GN honorary doctorate given to David Hodge on 10-15-04

SUMMARY:

David Hodge received an honorary doctorate from GN contributors 10-15-04

DETAILS:

About two months ago (somewhere around the beginning of September) I got an idea after reading the GN newsletter and a couple of articles. I was thinking of how much time an effort David Hodge has put into this site over the past four years or so. I've read many of his articles and learned quite a bit since I started coming to GN over two years ago. I've learned more on GN than I have anywhere else and for free!

So I got to thinking how I could somehow offer some way to show my (and our GN collective) appreciation for his endless pursuit to make us better guitarist. I'm not rich, so I couldn't go buy him a new custom Fender Strat and boutique amp. I could take him out to dinner but I speculated he'd, instead, suggest cooking up some nice meal since he likes to cook. A bit later it dawned on me.

How about taking up a consensus to present David with an honorary Ph.D.? You know they offer them to other heroes in our society who do good things for others, right? Well that made me think this was the perfect thing! First, I emailed about 10 people and asked if they thought it would be a good idea. I got positive responses so I moved forward. Hence, I jumped on the computer and did a data sort of the top 50 or so GN forum posters (and moderators) many of whom don't list their email address on their profile. So I private messaged some and scrawled down emails of others. Once I got all the emails I typed them into my contacts and sent out a huge email.

It pretty much said that I was planning on creating an honorary doctorate for David and that I would like them to send me maybe a picture, GN icon, or whatever along with their GN name and their signature. Some GN members gave me great counseling on file formats and how to manipulate the picture files. Tom Serb (NoteBoat in the forums) generously offered up his personal fax number so people who could not email a file could submit something for the project.

It took quite some time to get responses in that I know everyone has a life outside of guitar. Nevertheless, I believe we ended up with 21 picture files that I was able to arrange on a PowerPoint presentation. It's pretty much what I called the “secondary signing sheet' since I could not have all those signatures on the diploma.

BREAK. Go grab a coke and continue reading

Finally I had all the picture files arranged and ready to go. Paul Hackett (you know, the Dude-In-Charge around here) and I passed a few emails back and forth about the project. I wanted Paul to certify the diploma and he kindly send me a letter all the way from China! Yep, 17 days later I had his handwritten signature.

At that point I took a ride down to Tom's house and he did his computer magic to scan that signature into the diploma. We talked a little bit about how the two documents looked, the wording, and went from there. The next day (Sept. 14th) I made three trips to Kinko's (document processing place in the U.S.) and finally got the laser color printouts I felt looked decent.

All is good now, so I framed the diploma and mounted the secondary signing sheet on a dark black/marble plaque. I was planning on mailing the two items to David's house in Massachusetts but was pleased to find out he'd be in Chicago over the weekend. There was a house jam at Kathy's (another GN-member's) house and, as expected, David and about a dozen others showed for some music.

At about midnight I had packed up my equipment and was ready to part even though others were still jammin'. I just offered the wrapped up package to David and told him he could just open it up when he got back home. So when he got home to Massachusetts, he called and said he was, “Shocked.” That means the mission was accomplished!

I suspect we can get a picture file up of the diploma and the secondary GN signing sheet pretty soon. The files are huge so it may take a little bit. Also, the pictures are not of the actual items with the frame, glass, and so on. They are just the printed color sheets contained therein. I wish I had taken some digital photos of the diploma in the frame to see the whole thing.

Anyway, I want to thank all of you who took the time to participate in the project. I think if means so much more when so many of you ratified the presentation of the Doctor of Education to Mr. (just kiddin', I hate being called Mr., too) David Hodge. I've found out through one of David's friends that he attended Northwestern University (read: one of the nation's top colleges) so he's a pretty bright dude. This diploma may not be from NW, but at least it's from a group of avid readers who'd like to give back.

:D