To read agora, one would think that most grexers didn't think very highly of other grexers. The arguments and the name calling are enough to make my head hurt. So, for purely my amusement, let's play a game. I pick a grexer, and you have to tell me the GOOD qualities about him/her. Nothing negative, no back-handed comments, just honest goodness. If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all (You can leave a blank comment, I'll understand ;) ). I'll pick a new grexer every few days or so. (Depending on the response, I may even start a new item. Pardon the littering, in advance) As said this is purely for my amusement. But if you learn something good about a particular grexer you-so-detest, feel free to get all warm0fuzzy or whatever from it. We'll start with someone I perceive as being the most non- controversial regular user of agora. So what do you think is likeable about - remmers?264 responses total.
He has a great sense of humour.
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He's open to chat on party with even the likes of me. His beard is all white. Wow. I hope that happens to me someday soon.
Remmers is one of the coolest people in party. He is open to talking about anything and everything. He's not an old fart, and knows about movies like "Clueless"
Remmers is a really good pianist.
R e m m e r s is the coolest.
remmers isn't smarter than me.
Sir John Remmers is open, honest, polite, up-to-date, and modest - a quality I admire in those gifted with it as much as I lack it myself.
He's a ragtime pianoman. Gotta love that.
I love remmers. I've known and loved him for many years. He is smart and witty and fun to have on our systems. He is also extremely creative and talented. I'm sure there is more that I am forgeting, but with all those good qualities, it's hard to remember them all!
John Remmers was one of several people, when I started on M-Net, who was willing to patiently answer questions about Unix and how to use it. This led to my first computer job, and then to all of the jobs I've had since then. As far as I can recall, I've never seen him get angry with anyone for something said on-line. That is, I'm sure his blood boils as much as anyone else's, but he doesn't seem to let things get to him. He doesn't attack back. I don't understand how anyone can be that way, but I appreciate it and respect it.
The only time I remember seeing remmers mad was when I crapflooded the BBS, and he sent me a tel saying something like: Entering the same thing in all items is VERY rude! But that's about as mad as it got.
john remmers reputedly has a gigantic penis and i am glad for him.
I agree with all the things already mentioned (well there are *some* things, I am not too sure about but I'll just assume they are true). I will add the most important thing that no one has mentioned: remnet
where it's ok to be small
Remmers seems like a kewl dude...we haven't had a direct exchange yet, but I like that he is straight to the point and leaves no bones on his plate.
Ok, remmers seems likeable enough. Next to be praised - bru. We like bru because...
he never bathes.
Bru gets a lot of shit for his politics here, but he still sticks around instead of hanging around on some other board where everybody will agree with him.
I've known Bruce for a long time, though not especially well. He was on the Board of Directors for Arbornet for a while, and was the head of the K-12 project as well. I enjoyed working with him, and I consider him to be a straightforward and very good man. Bruce is one of the few conservatives on Grex, which I consider a bonus. Sometimes it seems like he's the only religious person on Grex. I doubt that's true, but he *is* the only one who's consistently willing to step up and explain, argue and defend his religious beliefs and his politics which stem from them. In view of the vocal (often bigoted) opposition here, I find that to be admirable.
I am totally biased for Bruce. :-) Being married for twenty-six years will do that. He's straightforward and honest and all sorts of good things.
Though I don't agree with bru's politics, I must admit that it's admirable that he still sticks by them and doesn't downplay them, even in the face of extreme opposition, either here or on mnet. He has taken the time to share his experience in customs, how many actually share our job experience? He's stuck to his guns about the most controversial subjects. That takes guts.
remmers: smart, kind, welcoming, guiding bru: stands up for what he believes in, works hard, loves his family
brooke, you took the words outta my mouth about bru! (Almost exactly!)
he shows great dedication to his socially retarded bigotry
This is supposed to be reasons you like the grexer. Please do not take away from it by being mean-spirited about it.
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even though he never bathes!
I wouldn't know if he never bathes. Yeah, bru sticks to his guns (literally)-- which I can admire. I'm so *not* a gun control advocate at all, although perhaps my moderated stance would suggest guns to those that actively need and use them. I would agree with Scott-- I think that puts things most succinctly. We need a conservative viewpoint around here to counterbalance the otherwise decidedly liberal leaning discussion. Of course, I don't think there's enough of a moderate presence, but if wishes were fishes... heh. It would be easy to just leave and be somewhere else where everyone agrees with you-- and to be honest, that's absolutely no fun. (Although I don't find much fun in outright argument bashing, either... take that as you will...)
bru sings in party.
Yup, bru sings in party, and gave me gribblies on mnet. To keep things rolling, lets talk about jep. Unlike bru and remmers, I have not had occassion to interact with jep in party. Even in agora, we've never really interacted. However, I've noticed that his are some of the most common-sense and empathetic views on agora. You can always be assured that you're getting a straight-to-the-point, honest opinion from jep. And I love the way he talks about his son. One can tell that there is a father that will always be there for John III
I like hearing about bru's experiences in customs. jep is a nice person who makes an effort to see other people's points of view.
You guys should say nice things about me!
Wait your turn
No.
jep is a kind, modest guy who doesn't mind that polytarp is trying to cut ahead of him. jep probably wishes that we were busy praising some less deserving person anyway.
jep is a good father, and, having met his son, has done a pretty good job of turning his son into a good bowler ;)
Yeah, jep is a good dad. Cares about his brood...not any little, um, petty differences...'nuff said. I'll agree with slynne's sentiments as well.
jep. What can i say but WE ARE JEP! I have known john a long time. He is a fun guy and I used to love playing volleyball with him. He often tries to please as many people as possible and always tries to be fair. I have always been very impressed with how he treats his son and the things he tries to do. My view of that is only from an on-line perspective, but I am confident that it's even more so in real life. I have always appreciated the work John has put into Mnet. Oh yeah, and I almost always agree with him. And he almost always laughs at my jokes.
"WE ARE JEP" ??
I think it may come from his pictures site which is titled as such. Not really sure.
My pictures site was titled by tonster and refers to events on M-Net from about 10 years ago. Jeanne said she saw someone in Montreal who looked like me. Then Jan Wolter said he knew someone in College Station, TX who looked like me. I said Robert Redford looks like me, too. What happened then, I don't understand, but for a while, anytime anyone agreed with me on anything, someone would say, "We are jep!" Jim Knight pretty well killed it, intermittently changing everyone's loginid to display as "jep" for one April Fool's day. Occasionally someone -- usually Dave Cahill -- brings it up again.
Aah, makes sense now. Ok, next up - russ. What nice things do you have to say about russ?
Russ is an extremely intelligent and talented individual with a very imaginative approach to all sorts of problems.
We are Devo. D-E-V-O.
russ is a sex machine to all the chicks
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Didn't ElKosh say "We are all Jep"?.
Russ is right about what?
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Nothing mean spirited. Please elaborate on your comment in resp 49.
russ is good at just wandering into people's houses.
Russ has always been very nice to me. Back in the early days, when I was just learning Unix, and trying to figure out UUCP, he helped me a great deal and was even willing at one point to come over to my work place and show me how to set up parts of it. He's also the one who explained PGP to me. I didn't understand it, but he tried. Russ maintained the archives of the general conferences on M-Net for years. I got a tape of them from him at one time, but the tape wasn't readable, probably due to my lack of knowledge. Maybe someday, if he still has his archives, I'll ask him if I can get a copy once again.
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(Actually, Tod, I had the notion of donating a record of the early days of Unix BBSing to academic researchers. I may yet, if I can find the media before they disintegrate. While my effort and foresight may be worth something, only my own works are mine to sell.) Since I'm a procrastinator and I've been just plain busy, let me put in my two cents about jep. He's taken one of the most soul-wrenching things I could think of having to go through, and he has somehow negotiated it without losing sight of what's important. In a world of failures, he's a success in the way that arguably counts most.
Bru certainly has the gumption to stand up for what he believes in. Well done! Not having had much (if any) contact with jep, I'd be lying if I said anything good orbad about him, except to say he certainly seems, from this thread, to be one of our most popular grexers. Russ is a helpful, cool cat. I like the way he "moseys" everywhere. I just wish he would spend more time in party, but maybe that's part of his appeal...
Alright, next on the firing squad - mary. What makes mary a wonderful person?
What makes "mary" an extremely wonderful person to grex is her willingness to volunteer to take on tough nuts to crack, especially in the area of grex accommodations, insurance, etc. grex couldn't go without the help of such dedicated volunteers.
Mary does a nice job of puncturing inflated arguments, usually without getting any of the mud on herself.
I think it's time we turned our attention to that oh so lovable mynxcat. She'd probably be uncomfortable nominating herself for accolades so... Let's hear some nice things about Sapna!
She does a nice job of promoting the Grexer Gallery.
Re 61: She really doesn't want to hog the spotlight. ;)
I find what Mary has to say is just about always worth reading and considering. She's intelligent and has a much different perspective than I do. She cares very much about people. If I were hospitalized, she'd be the kind of person I'd want for a nurse. Her loginid on M-Net was "chelsea". It remains one of my favorite all- time loginids.
resp:60 ...and usually with a gentle wit. Never wordy.
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Awww /blush But we're not done with Mary yet
mary's in the top ten, maybe 5, of my favorite smart-ass grexers. she rocks.
I love mary because she was the first face I saw after a surgery I had. She was like an angel, she was so nice and sweet, even after I puked on the doctor.
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Mary is quite handy with the soft drinks and graham crackers when you're feeling queasy. That, and she has about the most consistently sharply pointed wit I know of, and never seems to miss her target. She's diplomatic, persistent, and committed to her principles without being closed-minded. If I ever have kids, I'd want them to adopt her as a role model. (Plus I think she'd be hella fun for them as a stand-in gramma!)
Okay, now I'm going to put my foot down and *insist* we talk about mynxcat. Please? ;-) Thanks, all who commented. But the gramma thing was too cruel. ;-)
Don't worry, Mary, Eric won't have kids for another 60 years or so. :)
One does NOT defy Mary Remmers, lest one be subjected to gentle, warm- hearted, kindly intended local nuclear attacks and the like. I've never met Sapna, and don't know a great deal about her, other than her postings about India and her creation of this item. This item says a lot about her. It's a very nice item, and it's *working*; giving people an opportunity to say lots of nice things about others. We focus too much on non-people things sometimes. When we talk about people, too often it's problems. Sapna has turned that around in this item.
Thank you :) That was the main aim of this item. I've seen too many items where a political discussion, or even a mechanical one takes a mud-slinging turn. Also, I've met very few of the people who post on here. I have formed opinions of most people based on what they post and what's posted about them. This item has been pretty helpful in knowing some of these people better (I'd rather not focus on their negative points, I prolly won't meet many of these people, so I'm not interested in their failings)
Very well put, jep. I totally agree with your assessment of Sapna. I also like listening to her stories about her life. You know, getting the cat, the car stuff, things like that.
Hehe. I don't talk that much about my life anymore ;)
John/Jep - Good friend, strong, wise, willing to learn, great dad. Mary - Intelligent, partner in crime to John, pointed wit, diplomatic. Sapna - Supportive, intelligent, beautiful (How I envy the hair!), kind.
Brooke, we haven't spoken since I did it, but the curly hair's gone. Spent $500 to straighten it using that Japanese thermal conditioning, and it's pretty straight now. Still wondering if I made the right choice. Thanks for the kind words. :)
Just to note, resp:78 refers to Mary as "partner in crime to John". Brooke doubtless meant remmers, her husband, and not me, jep. (-:
I *CERTAINLY* hope so.
Damnit I got here too late! I wanna say that Mr Remmers is my favorite Grexer! He is a gentleman to all the ladies and is really helpful when I have a Grex question. He's a guy that can blend in with the hip crowd. :) I like Russ, he offered to have a huge party for susieque and I when when visit Michigan! ;) He has always been nice to me and interested in what I have to say.. or at least that is what my impressions of him have been. Though I've never met in person. I don't know jep at all. I don't know bru or mrs remmers that well. I have met Sapna. She flew to California with a friend and decided to go out of her way to meet me! We had alot of fun and for me being a really shy and quiet person, I found it easy to talk and laugh with her.
I'd say Sapna put some of my old memories back into Grex... she's fun- loving and enjoys party, which I haven't had as much patience for because the flavor of participation has changed since I last participated about seven years ago. But again, very vibrant and youthful, which I think is a good thing for Grex.
I'm most vibrant and youthful.
Aww, thank you. Polytarp/dah/David Hoffman is indeed most vibrant and youthful, though he is incredibly shy on the phone. If you want to have a phone conversation, talk to naftee. But I digress. What I like about mary, and this I learned from remmers is that she took on the oboe or cello about 10 years ago, learned to play it, and plays it well. She was one of the people who inspired me to start learning the piano so late, I was apprehensive about being an adult beginner. Apart from that she has quite a sharp wit. And has gone out of her way to look at other options like colo for grex. Next on the list would be munkey. I'll start. Even though munkey did not state me as her favorite grexer ( :(), she definitely is one of mine. I remember munkey from 1998, when I first started using grex (under a different login), and I liked her even then. I remember looking at her old homepage, with the swinging monkey. I got to know her better in 2002, when I returned to grex, and had the good fortune to meet her last year. She was definitely a lot of fun, and meeting her in person strengthened my belief in her as a wonderful human being. She's great with web-design, and designed a web=page for my cat, free of charge (www.geocities.com/mynxie2002), and of course we have www.grexergallery.net which has been a great success. Besides designing it, munkey is also paying for the domain name and web-space. Any offering to help is met with instructions to donate the money to grex. I for one am very glad to have met her (and we did share quite a few, ahem, secrets at one point). so what do you guys think about munkey?
Munkey is apparently someone with the impressive ability to make a good time out of just about any circumstances. She seems relentlessly perky, and diligent about following through on projects. An all-around enjoyable personality.
fnkymnky !!!!
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Momo's a gas. I'm glad she's been doing a pictures webpage... balynce is a good friend too, but the pages haven't been updated for a little while and this is real nice... I consider it a bridge from older days to new, I guess :) Older Grex pictures (balynce) to newer Grex pictures (munkey) :) The Grexer Gallery forum has been a fun little sidebar, too. The other nice thing was being able to chat in party with someone who was in the same time zone as I was! Heh, I remember one time when we were watching the same program on Cartoon Network... some Popeye cartoon where Olive Oyl had some voice that was different than her usual characteristic one... hehehe. Just little stuff like that. Oh, and the Munkey Grexer Soundcast... momo, you need to bring that back.
She has it on occasionally. That was a fun thing too.
I don't know much more about munkey than she does about me, but I think she's been doing a wonderful job at the Grex Gallery. That's a real service. Thanks, Morena!
Wow. I feel like I died and you guys only have good things to say about me.. i'd like to know the bad things. Someone should create a Hate the Grexer and you can bash me there! YEAH!!
you can go ahwead and create it.
I have to agree with everyone about munkey's fabulous web abilities. That grex photo page is one of the best ones I have seen.
It's an excellent site. For a nostalgia trip into Grex history, I'd suggest checking out Jessica Draper's (balynce) picture site, http://grexers.nether.net . The pictures date from the mid-1990s to around 2000, mostly. There's scads of pictures of long-gone Grexers, plus younger versions of some Grexers who are still around today. One discovers, for example, that 'other' did not always look like he does nowadays...
Aww shucks.
resp:95 thanks for a better explanation of part of what I was trying to say. balynce herself has a wild variety of pictures-- her hair has varied in length and colors. =)
I remember the first time I saw balynce's site. It was so interesting putting faces to all those grexers. And comparing it to munkey's site, it's interesting to see how they've grown. And also the new grexers that have come on board
wow. just checked balynce's site--talk about a blast from the past!
mynx i like the curly hair personally - it's badass. but you should do what you feel most comfortable.
Thanks ;) I'm ok with it either way. It's easier to keep neat this way.
straight.
curly!
So now it's being put to a vote?
Curly
curly
Spikes!
I think I'll go with remmers suggestion ;)
left side curly , right side plain ..make further divisions as and when you come up with new styles.
bald
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Here's one of my favorite grexers/mnetters - jp2, or who is now newjp2. I'm curious, what do you think is good about Jamie Howard II
Jamie is obviously highly intelligent, witty, and persistent as all hell. Of course, without those attributes, he might not be capable of being quite nearly so damnably irritating as he often is.
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...even if said props have recently been accosted by angry skunks.
Actually, angry skunks attack with teeth. Only afraid ones spray with stink. (Herber, 40)
Now, now. Let's not be mean. I've met Jamie, and I think he's very different in person. I think he makes a mean pasta, is a fabulous host, is an interesting person to listen to, and gives very good hugs. And he had a very cool apartment, right down to the framed magazine covers.
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And I believe you.
Jamie amuses me.
I think Grexers are retarded and refuse to listen to reason.
jamie reminds me of a guy I used to know. he eventually started some crazy isp on Sealand. I have a feeling that Jamie will probably take this as a compliment although it isnt entirely meant as one. ;) In other words, Jamie is smart (although he thinks he is smarter than he actually is), arrogant enough to try crazy ventures which is how successful people are made, and witty in an odd way that endears some people to him while at the same time pissing off a whole different crowd.
jp2's the guy who made me realise how fun it can be to enter silly items in policy and coop conferences, not that I wouldn't've figured it out soon enough anyways.
Jamie's items usually have some sort of reason to them, dah's items are just entered for amusement effect.
I could agree with that.
What ever happened to the ISP on Sealand, anyway?
Beats me.
www.havenco.com....it's still there.
I cannot recall the name of the founder slynne mentions, but from what I understand, he separated from HavenCo Ltd. early on due to a rebellion among the middle-management while he was fund-raising.
Jamie is easily cognitively smarter than even he thinks he is - emotionally, on the other hand . . . . He is a dear friend, a fun drunk, an inveterate flirt and grateful guest. And he gets down on the floor to lay next to my cat.
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Heh. True, Dan, and with Jamie you never know. I'm not sure whether I mentioned this, but Jamie makes a wonderful host too. Let's see, next let's talk about cross. Dan has been a good AIM friend. He's smart and interesting and knows much more about Indian history than I will ever know. He's had an interesting life, and is always willing to share it. He gave ma an account on his server so that I could grex and AIM from work (I realise I was guinea pig to his experiments, but I benefited just as much as he did from the process if not more ;) ) He's an open person about his feelings and emotions, and he has this thing for Indian women ;)
He likes to fuck them.
cross seems to have a lot of good ideas
AHaha, like the one about fucking Indian women! Good joke!~ haha (lo.)
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I see Jamie got his password changed. Will do, Dan. I'll be using it again on Monday.
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I really enjoyed meeting Jamie when he came to Tecumseh with Brooke and their friend Amit. I was a bit bummed when I wasn't able to meet up with him again while I was in Washington DC. Jamie was very nice, tolerant of my son, and interesting to talk to. He's definitely got some interesting ideas. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Dan, but on-line I very much enjoy reading his posts in technical discussions about Grex, and for that matter, his discussions on other topics. I am very pleased he has joined the staff of Grex.
I don't know jp2 that well, so I'll just say that he seems to be popular: a good thing to be. As for Dan: Smart, knowledgeable, humble enough to know that he's not always humble. I'm pleased he's a GREX staffer, too. THE END.
My votes go in the following order: 1. mooncat 2. pfv 3. Jazz
twenex - If you were around long enough, you'd know that jp2's popular for all the wrong reasons ;) (He's very popular in my book though) Sidhdharth, you're missing the exercise. I didn't ask you to state who your favorite grexers are. the rules of the game is I'm going to present one grexer, and you have to say only god things about them. If you have nthing good to say, just pass. I'll be featuring a new grexer every few days. You are free to comment on grexers that have already been presented - so far remmers, bru, russ, jep, jp2, cross, mary, munkey, mynxcat.
Oh yeah, you also get to vote on whether my hair looks better straight or curly.
I still think you should do spikes. Dye it neon green while you're at it.
I don't think I'd get a decent job after that :(
Hi mynxcat! I enjoyd your telephone call back in the day
I did too. Maybe I should call you again sometime. Did you check out my new webpage? Remember how you designed one for me... those were the good old days.
I deisgned the old trioshell webpage too. Those were the days.
Can we talk about maryeliz now? I miss not seeing her in party cus she made all these new AOL friends ;(
AOHell? Whatta they gots to offer? What's wrong with talkin' in party and to all them AOHell friends?
We just feel used, she used to be in party all the time. Now she doesn't come on anymoe because she found AOL :( I have neen trying to keep te people here mostly agora users, but we can make an exception - What's so god about maryeliz (formerly buddy)
I found most people very nasty to maryeliz.
Maryeliz is one of the micest folks you'll find in party. Always a warm greeting and a friendly word.
(I think goose meant "nicest". ;)
"mice" works too. ;) j/k Re 154 is disqualified. You're supposed to talk about maryeliz, not about how people act toward her. How many times do i have to explain the rules??
Re #144, So I don't get to nominate my own say-something-good-about person? Was "Sidhdhartha" deliberate or just a typo?
Typo. You can nominate your own person, but just one person at a time. And give at least 3 days for people to say what they have to say, before you nominate your next person. (I am bending the rules a little, the was originally supposed to be people nominated by me, but hey, what the heck.)
I have met maryeliz several times in person and she is friendly, sincere, and unselfish. So are her parents (one of whom gave us a computer and then found us a 56K modem as well). And I particularly like the fact that none of them drive.
From what little I know of maryeliz, she is very sweet.
She's a pot-head and a racist.
Not that there is anything wrong with that.
There're lots of things wrong with them both.
I would just like to say to all the people who had nice things to say about me thanks for having a nice opinion about me. And to morena, i'll try to log on more often. Because i know that when i'm done with aol, grex will still be here for me that is if i continue to be loyal to them. And to dah, don't even start. Trust me you don't want me to unleash my wrath on you.
Whatever, racist.
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Cross is cool cus he said cool things about me. Uhm what else. I didn't know he was part of staff. Way to go! and Uhm what else.. I really don't know him that well but maybe you should send more pictures to the grexergallery! When is it time to talk about susieque? To susieque, Susie you are hot, all the guys want you cus you're a sexy mom and you're always there to talk to and laugh with on yahoo and on grex. I hope to someday meet you and your family in person and then we can go cruisin down the mean streets of chicago. What else. I know some of your deepest thoughts and it makes me chuckle when you fiddle with your computer cus then you break it and then can't fix it and then you're internetless forever and then I start missing you and that is no fun. *breathe* right now I'm all over the place but i don't care if you don't get it. I have alot of good things to say about susie but I will stop here.
Hey Dan!! Although me and Dan get into skirmishes pretty often, still I think Dan's a sport. Keep going, Dan!! And remember, vote for no-war-Howard-Dean :P ;-)
Aaah, susie. Susie visited with me in June. Man, can that woman party!. It was great meeting her in person and getting to know her better. She's one heck of a woman, and extremely hot! I'd say more, but I think she'd kill me! (yeah, we're discussing susieque now)
I can't help but wonder if Susie should meet my wife Julie. They both seem young at heart, fun and free. That's a good thing, by the way. She also enlivens party-- along with Sapna, Morena, and a few others, I think she's helped keep it fun. (even if I'm not there a lot... we need to like get more of those folks) Oh, and yes, Susie is hot, won't disagree there.
Oh one more thing about Cross. I like the fact that he is not afraid to ask for more compliments. :P
That's cross for you. Never the shy one
re: 157 ..oops dint realise it was THIS item .. ofcourse susieque is hot.
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Of course we are.
Thanks guys :) *hugs*
Susie is a bright star in the party world. One of my favorites to chat with late at night. And she is a sex symbol without even trying. Tres hot.
let's hear it for STeve ...... a fantastic founder and extra-giving man.
STeve it is. Let's hear it for STeve, (and why are the first TWO letters always capitalised?)
whole bunch of typos.
The first two letters are capitalized because he often doesn't get the shift key released before hitting the T. He was a big time user of confer (a pre-curser to picospan on merit) and usenet. He went to a computer conference and was being introduced to some people. One of them asked "are you the STeve?" When STeve said he was, the guy called to some friends to come over to meet him. He didn't know before that that the ST made his posts stand out, and that people recognized and watched for them. He has used it ever since. I won't say anything else about him as I am a bit biased :-)
Biased or not, if you have something good to say, say it :)
There are so many good things one can say about STeve that it seems impossible to pick out just a few. STeve is smart, passionate, and ready to laugh, and if his kids are any indication, he's a damn good dad, too.
Smart True even very electic
Acrostics are made only by talentless hacks.
(electic?)
eat me.
(that was re 186)
Steve seems like a good guy.
Ok. He is smart, witty, supportive, loving, caring, a good husband, and a good father. When my job went to Chicago, he encouraged me to take advantage of the Federal Displaced Workers Act and go to WCC to get an Associates Degree full time even though it took me out of the earnings game. When it turned into 2 Associates, three Mastery Certificates, and now a BS and MS, he still said to go for it. He worries about me taking on too much so enforces doing fun things to balance the stress. (He even stressed out about his having a stroke adding more stress to my life, the silly goon.)
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Yeah, I have never heard of that one. Nor has google ;)
There is or was an act that if a company of more than 50 employees closed down, the empolyees could pursue a training program of up to 2 years. I worked at ENCOTEC, and environmental testing laboratory. We got bought out by Safey-Kleen. They already had a lab in Chicago and felt that they didn't need our facility in Ann Arbor. They took the top employees with them (at least those of us that wanted to go, and yes I was offered a big raise to do so), the rest and those of us that didn't want to relocate were laid off. The Act paid for my first Mastery Certificate and first Associates Degree as the classes for both overlapped. My job was taking the raw data from the chemists, entering it into the computer and generating a final report for the client.
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It was handled through my local unemployment office. They set it up with an agency here in Michigan that handles stuff like this for them. I had a contact that I reported to every month with a quick phone call, letter, or email. She handled vouchers between them and the school for tuition and books, I just gave her a list of classes and the books and supplies required, she sent vouchers to WCC and to the bookstore, I went and picked them up.
They should have informed you of the program when you were laid off. We had meetings with state and federal officials during the period between the announcement of the closing and the actual closing. They had all kinds of paperwork explaining all our rights and options. The only corker on the education was that you had to be enrolled full time and had to complete the program within 24 months.
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Wow. That sounds like a great program. Thanks for sharing.
STeve sucks.
I said, only good things.
A lot of people woudl think that *is* a good thing...
(iwbg-iwbg)
Way back when I was 19, living in the CalPoly dorms, I met this dude online that had an account on Grex, his name was superboy. I was curious and did a finger on grex and I saw STeve online. I sent him a talk request and he responded promptly. I asked him questions about Grex and he gladly answered them. Out of the blue he said "I'm married and I have two kids" and I thought to myself 'heh this guy must think I want to hotchat' hehe So anyway, those weren't my intentions. I told him about me and how I had heard of Grex and he told me a little about Staci and Damon. We talked for sometime. I doubt he remembers this happening but I do cus he was the second Grexer I had ever met. He was helpful, kind and informative. Eventually I joined Grex sometime after that and 8.5 years later, I'm still here and so is STeve! Thanks for helping keep Grex alive STeve!
I'm sure he does remember, he's like that.
I thought STeve and glenda had 3 kids, Staci, Damon, and one who used to log on as laotzu or something? I could be mistaken, though
laotzu is Misti (mta)'s son Corey.
Oh, so it's just Staci and Damon then?
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Misti is second mom to Damon and Staci (our 2 kids), and I am second mom to Corey and TJ (her 2 that are just a couple of years older than ours). Whichever mom was closest disaplined or hugged as needed. Staci and Damon often refer to Corey and TJ as their 'brothers'. It seems that we are also secondary parents to half of Community High and a percentage of kids (the percentage that Staci hangs with) at both Huron and Pioneer. She has informed me that we have been voted "the coolest parents" at Community.
re 203 I WANT BIG GOOFS
Thanks Glenda, that makes sense :) md. He's up next. Personally i think md makes a lot of sense. When he does post, he does so with humor and wit. And he always makes sense. Always.
I love md, but he's ignoring me now.
I love you furs!
(Mary struggles to come up with just the right words to convey her fondness and respect for md, but it all sounds too sweet and mushy. So instead she just hums a few of bars of Pachelbel's Canon in D, and smiles.)
(The cello part?)
All eight notes. ;-)
The perky conference. 'nuff said. Wish it was more active.
re #215: Mary definitely knows how to pick a fight.. re #218: In other words it's not perky enough?
Md is an astonishingly literate and creative guy. Thought so when I first ran into him on M-Net circa 1985, and nothing since has changed my opinion. He's interesting and entertaining even when he's wrong.
Wasn't md an fw-abuser?
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md always makes me laugh. he is very creative. he rules
he is my chicken hawk.
resp:219 it hasn't been very perky lately.
Steve's friendly, as is Mary (no; she's very friendly). Q is unparallelled.
Ok, this item has been ignored long enough. Next on the firing squad, janc. (I'm not sure if we've disected him yet, if we have, let me know)
He's smart as a whip, a source of sane argument and a great dad.
He knows where I live.
Janc posts some of the most thoughtful, interesting, and quotable responses I've seen.
Re 229 - And that is good, how?
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Fear of janc holds tpryan in check.. (apparently)
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I can't remember what janc did for me that was helpful but I'm sure there are many things. All I know is that he's a smart guy that helps Grex alot and that the librarian currently sitting at the circulation desk, here at school, looks a lot like Jan. Woah I just saw another guy that looks like him! Weird.
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Jan is one of the very most interesting people who have ever logged onto either Grex or M-Net. I can still remember specific posts he wrote years ago, which were distinctive for their insight and humor. (His philosophical response to objectivism, which he called subjectivism; his response in an introduction item in which he described himself in terms of wavicles; a response in which he analogized life to being more like a spinning disk than a ladder; and of course, his M-Net dating program.) Jan is a treasure.
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M-Net dating program?
Jan's M-Net dating program is a classic. Ranks right up there with my Mary Poppins filter.
One thing I remember about Jan is that he had the coolest (in all senses of the term) office on campus, on the roof of one of the engineering buildings next to Ulrichs.
Jan is always saying things online here that make me think, "dang, I wish I had said that"
Wow...this is quite the Love Fest. Good job, Sapna! I don't think I can add anything to what's already been said so far about anyone. I'd feel redundant. :p You should talk about Mooncat soon.
I'll bite. Anne seemed fairly warm and genuine when I met her in A2, and hey, she's a gamer, so that's a good thing in my book. She's comfortable with herself, too.
Anne has beautiful eyes.
mooncat keeps good minutes of meetings, and posts them quickly.
mooncat is another of my favorite people on grex. She is genuine, really nice, and very pretty. I've met her twice, and would love to meet her again. Another thing I noticed is she finds it very hard to say anything negative about anybody. She seems to have a lot of patience, which is an attractive quality to have.
I'll second all of that. Annie's by best friend after all. My mom and sister have adopted her it seems. Anne sticks by her friends. She's among the quieter of the people I know, but don't let that fool you into thinking she's not strong or doesn't have her opinions. Just the opposit in fact. She's been in my corner this past three years. I couldn't have found a better friend.
I read her secretarial notes after attending grex meetings to find out what really happened there.
Anne? She's the shiznit.
I love Mooncat and have been doing that for years. I love Bhelliom too. I count them among the people I truly hold dear, and they are worth it. I hope to see them again. This year, alas, didn't work out as I passed A2 at one hour driving distance on my human powered vehicle in my attempt to cross the continent.
<blushes> Awww, thanks everybody. :)
whore.
Jerk.
Ignored this iten long enough. Next keesan. I'll start. I find keesan's lifestyle commendable, even if it's something I would never do. (I'm materialistic). She seems to have a big heart, and recognises the good in other people. She's proved her generosity more than once, and especially when it would encourage a greener lifestyle. She has shown great courage and endurance in the face of her illness. Her interest in most things around her is attractive, and her knowledge of langiages and plants (at leas compared to mine) is amazing. An the fact that she can live with lynx. Personally, I could ot imagine the internet without color and images ;)
I would never have met anyone like Sindi without Grex. We live in different worlds. But... when I was having my greatest difficulties getting through my divorce, it was Sindi (and Jim) who invited me over, again and again, persistently. For dinner, for games, to sit and talk. They invited me to stay overnight. They came to visit me. In Tecumseh. On *bicycles*. One stormy night, Sindi called me to let me know they'd be here the next day. I asked if they'd like to be picked up. It was storming pretty badly. No, they didn't need me to pick them up. They were fine. They'd pitched their tent in someone's barn. Sindi is enormously, amazingly stubborn, to the point of being a force of nature. I am as sorry as can be that she's sick with lymphoma. I don't know many people who are better equipped to recover from such a horrible problem. I have benefitted greatly from getting to meet Sindi. While I don't want to live the kind of life she does, I admire and respect her for doing it.
Sindi is a very kind hearted person. Also one who lives according to her beliefs and I can respect that. She is one of the most unusual and interesting people I have ever met.
I've always been a big "do it yourself" type, but Sindi (and let's not forget Jim) are a big inspiration for doing more with less.
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What I most respect about her -- and I think a lot of people don't realize -- is that she has a sense of humor about herself.
I've seen that humor surface a few times. It's subtle, but it's there :)
Keesan - Intelligent, Generous of spirit and nature, Ecologically with it, determined.
Sindy is amazing. She never fails to address any gexers from Europe in their native tongue (provided it's eastern european, or Dutch, bet she speaks german as well)
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