Lain Ellis:
CLASS OF 1970
Bellaire High SchoolClass of 1970
Bellaire, TX
Texas A&M University - Liberal ArtsClass of 1998
College station, TX
Texas A&M University - Liberal ArtsClass of 1986
College station, TX
Texas A&M UniversityClass of 1983
College station, TX
Lain's Story
Flunked out of school in '71. Few years of blue collar jobs. Started an industrial photolab in '75 and made the company a [bunch]load of money. Back to school in '81 after scattered semesters here and there: BA Philosophy ('83), MA Anthropology (cultural anth, '86), PhD Anthropology (archeology, '98), all Texas A&M. Between degrees, another photolab, various graduate assistantships, and philosophy faculty at Blinn College (mostly) and Texas A&M. Archeologist at a private firm '92, TX Historical Commission '94, and TX Dept. of Transportation '97. Finished my dissertation in '98: an empiricist theory of theory evaluation that's as bulletproof as that kind of thing gets if you're an empiricist, and even for some folks who aren't. At TxDOT, I evolved/was groomed into an environmental policy geek, although the geek part wasn't new. Got my nongolden parachute in late 2019. As the Dead said, what a long strange trip it's been. Even managed to do a little good. Although I'm still fairly withdrawn and socially awkward, I feel pretty good and very, very lucky about how my time has gone so far.
Some of you were in biology lab when we did the blood typing exercise. Although it was not the kind of thing that typically made me pass out about once, sometimes twice a year, I did anyway. That was pretty emb...Expand for more
arrassing.
Found out on May 25, 2007 that when at least a half-dozen or so medical people and at least another half-dozen or so untrained people said I quit breathing, they weren't merely panicking: they most likely were right. On May 25, while hooked up to an EKG, I flatlined for 79 seconds during prep for a routine test, which was the first time since 1955 that there was hard data. It's still an office record for folks who didn't get a high voltage jumpstart. Gave myself a pacemaker for my birthday a week later, and again in 9 years when the battery got low. The new one is WiFi enabled, so now I'm part of the Internet of Things, like a refrigerator. I can be hacked, but fortunately, like a refrigerator, I'm not worth the effort.
My experience on May 25 was identical to the experiences I had about once, sometimes twice a year for 50 years. I've had a lot of practice, and can tell you this: it does not hurt to quit breathing, although getting there is altogether another story. And the extremely fleeting moment when the oxygen runs out is actually pleasant. For me, no lights or tunnels or greetings from people who stayed dead longer than I did. Maybe I didn't stay there long enough. I can tell you this, too: dying changes your life if you don't stay there. Some things lose their importance.
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