A Day of Thanks 9/2

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I was overwhelmingly touched to receive the new laptop you Filers chipped in to get me. And impressed with the behind-the-scenes coordination between JJ, Diana, and John King Tarpinian to have it delivered and brought to me here in the hospital. It’s an amazing gift. I am so happy to get it.

Yesterday, John showed me how to use the new laptop. To acclimate myself I started on some background tasks — there were about 6000 comments in  the queue, and nearly all — but not all — are spam. I got that down to 4800 and freed a few real comments. More of your trapped-in-amber remarks will be released as I continue.

I am able to do a bit more each day, and I feel that typing words again is speeding my recovery, some combination of verbal thought together with physical action, which multiplies the benefits of the generous community here. I’m grateful to have your help and support.

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124 thoughts on “A Day of Thanks 9/2”

  1. Relieved to have you back again, Mike. I hope you can get back soon to herding all us SJW credentials without hurting your health.

  2. You got your laptop. Yay. In rehab they encouraged using the computer and connecting with the outside – said it was good for the mind and the body so your onto something. 😀

    We miss you.

    Thanks JJ, Diana, and JKT for doing the heavy lifting so we could show OGH how much we care.

  3. Yay Mike! I’m sure having something to do, even wading through spam, is good for your recovery. Be sure to watch some nice SFnal videos now and again too.

  4. I’m so glad to hear that the laptop is working out well, and that you’re feeling better. Hopefully, you will be able to go home very soon. 🙂

  7. 6000 comments? And I thought my email queue after a week off at work was bad!

    Keep on getting better, Mike.

    (Very carefully ticks the box…)

    ETA: this article seems to have an odd artifact just after Mike’s text – a picture placeholder that links to an webmail url referencing an IMG file. Mike, were you trying to attach a photo from email or something?

  10. Delighted to have you re-joining the party. You and Diana were missed at MACII, but very, very much in everyone’s thoughts. Please be careful, be well, and be happy (if only because it’ll piss some people off).

  11. What a wonderful gift. Thank you filers for doing that.

    Glad you are posting a bit more and continuing to recover Mike

  15. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

    It's so good to hear from you, Mike.

    Keep getting better.

    Get all the better.

    We are patient, and having fun amusing ourselves 🙂

  20. Good to hear from you at (relative) length Mike! Don’t worry too much, the place is in excellent condition, no shoggoths* at all!

    * = not intended to be a legal/ scientific/ medical claim. In the event of actual shoggoths, kindly refer to your nearest Sorcerer Supreme.

  21. I exchanged e-mails with Mike earlier today.

    He said: I wrote a thank-you piece on the 9/2 page that will unveil tonight. Once it goes up you can add any details you want. I bet the inside story will be fun to read.

    My response was: Hahaha… the “inside story” is that I and a bunch of other Filers were all feeling deprived that you weren’t around, except with occasional tiny posts made on that cumbersome Kindle, and I said “Screw that! Let’s make sure that the only thing stopping Mike from being online with us is his physical health, and not his technological resources!”

    95% of the donations came in during the first 48 hours. Thanks again to all of you who so generously donated. 🙂

  22. I don’t quite understand what’s happened to Mike except that it has been severe and that he’s had a long-term hospitalization. A whole, big bunch of very unhappy things can be inferred just with those two data points, and having worked in a hospital, many of them come to mind.

    Whatever it is, I wish my great and good friend the best care available and the smoothest of recoveries. That he has a new laptop is a cool thing, and it’s neat that he has it. Kudos to all who helped get it to him.

    I’m worried about my friend. I’m glad he is of good cheer.

  24. @Mike – You are a braver man than I to tackle the 6000, not to mention every other task that surely awaits. When I was hospitalized, my Out of Office reply ended with:

    Due to the length of my convalescence, do not assume that I will get through the inevitable backlog of email. Anything sent solely to myself during this time will most likely live out its existence unread.

    I wish you all the spoons you need.

  28. You got your laptop. Yay. In rehab they encouraged using the computer and connecting with the outside – said it was good for the mind and the body so your onto something.

    A scroll full of pixels helps the medicine go down.

    Glad to hear you’re getting better. This place gets weird when you’re not around. Not bad weird, mind, just… shoggothy.

  30. Mister Dalliard: Hush! We weren’t going to use the Sh word, remember? [casually tosses some old forehead cloths over a slimetrail] Nothing to see here, nothing at all!

  32. A vote of thanks to JJ, Diana, and JKT for stepping up.

    Great to hear that OGH has returned.

    No one hear has seen a single shoggoth, not a one.

  33. No one hear has seen a single shoggoth, not a one

    Just don’t ask us about multiple shoggoths.

  34. Hooray for your improving health, and hooray for your benefactors!

    I’m sorry you had to go through all the spam. Sometimes a thing seems like a good idea at the time, and showing… it… how to use the computer really kept it out of our hair for a while, but I see now that that was wrong and I certainly won’t do that again.

  35. The next thing should be installing a retro-tickybox button on the site. I estimate such a button would eliminate, oh, LOTS of unnecessary and uninformative comments. Just comment, hit enter, and then click the retro-ticky. Now that I think about it, this would also save my forehead from getting smacked regularly. And maybe “yours,” too! THINK ABOUT IT.

  38. So glad to hear that Mike is doing better. I’ve been worried because it’s been quite a lengthy hospitalization.
    Wishing you all the best Mike and thank you for continuing work on this blog. And indeed a big thank you for tech upgrade organizers.

  40. Yay Mike! So glad your upgrade arrived and that you’re feeling well enough to start sorting the recycle from the trash.

  41. Glad you are dependably back online, and I hope that your recovery continues apace. I’m sure it must have been galling having to be hors de combat during Worldcon!

  44. Mike-We missed you and it will be wonderful to have you back! So glad to hear that recovery is coming along and that we, in some small way, could help with it. The shoggoth wrangling has been sub-par during your absence.

  45. except with occasional tiny posts made on that cumbersome Kindle

    In the funding page, I believe it said he was working on a 1st generation Kindle. Did that mean the first generation of LCD-based Kindles, or really a 1st generation, vintage Kindle Keyboard with the electronic paper display?

  46. Good to see you getting your virtual voice back. What’s the current ETA for you being home again?

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