects. I get bored doing afghans (or any project that starts, "chain 106"), but I'll happily make a dozen small purses, each one different than the next but based upon a similar theme. I like wire crochet, although it's rather embarassing to do in public. Generally you can find me standing in line at the Post Office making a scrunchie or a Christmas ornament or a what-not.

My "real job" (and, yes, I do have one) is ... well, the title doesn't really describe what I do. Mostly, I'm a technical writer. I translate "Nerd" to "English". (I'm most fluent in Mechanical and Chemical Geek, but can sometimes pass as a Computer Geek. And, yes, I've spent a Friday night or two at Fry's observing the attempted dating habits of other Geeks.)

I am 40something years old, married since '82 to Brad. Two kids, Daniel and Clarice. We ALL have the same odd sense of humor. Whether that's good or bad I couldn't tell you. But we come by it naturally. My children will respond, in public, to "Hey! Chowderhead!" But then, so will Hubby and I.

My Screen Name: DD is the third Clarice in the extended family. When there were only two Clarices, "big" and "little" worked fine -- even when "little" grew a head taller than "big". But with three, we needed a new system. So when they're together (every Thanksgiving, for example), they're C1, C2, and C3. When it was time to name our boat, C2 suggested we name it after our daughter and call it "C4". So we did. And when I went online with questions about boating, I used our boat name as my screen name.

I'm one of five kids. My Mom (who is widely reputed to have no sense of humor, mostly because no-one can get a word in edgewise past my Dad when jokes are being told), says, "Why, yes (twitch, twitch). I have five children (twitch, twitch). Why do you ask? (Twitch, twitch)" (I guess it's a visual joke...) One of the five of us can sometimes pass as "normal". The rest of us are unabashedly demented. Oh, and while we all agree that one of us can "pass", we all disagree vehemently on which one of us it is!

Karen Perkins,the life behind this wonderful website, passed away Sunday January 10, 1999. Karen passed away while on a SCUBA (another of her passions) vacation in Belize. She sustained a pulmonary embolism after getting into the water off a dive boat, for her first dive. While kicking around in the water, preparing to dive, a blood clot, that had unknowingly formed in a vein in her leg while traveling on various airplanes to Belize, broke free. The blood clot traveled through her heart to the artery to her lungs and blocked the flow of blood to her lungs. She died instantly. This syndrome is called a"coach-class embolism" because it is caused by not moving your legs for a significant period of time, combined with dehydration, both common occurrences on long airplane flights, sitting in coach class. While extremely rare, I have learned that you can lessen you chances of a coach-class embolism on long flights by drinking a lot of fluids and regularly getting up and moving about the airplane.

She was a caring and giving individual and will be missed by many. Services for Karen Perkins were held Saturday, January 16, 1999, and were attended by a number of crocheters. At the service, in addition to family members and friends who spoke, a number of emails from members of the crochet community were read. In addition, I have received hundreds of cards, letters and emails from fellow crocheters expressing their sympathy and passing along stories of how Karen touched their lives. These messages have brought much joy (and tears) to her family.

Thank you for your support and friendship.

Brad Perkins