Unable to sleep for a change. I was laying in bed thinking about this forum. I am mainly a lurker but I am here everyday. I wanted to tell all of you thankyou. Thank you for all your research and insights and intelligent reasoning (usually). I feel so fortunate to be here. I was imagining what it would be like without the net right now. The net has empowered so many people. I so appreciate everyone's time spent on trying to figure out this very complex, weird, frightening, fasinating, unimaginable, confusing, sad, huge issue. I think we are doing a good job at truth seeking. I honor all of you for being brave enough to keep seeking. THANK YOU

-- a mom (thanks@mushy.com), August 28, 1999

Answers

Stop it, stop it, I'm blubbering all over my keyboard :)

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 28, 1999.

Mom, I often wonder how many quiet lurkers feel as you do. Not being one of the quiet ones, I think if I were to thank everyone by name I would blow up the MIT computer via immoderate use of bandwidth. Those of you who winkle out interesting news and post it know who you are and I want you to know I too appreciate all your work. I'm going to single out a few people, though: Stan, for faithfully and regularly posting basic Y2K information, Brian for slogging away in the archives and telling us where to find everything, and all moderators for performing such a bloody awful job with such good humor (mostly!).

Now, for those of you who are hoping Dennis hits the Carolinas so one non-pollyanna at least can't post, you're out of luck! Providing the phone service stays on (as it did in Fran), I'm in great shape. The computer I bought last weekend is is a notebook and I have both cigarette lighter and solar recharging capabilities. . .

You can never be too thin or have too many rechargeable batteries.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), August 28, 1999.

Mom,

Thank you for being here and still visiting the forum, warts 'n all.

;-D

It does feel like an extended family and I know I feel comforted and grateful just knowing we can all communicate at this time.

May you sleep calmly.

Diane

"..winkle out interesting news?" That's precious Old Git! Love it! Glad you're snug too!

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), August 28, 1999.

Mom,

Your message cuts me two ways.

First, I feel the same way you do. This is the place where I get to vent and think and learn - from both sides - and I owe so many the kind of thanks you offer.

Secondly, however, is the whole dependence on the net. At times I have to step back and question if I'm not like the 15 year old loner, cast out in school, who finds acceptance in a cyber community with friends from all over the globe with a skewed vision of the world. The very fact that I question where my mind is helps to center my thoughts and keep my balance.

The day when it seems too easy to accept the prospects for TEOTWAWKI then I know I may have slipped over the edge. The very fact that we can see this is a "very complex, weird, frightening, fasinating, unimaginable, confusing, sad, huge issue" to me shows how sane we are and how balanced we are in our quest for real truth.

I want a BITR. I pray for a BITR. I prepare for something more than a BITR.

Thank you for letting me vent a little : )

Mike

========================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), August 28, 1999.

a mom, this Forum is a miracle for which we are grateful every day.
An addiction with a built-in End :(
Here's a fervent hope the Net stays up, or comes back up quickly. But things aren't looking real peachy these days.
August = Cover-Ups Unravelling.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 28, 1999.

Mom, I'm also a lurking mom (2 lovely teen daughters). I feel the sam as you do. I rush home from work (when I work LOL) and go right to this forum. I truly feel close to all of you forum members (even though you don't know me) and I appreciate so much the give and take advice posted here. I'm a doomer 8+ living on 5 acreas in ruralville and part of that is thanks to ya'all. : ) I will post if I have something useful to say. I WILL be thinking of you all during these tuff times to come and hoping you all are well(including pollies). So please know that (I believe I speak for many many lurkers), WE are out there and so much appreciate everyone on this forum for their insight, ideas and "just being there". I also truly hope King of Spain gets to mudwrestle (even after Y2K rollover) to his hearts content!

-- Debi (LongTimeLurker@shy.com), August 28, 1999.

"Winkle"--that's a Britishism that slipped out! Do y'all have winkles on the West Coast? They're tiny little shellfish in those typical convoluted shells and you need a winkle pin to retrieve them. Back in the late 50s or so, very long and narrow pointed shoes were popular; they were called "winkle-pickers" in Britain. (One had to go upstairs sideways because the toes were too long to fit on the treads.) "Winkle" is a very appropriate word for digging out hard-to-get tidbits of any sort.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), August 28, 1999.

OG,

Why yes, we've got winkles!

-- flora (***@__._), August 28, 1999.

I too mostly lurk here; but I appreciate all the work. Thank You

-- Ruth the Moab (aapm@aapainmanage.org), August 28, 1999.

This is a beautiful thread; thanks for starting it, mom.

And yes Debi, though as we head into the next century there are many worries and unknowns, I know in my heart that mud will always be with us.

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), August 28, 1999.

Mom,

Thank you for expressing well how I feel. The forum, "with all it's warts", has been indespensible support as I make my preparations. Whenever I start thinking I must be crazy preparing when so many are so carefree, I come back to the forum for perspective (from diverse angles) on what is likely to be the most life-changing event of my lifetime. To all, thank you.

-- Leslie (***@***.net), August 28, 1999.

My family, friends and neighborhood have a library of printed survival information due to this forum, not just the postings but all those incredible links!! I have arranged them by subject and continue to add to it daily. So, hopefully, anything that comes along that is survivable, the information will be nearby and available to help all those around me.

Thank you forum - pat yourselves on the back! ;->

-- Sammie Davis (sammie0nospam@hotmail.com), August 28, 1999.

Yes,yes..ditto thanks to all the "investigators" who post here.

Diane: please let us know about how many hits on this forum per day - on an average week??????

-- jeanne (jeanne@hurry.now), August 28, 1999.

And whenever I think of mid wrestling, I will think of KoS. Whenever I think of gold, I will think of Andy. Gosh...

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWayne@aol.com), August 28, 1999.

I'm just glad ya'll let me get a word in edgewise, now and then. I don't have many friends down here on the bayou, and most of the ones I do have, ain't human.

What I guess I'm tryin' to say is, sometimes, all you folks get crazier than a muskrat's birthday party, but it beats the heck outa arguing with gators!

And I know it's awfull hard to tell, but I have learned much from you all. Thanks from me too.

-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 28, 1999.

It's posts like these (all of the above) that always serve as a good reminder to me that winning an argument with you guys/girls isn't whats imporant, that what is really important is people (my wife tells me that all the time). Still, I remain the ever so confident finder of facts who knows without a doubt that the rollover will be less than a bump in the road, a non-event as it were, other than the minor y2k bugs that will be reported over the first weeks and possibly (but not probably) a couple of more serious events. When this does come to fruit, have you guys/girls thought about keeping the forum together for other purposes? It sure seems like a lot of friendships have developed here, and these may mean more than the Y2K event itself....just a thought..

Regards,

-- FactFinder (FactFinder@bzn.com), August 28, 1999.

FactFinder,

I've been thinking along the same lines lately. I am not one to see much "middle ground' in Y2K. I believe it will be a recoverable (although difficult), inconvenience, or it will be a societal cataclism. Should it be the latter, well........ But should we live to see life return to what we have known, I, for one, will not only cherish my cyber friends, but will make an attempt to continue our friendhips.

I have participated in, or listened to, more stimulating discussions of various topics here, than I have experienced in many, many years. I am absolutely addicted, not to the net, but to the free flow of ideas found on our forum.

IF it is a BITR, and that is a "big if" for me, just imagine having these conversations around a table in the lounge of a small hotel in Costa Rica, or on the deck of a cruise ship.

I had intended to start a thread later in the Fall, suggesting gatherings of Yourdonites, if it indeed looked like a Y2K impact on the low end of the scale, but now may be the time, regardless. I'm sure some of us will be drifting (scattering) to other locations and activities with the comming of the roll-over.

I would be very glad to here some suggestions, and will keep them in mind, whatever the next four months hold. These past 18 months of researching (and soul searching) has made me determined to start hikeing the Appalachian Trail next summer, if possible. Any takers?

Maybe it's hopeful thinking, but what the heck, we've all been wrong before (except for DieTer). :

-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 28, 1999.

Lon, we need to have a bean 'n rice potlock! All Yourdynamites provide their own Beano ;^)

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 28, 1999.

A & L,

I'm up for it. We could probably feed the entire state of Wyoming, and have to take homers!

-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), August 28, 1999.

After 4 - 5 years of posting on Web Forums this is the best I have seen for "stimulating conversation". And I love it. Having internet cable even makes it better, the computer is on when at home and during my day all I have to do is click a link. The TV gathers dust.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), August 29, 1999.

TV? We never turn it on unless there's a big earthquake or other catastrophic Breaking News. TV is awful, a waste of time, loud obnoxious sounds blaring. With the Net you can study at your own speed, target the exact contents that your mind desires to lazer in on, and have soft uplifting music atmospherizing the background. TVs are intruding monsters! No friends in there either ;^)

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 29, 1999.

Second that emotion...

The forum has been my first major internet community, and it's been one of my major activities (and distractions) this year. It isn't hard to spend a few hours a day with you all.

Meetings of the mind are the most exciting kind. People come up with such intelligent, imaginative, fun stuff here, it surpasses all the other news and entertainment we're supposed to want to watch. And it's just regular people doing it (!), for themselves (!) Amazing!

Lon -- "I had intended to start a thread later in the Fall, suggesting gatherings of Yourdonites"

Maybe like Trekkie conventions! Oh yeah! and we can wear our uniforms! and dine on fruitcakes! and MUDWRESTLE! and hand out gold coins as door prizes! Alan Greenspan and David Tice can be our guest speakers, and jets (?) will weave contrails in the sky over our happy gathering!

I met Leska and Diane at an Ed speech in my early weeks as a Yourdie, and I wish I had spent more time with them. If I'da known then what I know now...

-- jor-el (jor-el@krypton.uni), August 29, 1999.

Hi Jor-el! And tinfoil party hats, and duct tape badges of honor, and just think of the door prizes!

The Seattle Y2K Expo drew a big crowd. Guess later ones were not as well-attended. Portland was supposed to have one in August -- don't even know if they did! Oh well ... Last Fall & Winter was the Forum Golden Ages ;^)

This Autumn may get Served Bizzy on here. Always literally thrilled to see your posts, Jor-el! And hi SL out there too.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 29, 1999.

Well jor-el,

I must say... you give good "hugs..." you tall guy you!

;-D

Wish we had more time then to chat as well.

BTW, I'll be spearheading a Silicon Valley pot-luck gathering towards the end of September. Already e-mailed a few of the surrounding poster locals about it, and there's "enthusiasm" for the idea.

Details, to follow, in a couple weeks.

Diane

(Ashton 'n Leksa also are extraordinarily "huggable" too!)

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), August 29, 1999.

So are you, Diane of the Angel vibes! A long-distance (((((Diane))))) from both of us -- wish we had the time + money to attend your potluck. One more reason to pray Y2K is a BITR or less -- the post-trauma Yourdynamite potlucks, and *luck* they'll be celebrating!

We just can't see how any other topic will bring so many brain-fingers together in suspense, dread, preparation, anticipation, hope-wrangling, and head-banging as Y2K. 4, maybe 5 months more of this mounting coiled pressure-cooker, then we'll know, or know we're missing a lot in the dark.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 29, 1999.

"Duct tape badges of honor." Oh yes, I remember quite well when I attended Rick Cowles' "Will the Lights Stay on in 2000?" presentation last February near Annapolis, Maryland. By agreement with others on this forum, I wore a piece of duct tape -- like we all were going to do -- to allow for easy recognition. No other Youronite showed up!

Well, I don't think I looked too much like a fool, since I wore it over my employee badge that I had at the time, and I hope that it looked like an overgrown magnetic security strip. (Glad we didn't agree to tinfoil hats!)

Now that I'm in NW Arkansas, I don't think I'm going to be able to attend any get-togethers, but I will be there in spirit.

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), August 29, 1999.

Ive been thinking about this thread since the day it first began. Its been ringing around inside me with such deep tones. I wanted to say something about what the people who contribute to this forum have meant to me, too. But I was at a loss as to how to get past the platitudes, and what more could I say than has been said? I agree with all that has been said. This forum has been a superlatively meaninful part of my life and education for over 15 months.

Then tonight, as I was reviewing my personal journal, I came across a passage that cuts to the core of it all. I can share it here, this moment in the shadowlands. Im among good friends.

Its June, 99. 198 days until 2000. I am in utter anguish over what I see coming, and I am feeling so very small, and so alone. All that keeps me sane are the voices of the Yourdonites, past and present, denizens of a forum on the Internet, God bless them all. I am NOT the only one awake inside this nightmare!

It was just one of those doomer bugs sucking at my mind, an image of catastrophe, and nothing more. And I am feeling much better now. I wrestled it through the mud, dumped it into the aby2kss, slammed the leaded lid down firmly, and walked away.

And isnt it fine that we can come here when were in good humor as well, in whatever mood or frame of mind, as long as were sincerely so! Good place, this. Fine party. As I said previously, just to hang here awhile kinda makes you feel really okay, and, yeah, grudgingly proud, about being a human after all.

-- Faith Weaver (suzsolutions@yahoo.com), September 01, 1999.

Neat thread.

I'm archiving it to re-post after the New Year.

(If I still can--[grin])

Yours in transcripts, and thanks to all for the knowledge base.

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), September 01, 1999.