Michael Finley and I go way back. He was once a contributing columnist for the Pioneer Press’ tech section (when the paper had a tech section). He’s a talented writer — and I don’t just mean tech writer.

A year ago, Mike and his wife, Rachel, faced the ultimate horror: Their daughter, Daniele, killed herself. She was 24.

Now Mike has released a collection of his writing going back four decades, and is giving away the electronic book as a tribute to Daniele.

I have been reading the e-book on an iPad, an ideal medium for this poetry-filled PDF volume, since many of the entries are hyperlinked to YouTube versions that provide lovely moving imagery along with Mike’s soothing narration. This one is my favorite.

Mike describes his effort in an Aug. 18 e-mail to me and others:

I have a linkI would like you to download, as a favor. It’s a book I have been working on for the past year, since Daniele died August 18, 2009.

It’s called ‘YUKON GOLD: Poemes de terre,’ and it is a collection of my favorite written things going back to 1970.

It’s considered a very lofty thing to have a ‘collected works,’ and a dubious thing to publish it yourself. But the past year has been so weird, and in some ways so stimulating, that I kept working on this week after week, determined to put it into friends’ hands by Daniele’s birthday — which is today.

After Daniele died, I felt the need to come up with some kind of statement about her and about our family, some way to commemorate how special she was, and how much we miss her. This is it.

Here is the link. It’s a big file, but it is safe to download, and you can look at what’s in it whenever it’s convenient for you.

What would I like from you? That you download it. If it interests you, tell one other person about it, someone you think could handle this kind of information. Tell us what you find interesting.

Comments about Daniele would be especially terrific, if you knew her, or even if you didn’t, but are coming to know her now.

So you bought a Subway or Chipotle with a soda on the side, walked your meal to your nearby home or office, devoured it…and craved a pop refill.

Is it OK to go back for the refill? Or does the fact that you’ve left the restaurant grounds disqualify you from any further soda-dispenser action?

A coworker once smiled knowingly — actually, it was more of a sneer — as he saw me getting on the elevator with an empty Subway cup. He correctly surmised I was headed for my nearby sammich shop for more soda, and thought I was wrong to do so.

Was I?

I can get a refill if I am dining on the premises, after all, so why wouldn’t I be entitled to the same courtesy as a carryout customer who has returned within a reasonable span of time?

In the case of the Subway shops near my home and my office, for instance, I am eating my just-purchased meal within a city block or so. This seems scarcely different from using one of the restaurants’ outdoor tables and popping back inside for pop replenishment.

I confess to getting those refills with some regularity, but I have rules:

1) I have to do this within a half hour of getting a sandwich or burrito with a pop — and not a minute more.

2) I only go back once, for one refill — never two or three.

3) If I sense the slightest suspicion or disapproval from eatery staffers about what I am doing, I freeze and ask for permission to proceed. Actually, this has never happened — they always seem happy to let me fill ‘er up — but this always will be one of my rules.

So what say you? Am I right or am I wrong?

Update: I am so wrong, according to the majority of people who chimed in on this in the comments below, or on Twitter.

@blankbaby said: Refills are good for one visit only. Once you’ve left the shop you can’t go back and refill.

My pal @steinlicht said: You walk out the door — you pay for more. Refills are only okay if you stay in the restaurant. Says me.

@MichaelErb said: Disqualified. You may not return.

Others took a middle ground, suggesting I do this only on occasion, or come to some kind of agreement with the restaurant proprietors ahead of time so everyone is happy.

I did have one defender in @dnalves, who said: About the pop refill, I don’t think you’re wrong and they will have one more empty table for another client.