I'm sorry to have to report that Bill Ruck has been badly injured during a job in Greece. Bill Newbrough from RF Specialties called Saturday and informed me that Bill Ruck has been hit by a car and is in the intensive care unit in a hospital in Athens. He has a broken hip, a broken leg, and (I believe) a broken arm, plus some other injuries. According to Bill Newbrough, he had just sent an e-mail recently to some friends explaining how terrible the traffic is over in Greece, and how dangerous it is for pedestrians. It's unfortunate that there was a prophetic aspect to that communication. All our prayers and good thoughts are going out to him and to his wife, and of course, all of us who have heard about this have offered to do anything we can hear to help.

At this point, there's no further word on when he will be well enough to return home, or if there is further surgery required, but as soon as any updated news is available, I will try and put out a special notice to everybody on this list about his condition.

Having just had a serious fall myself, I have a great understanding of how unpleasant these things can be. (Just as an aside, I am back up and walking again, on a cane, so I am actually almost fully recovered. I'm very grateful that I'm okay.)

Siobhan (Bill's wife) wrote in an earlier note...

[...] Haven't been able to get a good mailing address yet, but hope to when I next communicate with his roommate. I am compiling all of the wishes, prayers and thoughts that you've sent and will be forwarding them to his roommate, who'll print them out and bring them to Bill when he visits tomorrow. (I did tell him about all of these responses when we talked today.) If you want to send a card, one option would be to send them to our house and I'll send over a batch via FedEx, or hand carry them if I head over this weekend.

[Siobhan when she talked to me today, suggested just emailing any think you want to pass on to Bill to her email address shown below. - Tim )

Finally, I just want to say thanks for all the messages of support and goodwill. I truly appreciate it during this rather trying episode, and we are both lucky to know so many good, caring people. Thank you.

Siobhan <[email protected]>

We are looking for someone to come on board immediately in a technical sales capacity to introduce our new TV/video distribution service to television station engineering departments. I would like very much to provide an opportunity for someone in the local SMPTE/SBE community who may be seeking employment here in the San Francisco area. If you personally know of anyone who meets the qualifications listed below, I'd certainly appreciate hearing from you (or them). To be quite candid, the position will differ somewhat from a typical "Sales Engineer" role in that it will entail a good deal of telephone/electronic contact with station engineering departments vs. personal meetings, hence the limited travel.

A BROADCAST TELEVISION SALES ENGINEER is needed in ANY USA LOCATION. Leading, 28-year-old broadcast services company has an opening for an experienced television station engineer or TV broadcast equipment sales engineer. Knowledge of broadcast facility operations and on-air equipment, including play-to-air servers, automation systems and interconnectivity is mandatory. Excellent communications/sales skills required to introduce the next generation of Web-based television/video distribution systems to TV Engineering departments nationwide. Ideal candidate will be located in the San Francisco Bay Area, but qualified applicants from other areas will be considered. No relocation or travel required.

Contact:
[REDACTED]

Roy also posts the current newsletter at http://home.earthlink.net/~rhtrumbull but the posting is without links.