A small sampling of the Wit and Wisdom of Bill Randall Randall
A new entry in 2015, contributed by Ed Lindlof, son of one of my father's best friends known by all as "Cowboy", a letter that my father sent to Ed in 1997. The note from Ed that accompanied the letter from my father"29 December 2014
Dear John,
In the course of office cleaning and straightening-up, I came across a letter Bill sent me 17 years ago, and I thought you might find it of interest, so I enclosed a copy. There's nothing in it that you haven't heard, but as I read it I could hear his voice and it brought back some fond memories. I don't usually keep letters, but I have a box with about 30 I have kept, and this is one of them. I was honored that Bill considered me a friend (at least I think he did), and I valued that. He was the last living link that I had to my father, but more than that, Bill was one of maybe five people I've known in my life that were truly on a different plane than the rest of us, truly unique. And he made me laugh.
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12814 Aste Lane Houston, Texas 77065 11-19-97 I read the Robert Noyce article with interest - and a few chuckles at some similarities, and some differences. On religion - I had a record of not missing Sunday school for seven years. However, I managed to un-brainwash myself a few years afer the seven years. On careers - Engineering was the only one considered. On sins - drinking came easy as soon as I could afford it. I was allergic to tabacco, but the gal I was dating in college smoked, so I learned. Regardsing divorce, I never wanted a divorce, but there were times when I wanted to kill the spouse. I was 50 when I started a company, initially with only four people. We grew to about 300 employees and we had a parking lot, but there were no reserved spaces. Our philosophy was, if you wanted a close lot, get to work early. We were an employee owned company with about 18 employees who were given # stock at bargain prices. A couple of times I wanted to fire some owners. Dress code - after one year, I never put a tie on in the office. Employees could wear anything they wanted as long at it covered enough skin. Being a slob had some advantages. Most of the females wore blue jeans, and none of the males chose to wear skirts. The similarities end there. I graded us an A in thechnology, D- in business acumen and judgement. If Noyce had been running the company, we never would have had to sell it. Congratulations on the computer! A dozen people have urged me to get one, but I insist on be obsolete.
Best Regards, Click here to download pdf of original letter.
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The following have been collected by
The perversity of inanimate objects tends to a maximum.
Give me luck every time, you can use snot for brains.
You are beautiful! Don't thank me, thank your mother.
Hello Miss
One measure of intelligence is the ability to overcome one's brainwashing.
Back when I was a little girl, . . .
When you are dead, you are dead.
Most of our understanding about the universe is based on the belief that the speed of light is constant throughout the universe. But what if it was not?
A good engineer will always find a job.
A college degree is just a job hunting license.
In the future when asking what happened to all of the natural gas on the planet, the answer in retrospect will be: "The fools burned it all!"
Could you do it if your life depended on it?
With 50 employees or less, you can run a very tight ship. Over 50, inefficiency starts to creep in.
Zinc Oxide is a miracle drug. It can cure anything except Tuberculosis and Syphilis, and I haven't tried it on Tuberculosis yet.
Lets get drunk and be somebody.
Tis a wise son who knows his own father's fart.
I don't drink because of the way the whiskey tastes. I drink for the way it makes me feel.
The fusil oils in cheap bourbon keep you regular.
You sure are a good cook!
Be sure to take care of your
people, and they will take care of you.
You are a good boy. Now go empty the cat box.
Ian obeys about as well as the cat. Stick with me kid.Sometimes.
Boy, am I glad that I am not young anymore. That was hard. I always travel with a bottle of Tabasco sauce. You can eat anything if you put a little Tabasco sauce on it. It also acts as a disinfectant. They never made a bad beer.Halitosis is better than no breath at all.
(At a funeral, walking up to a goup of women laughing.) "What are you girls talking about? Could it be the size of my penis?"
(When a suggesiton for Mexican food fo lunch was put forth) Mexican food is mediocre peasant grub. I'd rather eat a turd.
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