[T3] List & Personal Update

[Greg Merritt <gregm@vwtype3.org>]

To all,

	Sorry that I've been relatively scarce around here over the past
six months or so.  Here's what's been up with the me, and how these things
have impacted the list...

	In December, made the decision to move 2,500 miles to Berkeley,
California.  The '69 Squareback and the '70 bus are getting picked up by
auto transport in two weeks, the moving truck picks up our stuff on the
thirteenth of July, and we've got one-way plane tickets from Detroit to
Oakland for the morning of the fourteenth.

	However, between last December and today, I...

	o did a chunk of Web design work on the side for a client
	o flew to Atlanta for work
	o gave notice (six months ahead of time) at my current job
	o flew to California with my four-year old to enroll her in school
	o developed a repetitive stress injury
	o applied for jobs in California
	o flew to California to interview for jobs
	o renewed VWType3.Org with presence provider
	o did more freelance Web work on the side for another client
	o got a job ;)
	o recovered from repetitive stress injury
	o replaced calipers & rotors on the '69 Squareback
	o replaced gen5a~n '69 Squareback
	o schlepped tons o' parts to VW swap meet
	o flew to Denver for work
	o started working (2,500 mile telecommute) @ California job
	o replaced rear brakes on '70 bus
	o (still working the Michigan job...)
	o started packing
	o drove to Pittsburgh & back
	o turned down Web work for another client
	o got another project request from a former client

	The list of what I *haven't* done in the same time period is even
longer. ;)  To add to the overhead, I'm spending all of next week in
Indiana running a workshop for the "old" job, then coming back to host
relatives over the holiday weekend, working a couple of full days at the
"old" job, and then I have a few days left to finish up packing.

	Whew!

	I hope this provides some context for the lack of movement on the
t-shirt design voting.

	Also, you may notice in the list above that I payed for another
year of VWType3.Org.  Well, actually, many of YOU payed for it:  We raised
enough money in the fall of 1997 to carry us through until spring of 2000.
(Er, there's actually still $150 in the bank, and the Internic fee will
come due this fall for like thirty-five bucks, but it's all groovy.)
Several of you new to the group have written me asking to donate, but I've
asked you to hold off -- I simply have been doing too much to be able to
depend on myself to track donations & deposit them, etc.

	I have the greatest intentions of doing all kinds of nutty things
yet with the VWType3.Org site, but they're on the massive "to-do" list.
(Somewhere between "fix the ATF leak on the '69" and "replace the CV boots
on the Bus.")  In the meantime, I've just put my attention toward keeping
the list going.  I just added unsub instructions to the beginning of every
digest, and I'm thinking next about automating a weekly "list policies/how
to manage your subscription" administrivia posting.  I'll eventually also
add a filter to bounce messages that quote too much of previous messages
(hint, hint).  We need, desparately, to have all list posts ever made
folded intov’éed archives, and to have every single new post added to
this archive auto-magically.

	I would also like to draw everyone's attention to Sonny, who has
taken over management of the VWType3.Org classifieds.  This has been a big
help.  Everybody please give Sonny a pat on the back!  Thanks, Sonny!


	I hope to meet some of you in California, eventually.  (I'll be
pretty darn busy for... well, longer than I'm willing to admit to myself!)
A big, huge bonus for the move is getting the VWs out of the salt belt, and
getting garage parking for the '69 Squareback.  Hooray!  Better yet, I'll
be commuting by train to work, and my wife expects to be able to walk to
work, so our cars will only get driven a couple of times a week -- keep
that mileage down, especially on the '69.  It won't become a trailer queen,
mind you, but I hope to spend as much time waxing it as driving it some
weeks. :)

	O.k.!  Off to cross more things off of the list.  I think "dinner"
is up next...

Cheers,
-Greg Merritt, Your Humble List Custodian
'69 Squareback
('71 Squareback soon to depart)
'70 Bus
'63 Beetle (soon to be reunited!)


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