How 'bout we move on?

yeah... hey, I seem to be back. Betcha you'll never guess why (a rhetorical invitation, btw). Lasted a whole fortnight, too - in spite of some hearfelt emails from people in the Zone who I've come to regard as good friends - owing to a stubborn streak that's almost a comic-opera stereotype of my Irish ancestors. There are, nevertheless, some temptations I cannot resist.

And while I was losing my resistance, and my reluctance was sputtering off in discrete quanta and restoring my insatiable curiosity to its ground state, I read this thread, another on the topic, and finally most of the thread I started two weeks ago. I'd been given a clue or two about which posts I might want to avoid; others were fairly obvious. And there were some surprises.

This is an anti-flame (I'm a fire protection designer, remember?). There are people who don't have my email address who posted comments on this board which, frankly, blew me away. My deepest thanks go to DA, who understood my mind and heart on the issue and defended them more eloquently than I could have done myself. Many thanks are also due to SDAI, Marcia, and Tom - the latter, especially, for this.

If I may quote the Lion, "Aw, shucks, folks - I'm speechless."

My Internet access is limited in unpredictable ways, in terms of daily timing and of duration - except Friday and Saturday nights while working at Accuweather (where I am now) - so don't expect a torrent of commentary. But, there are big important issues to debate, not just here but all over the planet, in the coming weeks and months - and hey, folks, there are some others from Before September 11 which haven't gone away...

And yeah, Space is still Out There waiting, too.

Pass me another helping of crow pot pie, will ya? I'm suddenly ravenous.

Best wishes to all,

E'