Nice to hear from you Bruce. Can't you think of better things to think about than me? LOL! Seriously it's nice to be remembered.
I tried to subscribe another email address to the listserv and there is just nothing I can do. It's just locked up really tight so I'm even wondering if any new subscribers can get on? We might just be locked down to whomever is here at the moment, but I'm not for sure.
The glory days of the list seem to be in the past since and it's a shame, but it's clearly evident why. The mass use of internet and the social media platforms have just completely watered things down. It used to be that if you "on the list" you were automatically in a close-knit group that required some level of computer savvy to find and get on to. Admittedly though, isn't it so much easier to just click 'Join Group' on facebook, kick back, and let the information and pictures roll in? Before, you had to send emails in to subscribe, unsubscribe (how many times did we see 'unsubscribe' sent to the list? LOL!), and all other queries done in a fashion that was appropriate for the level of technology we had at hand . It's a pity shame the archived posts, to my knowledge, are gone. If John Sroka has any of them, it would be nice to get ahold of them and spread them around.
I learned that last winter, Gerald Livingston succumbed to heart disease. He was on here, but more so on the type2 listservs. We didn't find out until many months later, but wondered why the Buskatiers website that he hosted had gone off-line. I got to see him about a year before he died when my wife and I went down to the gulf coast for a getaway trip. I had a hunch it might have been the last time I'd see him alive. He had a ton of VW and Commodore computer stuff laying around plus a ton of other equipment.
I never did forget Scott Yuppa who was on the list a short time and passed away in an airplane accident with his dad Carmine (I think?). We've lost quite a few others and it's sad that in our minds, we met these amazing individuals who were so giving of their time and knowledge and if we were really fortunate, we got to meet them in person - and with the passing of time - they're gone. Bob Hoover is also missed.
I hate to think the list has degraded into a bunch of old fogies sitting around thinking about the past, but with such a large movement towards social media, perhaps we should look at a side-gig of adding a vintagvw group to facebook. I mean, it could really revitalize the list by sharing the wit and wisdom of the old-timers with any new-comers who might be interested. I always did prefer the email aspect as it was fast and like reading a good book. Like radio was prior to TV - the pictures in our heads were removed once we could see who was talking. I'm on facebook, but I really limit what I share on there and it seems that it's a very successful surveillance machine and that fact alone makes me not like it.
Oddly enough, since I don't change easily with time, I still carry around a 2003 Motorola V60s cell-phone which Verizon has continued to allow to operate on their towers. It fits in my bib pocket quite nicely and is loud enough to be heard over the saw at work - even while doing a full rip on a board. I had a truck driver this past week say, "Is that a cell phone?" It struck me that is now an old term. Today it's called a smartphone. I own several smartphones and use them when I travel, but for the day to day monotony of life - it's what I like. Old cars are the same way - they might not get as good of mileage and might not have all the modern conveniences, but there is a certain amount of freedom one gains by sticking with the familiar, the easily repaired, and something within your skill level to fix and maintain. My V60 has had it's motherboard dropped into a new shell 7 to 10 times at this point. I take the phone apart, fix it, and it keeps right on working. Even soldering the internal antenna connector back on is something I've gotten good at.
Anyway, concerning the listserv at present. I found this archive:
https://www.mail-archive.com/vint...@googlegroups.com/ so that might provide some way to look for old posts. At this point though, it seems we are invisible list not easily accessible. That ended with the demise of the old sjsu server of years gone by.
I fully expect that we will see some frantic messages requesting to unsubscribe from those who forgot they were subbed because it's been so long since they joined. It just kind of goes with the territory when suddenly a big ol' post comes through the email that one isn't used to seeing.
I guess that's it for now. I'll sit back and see what everyone else has to say.
NQ