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PAUL , PATRICK & GABE

July 25, 2022
Paul and Patrick Fletcher were special to Gabe.  Paul even got Gabe to sign up for a fraternity (until Gabe found out he was going to have to clean toilets).  Gabe felt even more a part of the Sooner team when Patrick was playing.  One story to be told on Grandpa Mares was when Gabe and Paul were traveling through Albuquerque and stayed at Grandpa's house.  Grandpa went to bed before the guys got there, but got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  Gabe asked, "Grandpa, do you know my friend Paul?"  "No," said Grandpa. "Don't know him and don't want to know him."  You have to have known Grandpa Ernie to appreciate what a grouch he could be and know that he was never at a loss for words -- especially when he was rushing to the bathroom!

Elvis, Snow Skiing, Movies, Video Games, Sooners & Friendship

July 24, 2022
It seems I think about Gabe more and more all the time. I saw the new Elvis movie and I’ve started listening to Elvis again almost every day. Gabe and I started listening to Elvis all the time in our college years, watching his movies too. Gabe and I watched all kinds of movies all the time. We always quoted our favorite lines. Played video games too. Football. Extremely competitive. We’re the kind of people that hate losing more than we love winning. Part of being a Sooner I guess. Once Gabe, Patrick and I drove to Wolf Creek to ski. Some amazing things happened on that trip, but we for sure listened to Elvis on the way. I really have more stories than I can share in one setting. Sharing about Gabe on here is really long overdue. I sure don’t want to be selfish because I mostly think about his family when it comes to Gabe, but I have to say I would love to see him and laugh and share memories. Oh my, could we share some memories if we had the chance. I haven’t had too many friends in life as true as Gabe. I know my brother Patrick feels the same. Patrick and I have cried together and shared stories about Gabe since learning of his passing. Gabe is as special as they come. I just have to say Gabe was the truest of friends. When I was going through really rough times in my life, Gabe was there for me, more than I can express. I just want to say I love you Gabe! I’ll always love and appreciate the family too. Amazing people. Took me in like one of their own. Just chillin’ at the house watching movies. Amazing times. Every time I listened to Elvis, see the games you made that I still have, cheer on the Sooners, quote a line from a movie, or think about skiing, and so much more, you are with me Gabe! Love you brother! 

Just a blip from the internet

April 20, 2021
by Tao Hua
I used to hang out on the EFNet channel #hornet in the late 90s where people who played F/A-18 Hornet would go to look for other people to play with. I remember Gabe would come to the channel to introduce himself, talk about the game development etc. GraphSim also selected some beta testers from the channel when they were developing Hornet 3.0. I was in middle school at the time and didn't have means to obtain hardware or even a 56k/ISDN/DSL modem for the newer game, but it was fun to be part of the small community.

Nowadays I just watch other people play DCS or whatever else and upload their replay on Youtube. Just happened to see what I could find on google tonight under 'mac efnet #hornet' and a google discussion (or maybe usenet) post from Gabe from a long time ago was in the results. Decided to google the name and here I am.

Condolences to family and friends of Gabe.

Another "Fwoppy"

October 7, 2019
Gabriel, Daniel, Pat and Abigail have long encouraged us to get a dog.  We would only consider an American Eskimo like our sweet Nimby and Cirri.  We had so many reasons not to do it, but couldn't resist when we found 5 males available in Pryor OK.  So, short story short, we brought Lobo home last Thursday and are enjoying the funny antics and house-breaking circus with which we have been blessed.  Daniel came up with the name, which will undoubtedly have many variations to come.  Nimby, for example, had hundreds of names and he answered to all of them, including "Fwoppy".  At 74, this is long-term commitment and we're looking forward to it.  Daniel, Pat and Abigail are thrilled and Gabe would certainly be.

GABE'S GUITAR

November 2, 2017

Gabe’s extensive collection of synths, wires and guitars has been for sale at The Guitar Store in Seattle.  James Schultz was a godsend when he agreed to take all the music equipment and sell it for us.  One very touching story is about the sale of Gabe's Paul Reed Smith guitar to a gentleman who was grateful for acquiring it and finding such comfort in playing it.  Gabe would be so happy to know that. 

The man is a disabled combat veteran who did 7 tours of duty in his 4 years in the service.  He was captured, tortured and wounded while escaping and saw many close friends die.  He has multiple medical problems including, understandably, PTSD that haunts every waking and sleeping hour.  He always found comfort in music and began playing guitar as a kid.  After his service, no amount of therapy or medication could help his PTSD, flashbacks and nightmares.  He took up the guitar again and plays for hours a day.  He wanted a new sound and did extensive research on PRS guitars.  After a lot of shopping, he found his guitar –but it was just out of his financial reach. The Guitar Store made it work for him and he now describes it as “a magical companion”.  From the day he got it, he plays for hours and has slept better every night.  He says the guitar is the medicine that gives him hope. 

We couldn’t be happier that this man is now playing Gabe’s beautiful guitar.

 

 

Gabriel the Baldoan

October 7, 2017

Gabiel was pretty hairless for a while as a baby and then totally towheaded as a toddler. He marched to the beat of a different drummer for sure. Extremely smart, but slow to do things, including chores. I'd look at his white hair and ask, Are you sure he's ours? It was all a joke and Gabe knew it, but on his 13th birthday I could not resist typing up an overview of his "alien" existence in our lives. 

I can hear him now, saying "Real nice," as I post this on the web. He was shy and private and would have hated this website. But it helps us cope and he's no longer here, so suck it up, mihijito. Here's the note I sent him on his 13th birthday. To the end of his life, Gabe was hard to impress. We found boxes of beautiful awards that had been presented to him by his companies. Almost none had even been opened. 

Real nice, dad, as I hear him saying yet again. 

GABRIEL—CHRONOLOGY OF AN ALIEN OVER 13 YEARS

YEAR 1— 1972:  Gabriel beams down from the Planet Baldo, assuming a more or less human form.  He arrives at 0130, a time that hints at his future nocturnal behavior, which characterizes Baldoans, but not Earthlings.

YEAR 2 — 1973:  Gabriel learns to cut teeth following the habits of the Earth creatures that surround him.  He has not yet noticed that most Earthlings have hair, however.

YEAR 3 — 1974:  Gabriel learns to walk, promptly falls on his teeth in Andalgalá, Argentina.  His “Dad” says, “someday he’ll have problems with that incisor.”  Gabriel grows hair, then pulls the hair out of María José who bit him, while banging her head against the sidewalk, instantly solving her biting problem. An inability to adapt to Earth gravity and temperature leads to Baldoan seizures, which are solved by “Mom” who dumps him in water, thus simulating the dense atmosphere of Baldo and saving Gabriel from Baldoan transmutation.  As Baldoans are very white, and their hair, if it exists at all, is even whiter, Gabriel is surprised by his first black person in the Miami airport.  He says a word in Spanish that was not a good thing to say.  “Dad” and “Mom”, who speak the language, move with alacrity to cover Gabe’s mouth before the Baldoan intergalactic translating program kicks in.  Too late!    “Dad” and “Mom” threaten to give him a return ticket to Baldo.

YEAR 4 — 1975:  Gabriel learns to fish.  Rises at dawn to begin fishing. Seldom catches many fish.  Fascinated by carp “so thick you can walk on ‘em.”  Chased by a Canada Goose, an aggressive creature of similar size to the young Baldoan life form.  

YEAR 5 — 1976:  Family moves to Salta, Argentina.  Family overcome by carbon monoxide poisoning on Gabe’s birthday.  At 0200, “Dad,” unable to walk, drags unconscious Gabe and Danny into the fresh air of the cold Salta night.  Goes back for “Mom,” who, with an eerie similarity to Capt. Kirk centuries in the future, says “Let me die.” “Dad,” in his best John Wayne voice says, “That’ll be the day.”  Drags “Mom” to safety.  Gabe unimpressed with rescue, convinced “Dad” exaggerates.

YEAR 6 — 1977:  17” catfish!!, blueberries, blackberries, chasing dragonflies.  Gabriel gets his first knife.  Dad warns, “Don’t cut yourself.”  Gabe responds, “I won’t.”  Time from gift opening to cut finger—1.356 seconds.  Gabe’s hair is white.  “Father” worried, “Is he my son?  Is he human?”  “Mom” not worried.  After all, he has hair like Grammy.  Gabe spends summer fishing, boating, catching bugs.  Eats snapping turtles and explores the Black Forest.  “Dad” saves Gabe’s life yet a second time by diving to catch him as he falls, round head first, from a top bunk.  Gabe, always hard to impress, in remarking on the incident, allows that his “Dad” is “… a hero, but not a superhero.” 

               Gabriel visits “Dad” at work, helps 3-year old brother Danny go to bathroom.  Danny has to go NOW!!!  Men’s bathroom occupied.  Gabriel takes Danny to ladie’s restroom.  Angry, nasty, obese, bearlike and ugly female Professor who spends hours in the john each day, finds Danny on the pot.  She specializes in dominating Earthmen (there is some question as to which planet she hails from) and deduces (erroneously) that the tiny blond Baldoan is an easy target.  Gabe tells her not to go into the john because his brother is in there.  “What is your BROTHER doing in there, since he is a MALE and this is the FEMALE restroom?” growled the bear.  “I know this is the FEMALE restroom,” said the razor-tongued Baldoan,”but he can’t read and he needed to go, so I put him there”.  Then he stared that special otherworldly stare at the bear and said, “Did you ever notice that your hair is all white and gray mixed?”  YES, I NOTICED”, roared the bear, “AND IT’S BEEN THAT WAY SINCE I WAS NINETEEN!!!  WHAT ABOUT IT??!  Gabriel stared at her, one alien to another, and said, “Yughhh!”  Loud applause from “Dad” and his graduate students.  “Dad” impressed.

YEAR 7 — 1978:  Family moves to Arizona mountains.  Gabriel explores Indian ruins with “Mom,” goes trapping with “Dad.”  Gabriel learns to trap cups of hot chocolate each morning at 0600, with a full breakfast at 0800 when “Dad” is finished collecting mammals.  Gabe chases lizards, and especially, snakes.  Proves to be no help at all around camp.  “Dad” more convinced than ever that Gabe is from some sort of Baldocentric alien stock.

YEAR 8 — 1979:  Gabriel now in second grade.  Although slow for a Baldoan, he finds that he is smarter than most of the young Earthlings, if also smaller than most.  Obligates “Dad” to return from a 7,000 mile trip to Argentina to take him trick-or-treating.  So certain is he that “Dad” will arrive that Gabe is standing on porch with his Halloween bag as the witching hour approaches.  “Dad” arrives after 30 hours of travel and coolly says, “Let’s go”, leaving luggage on sidewalk.  Gabe assumes “Dad” can also use Baldoan beaming mechanism to travel and is therefore unimpressed.

YEAR 9 — 1980:  Gabriel and family move again to Arizona, this time to the low desert near Tucson.  “Dad” teaches Gabe that there are many life forms on Earth, including “jumping cholla” cacti. “Whatever you do,” says “Dad”, “don’t hit the cholla with a stick, or it will come jumping after you.”  Gabe, assuming all Earthlings, and especially “Dad”, exaggerate (i.e., lie) promptly hits a jumping cholla with a long stick.  Still being unclear as to how Earth gravity acts, Gabe stands downhill from the cactus.  “Dad” is called to rescue the Baldoan from the predatory plant.  Gabe unimpressed with “Dad’s” rescue, but very impressed with the cactus, which reminds him of an ancient Baldoan enemy.

YEAR 10 — 1981:  Gabriel goes camping in the Chiricahua Mountains.  Goes hiking with “Dad.”  “Grandma” says, “Be careful with bears.”  Gabe and “Dad” both chuckle at the foolish old woman.  Within half an hour, “Dad” places Gabriel on boulder and stands between him and the black bear, which rises on its hind legs and growls.  “Dad” is armed with a .22 pistol that is totally worthless, but “Dad” knows he can offer Gabe to the bear if the bear charges, so he is not worried.  “Dad” yells at the bear and scares it away. Tries to convince Gabe that he saved his life yet again.  Gabriel neither convinced nor impressed.  Family moves to Oklahoma. 

YEAR 11 — 1982:  Gabriel now in fifth grade.  Joins soccer team.  Assigned to position of goalie.  Reads book while team is away from immediate vicinity of goal.  Reads books constantly, generally with “Mom” or “Dad.”  “Dad” specializes in reading Cat in the Hat books, especially “Green Eggs and Ham,” which accurately describes Gabriel’s tastes, which remain much narrower than Earthlings.  “I do not like it, Sam I am.”

YEAR 12 — 1983:  Gabriel now in baseball as well as soccer.  Uses Baldoan alien non-motion to steal bases.  Makes time stand still as horizontal levitation occurs between first and second base.  Poor Earthling catchers are unable to see him move between the bases—not because he is so fast, but because his movements occur in a Baldoan dimension called non-motion (a motion Gabriel mastered early and continues to refine to this day).  Coach says he uses “a calendar” to measure Gabriel’s movement from one base to another.  Earthling catchers generally decide not to throw the ball at all, since each time they look at Gabe he is not moving.  Finally, when they decide to throw, he is still not moving, but, inexplicably (to Earthlings!) he is also standing on the second base bag.  Unfortunately, it happened so slowly that he is seldom given credit for stealing the base.  Umpires assume he has been on second base for weeks.  Gabriel hones non-motion skills in baseball, then transfers them to domestic chores, which he swears he is doing, but which, to this day, have never been done.  “Dad” is forced to remind a perennially frustrated “Mom” that Gabriel is not of this world.  “Dad” begins referring to Gabriel as “Lightning,” noting the similarities to the Amos ‘n Andy character who was also, apparently, a practitioner of non-motion.  Over the coming years, Gabriel will come to be known as the “Master of Non-motion.”

YEAR 13 — 1984:  Gabriel moves into gymnastics, proving that Baldoans have little sense about the realities of Earth’s gravity.  He learns that Baldoan muscles are ill-adapted to such Earthlike challenges as Iron Crosses or much of the work on the pommel horse.  Gabriel decides gymnastics is the sport for him, specializes in using non-motion to approach the pommel horse, which actually has time to move out of the way occasionally.  Nevertheless, Gabriel persists and wins some medals, which do not exist in Baldoan society.  Gabriel unimpressed with himself.

 



 

The museum rotunda

September 3, 2017

Gabriel was such a good person and we were so proud of him. As you might imagine, we miss him terribly every day. His 45th birthday was 4 days ago and the pain of his loss is everywhere in our lives, each day and each hour.  

He was very very smart. A National Merit Scholar, and an OU grad in math, computer science, and business. The top of the pyramid in the computer world is Microsoft and that is where he worked for the past 15 years. He did the artificial intelligence game programming for FA-18 HornetNFL Fever, Xbox 1, and several Forza racing games. It was amazing work demanding not only intelligence, but sheer brain power and extraordinary concentration to compute the steps in building the software. When he interviewed at Microsoft--the famous three-day interview-- engineers brought problems that they had not been able to solve to ask the applicant to solve them. Gabe solved them. Later, he became an interviewer himself. 

Most Microsofties are graduates of MIT, Cal Tech, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, and schools like that. Gabe was accepted into all of those schools, but chose OU. And was he an OU fanatic! He loved the Sooners as much as anyone I know, and he knew an enormous amount about football, given that he had developed NFL Fever. Indeed, Microsoft brought in Hall of Fame coaches and All Pro players to coach the geeks (engineers) on football strategy, so he studied with the best. He was often asked, incredulously, Where did you go to school? He was proud to say OU. OU's 2017 season opened yesterday and as we watched the game we were overcome with grief. How he would have loved the game, the new coarch, and the runaway score over UTEP!

I’ll share an anecdote about him that makes clear his many talents. When we were planning the new museum building, the “final” blueprints contained no rotunda. In fact there were few rotundas on any building in Oklahoma. I told the architect that I needed a tower for the building (in my ignorance calling a rotunda a tower). 

He said, The building doesn’t need a rotunda. What would you put in it? 

I said, I will put the world’s largest bronze mammoth in it, and some bronze paleo hunters. 

Do you even have a bronze mammoth? 

My problem isn’t that I don’t have a mammoth, my problem is that I don’t have a rotunda to put the mammoth-I-don’t-have in, I said, while thinking where on earth can I get a giant bronze mammoth? Also, I need a rotunda to sell this building to the people of Oklahoma. It must lift up their spirits. No one was very excited about redoing the drawings to add a rotunda that "wasn't needed."

The weekend arrived. Gabriel, who had once thought of architecture as a career and who could draw really well, agreed to draw a glass rotunda at the south end of the building. I presented it to the architectural team on Monday, a drawing done by a teenager.

The chief architect asked if my son was going to do all of the drawings for the building. 

My reply? Not if you give me what I want. I want a rotunda.

We got two rotundas. Moreover, rotundas started appearing in new buildings all over Oklahoma. They are in most of the recent buildings on campus, in the Oklahoma History Center, and in many other dramatically designed buildings in the state. They were influenced by our lovely state museum of natural history.

Gabriel did that. 

For me, the rotunda will always be “Gabriel’s Rotunda” and will always be my favorite spot in the museum.

Gabe tells his own story of working on Microsoft games

February 18, 2017

From: Gabe Mares
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2016 1:28 PM
To: Forza Fun
Subject: GabeM leaving MSFT on 9/1
 
After almost 16 years at Microsoft I’m going to be leaving the company. My last day is this Thursday. My first job out of college was writing flight sims for a company in Dallas called Graphic Simulations (F/A-18 Hornet 3.0, F/A-18 Korea). I was a Mac programmer (HATED PCs, and hated Microsoft), and on my first day I was presented with a Windows 95 PC and told “We want you to port our Mac game to this.” Me: “I don’t know anything about Windows.” GraphSim: “You’ll figure it out.” I then I moved to Seattle to work for a web company (again to port Mac software, this time to Windows 2000) and I HATED IT. I wanted back into games. I applied to Microsoft but there weren’t any fits in the (very small at the time) game division. I was offered a job on the Windows Media Player team with the stipulation that I would be allowed to transfer to MGS after a year. My job? Port Windows Media Player to the Mac. Wait, wut? Every Mac place I worked at wanted me working on Windows software and now that I’m at Microsoft they want me working on Mac software? I’m so confused. Anyway, I met a couple of friends there as they were also working on the same thing.
 
Btw, let me show you a MSFT stock chart.
 
You’re welcome. I have clearly been the problem with our stock performance… J
 
So, after shipping Windows Media Player 7 for Mac I transferred to MGS to work on NFL Fever 2003. That was the first certified Xbox Live title. Shipped NFL Fever 2004, and then worked on the ill-fated NFL Fever 2006 which got canceled (along with the entire studio in a mass layoff of about 100 people including me and maybe a couple of people that are here at Turn 10 currently). I returned to Microsoft in 2005 to work on Forza 2 on the engine team. This is the first time I got the Forza 2 UI rendering on the screen:
 
Wait, that’s not quite right…

[There are various photos of the efforts to make Forza come alive.]

 

Anyway, here at Turn 10 I’ve shipped Forza 2, Forza 3 (great dev cycle!), Forza 4 (great dev cycle!), Forza 5, Forza 6 (great dev cycle!), and Forza Apex . Hmm… I notice that the sucky experiences coincide with platform transitions. J It’s been a great 10 years at Turn 10 and I’ve worked with some brilliant people and some good friends and shipped amazing titles, as well as taking the racing crown from Sony/Polyphony. When we started all anybody could talk about was Gran Turismo but now Forza has surpassed GT in almost every way and seems to get mentioned a lot more often online and in the press. (The faster dev cycles certainly help in that regard.)
 
I look forward to seeing what you guys do with Forza 7 and beyond.
 
I’m sure I’ll stop by the studio from time to time just to visit as I’ll be staying in the area.
 
My GamerTag is Blackbird (yes, just ‘Blackbird’, no numbers, no special characters. We got to pick our GamerTags before Xbox Live launched so I get a dozen friend requests and private messages a week from random people that were trying to contact somebody that had something resembling Blackbird in their tag.)
 
It’s been great working with you all and shipping AAA titles on time to great reviews.
 
FORZZZAAAAA!!!!

 

 

Gabe's Games

January 14, 2017

Gabe Mares [Gabriel's games have been enjoyed by more than 20 million people.]

Game Credits (By Year)

Forza Horizon 3 (2016), Microsoft Studios
Forza Motorsport 6: Apex (2016), Microsoft Studios
Forza Motorsport 5 (2013), Microsoft Studios
Forza Horizon (2012), Microsoft Studios
Forza Motorsport 4 (2011), Microsoft Studios
Forza Motorsport 3 (2009), Microsoft Game Studios
Forza Motorsport 2 (2007), Microsoft Game Studios
Forza Motorsport 2 (Limited Collector's Edition) (2007), Microsoft Game Studios
F/A-18 Operation Desert Storm (2005), Application Systems Heidelberg Software GmbH
NFL Fever 2004 (2003), Microsoft Game Studios
NHL Rivals 2004 (2003), Microsoft Game Studios
MechAssault (2002), Microsoft Game Studios
F/A-18 Precision Strike Fighter (2001), Xicat Interactive, Inc.
F/A-18 Hornet 3.0 (1997), Empire Interactive Entertainment, Graphic Simulations Corporation

The 12th Man

January 10, 2017

Gabriel loved to talk football, especially when it involved the Sooners. In 2006 we played Texas A&M in College Station. They are always tough at home. I am a UT Austin graduate, so between OU and UT, there is little love lost for the Aggies. We had a "rule" that A&M would always Aggie things up and lose a football game against either UT or OU. Well, this game was one for the record books. I sent a summary of the game to Gabe which he found the funniest email he had ever read.

Gabe: This is one of the funniest emails I've EVER read.  :)

 

-----Original Message-----

From: M A Mares [mailto:mamares@ou.edu

Sent: Saturday, November 04, 2006 9:17 PM

Subject: The 12th Man


The whole game all we heard was "the 12th man." Everyone was waving 

their stupid 12th man towels, standing up and swaying. Nobody 

could hear a thing.

 

The 12th Man!

There was a huge sign hanging down that read: The 12th Man!

Then they showed a statue outside the stadium. The 12th Man!

 

4th quarter, clock running. 17 to 16, OU, with

a yard to go on our own 28. We don't get it. The place is going crazy.

The 12th Man!

 

Now it's 4th down inside our own 30. Inches to go. Everyone is saying 

Stoops should punt. But no! He decides to go for it. Aggies have 

just hit 2 extra points and have a kicker who can hit them from Dallas! 

Besides. They have the advantage. 

The 12th Man!

 

So. We go for it. If we don't make it the Aggies get a freebie field goal 

and win the game. They hike the ball.

 

BUT WAIT!!!

PENALTY!!

What's the call? Too many men on the field for A&M! Guess what? The 

12th Man! actually came down, lined up and played to stop us.

 

GAME OVER!!!!!!!

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

The 12th Man! It's just too rich. What can I say? They're AGGIES!

 

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