Hey Sis ~

Good to hear you are SVR - and really good that you decided to stay
around.  Every gate needs a gatekeeper.  (;  You and Cody.

On Fri, 21 Sep 2007 13:17:35 -0700, "Waterspider" <nospam@all.com>

Say, "hello, Prof"

Hello, Prof.

Good to hear about the "ambience here."  I can't help the feeling that
Elmo might have had something to do with that.  I remember when
Princess Leolo was sorta' the head-banger here.  She got so fed up she
was thinking about turning it into a moderated group.

Anybody hear from Buckels?

You never come out the same.  And frankly, I'm not so sad about that,
myself.  The parts I left behind I could well do without, anyway.  It
took me two full years to completely lose the effects of tx (ymmv)!!
Even then, I had to change my view of the world and keep from allowing
negative emotions to even enter my thoughts to keep my stress levels
down.  Yeah, it changed me - for the better.  

My dad dumped a box of all my letters I wrote them from college and
the Air Force ('67 - '70) - my mom had kept every one of them!  I
started taking a look at a couple from my freshman year - and I didn't
recognize myself at all!  I think I'm just going to put the box away -
unread (I don't think I want to go there) - and at the right time,
give it to my daughter, tell her about it, and let her decide.

??  Other cases?

Okay, jere it is:

http://www.fishbro.com/carld/main2.html

I haven't done anything to it in YEARS.  But it holds up pretty good.
I think I might have a few dead links.  And you will see a quote from
David on the "Manifesto" page.  Let me know - I've got a great picture
of him I just ran into and it choked me up!

Okay, here's the story:

The story I share with you now is my story of faith.  Everything in
here happened just as I write it.

It all began in September, 2000.  I was getting ready to go on combo.
I had been doing a lot of reading - enough to scare me quite a bit.
Everybody reacts differently to the treatment.  Some people have no
side effects to speak of.  Others have committed suicide on it!  At
that time, I was already on courses of medication for depression
(Zoloft), anxiety (Clonopin) and my arthritis (indomethicin), also
Ambien to sleep.  So I had a toxic cocktail brewing in my gut.

One of my true joys and pleasures is surf-fishing at Cape Hatteras,
North Carolina.  This is a place of unimaginable beauty where you can
watch nature in all her majesty change the landscape every day.  I
also hang out on a couple of fishing messageboards on the internet.
One day in that September, somebody calling themselves "Bonnie and
Clyde" (their real names are Casey and Joey) posted a message asking
if anybody knew how to convert a compressed .mp3 music file to an
uncompressed .wav file!  Not only was this completely off topic
(fishing) but also backwards.  But I have a little utility that does
this so I sent it to them.  They were grateful and we started
communicating - "Who are you, where are you, what do you do?  They
live in Richmond (about an hour away from me) and she does
computer-based training.  I used to do that, so she asked if I'd like
to come up to Richmond.  I said, "Maybe.  Why don't we do lunch?"  She
said, okay and asked if it would be alright if her husband came along.
I said sure.

Friday, October 13, 2000 - a day I will never forget.  We met in a
little diner close to the river.  When we met, we all three had an
instantaneous deja-vu but we had never met before!  We all knew the
same people down at Cape Hatteras, her birthday is the day before my
ex's, his birthday is three days before mine, we're all left-handed,
she does computer-based training, I've done that.  I was drinking a
beer and Casey was drinking a mixed drink.  Joey was nursing an iced
tea and eyeing my beer.  He said, "Gee, I sure wish I could have one
of those."  I said, "Well, sure, go ahead and put it on the bill."  He
said, "Can't.  I'm on chemo-therapy."  Well, what do you say when
someone says that?  So I said, "I hope everything is going okay."  And
under his breath, with his hand over his mouth, he said, "It's
Hepatitis C."  I was stunned!!  I said, "WHAT?"  And he repeated
himself.

It was at that point that I realized that SOMEBODY was trying to get
my attention!  How many coincidences does it take before you start
looking around? God (the universe - whatever you want to call Him or
Her - they're all the same) had gotten my attention.

After I left, I said, "YES, SIR!  What can I do for you, Sir?"  And
God gave me my mission to develop my website.  My mission is simple:

-  To communicate about this disease to the public and the at risk
people in particular,
- to be there in support of my fellow brother and sister warriors in
their battle against the dragon,
- and do so through humor whenever and wherever possible.  And so I
do.

But when you have a message from God, one of your first instincts is
to ask, "Did that really happen?"  The answer came back in 2/01 - yes,
it really happened.

I did the entire website while on combo!  It was an incredible
struggle.  But it all came out - just as it was supposed to.  And when
I was done, I put it up here as my Christmas present to the group -
'00.  

Take care, all,

X