Yinnon’s Last Day
Posted by Avital Pinnick on January 12, 2012
You can tell a lot about a man by his choice of headgear. Masha brought Yinnon a daisy crown for his last day at work.
For four years I’ve been photographing and blogging about my amazing officemates, Yinnon and Masha. Now our time together is over. Masha will still be here. Yinnon, however, is moving to New Zealand with his wife to do a Ph.D. in neuro-biology, specifically, pattern recognition in jumping spiders. He will be gone for four years and we will miss him!
Here’s Masha at this morning’s organized farewell party in the dairy cafeteria. Whiskey and tequila are part of a balanced breakfast.
My going-away gift was a CD of photos and videos that I’ve made of Yinnon and Masha since 2009. Yinnon said that having an in-house paparazza was one of the best parts of his job. He said he’s never been photographed so much before and had such a good collection of portraits. 🙂 When he was single he used some of my photos for his on-line dating profiles.
He’s been an amazing officemate, always interesting, cheerful, helpful, and very funny. He’s a recognized tarantula expert (and former breeder), programmer, and caterer. I’ve learned a great deal from sharing a room with him for four years. This is the first photo I ever took of Yinnon, a snapshot done with the Canon S5IS:
This is one of my favourite photos, taken a few hours before his wedding. Masha threw her arms around Yinnon and Rinat looked like she wanted to smash her bouquet over Masha’s head (they’re good friends, by the way).
Yinnon wearing Masha’s spider earrings:
Finally, this is the first cooking video we ever made together, “How to make boiled kubbeh.” We never did get around to making the meatball video. Maybe someday. Best of luck in New Zealand!
SJSchafer (@ssjs2009) said
Very touching. It’s always hard to say goodbye to good friends, but great to see them fly to higher heights.
pam said
I have completely fallen in love with Yinnon. You have been fortunate indeed to have spent a part of your life knowing this person. It is evident in the pictures you have shared that he is an extraordinary individual – sensitive, good humored, playful, kind. Your image – the black and white where he is wearing the black hat – is a window into his soul.
Yinnon is going to leave behind a big empty space at your workplace. And i know you will miss him.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful tribute.
Avital said
Thanks! The B/W photo was a snapshot that I took when he put his hat on. If I were to do it again, I would have had him sit a few feet closer to the window to get catch lights in his eyes but he liked the photo enough to use as a profile pic when he was single. Did I tell you that when I was recovering from foot surgery last year, Yinnon and Masha showed up with a shopping bag full of excellent sushi? That was wonderful.