Time to Relax

[Hat Monster]

All the best with your search for a new hobby, IB. You hosted my Sushi Bar and gave me the most reliable email address I've ever used and, well, let's not forget the devil twins. Even though they're down at the moment...well, I think now is a good a time as any to put a determined effort in to get that box working again.

H@

[Zoso]

Best of luck to you IB. You're the best man.

Detachment ATTEN-SHUN!
Pre-sent, ARMS!

Oder, ARMS!

[Jammy]

Originally posted by Zoso
Best of luck to you IB. You're the best man.

Detachment ATTEN-SHUN!
Pre-sent, ARMS!

Oder, ARMS!

SALUTE!

[Scotttheking]

I remember back when I was new and you were always helping me out.
Good luck in all your future endeavors.

--Scott

[Scoofy12]

Thanks for providing such a great home and atmosphere to get me back into DC.


Take care of yourself!

[IronBits]

Thank you all for your words of praise and thanks.
I am very happy to have met you all and proud that we stood together as one to battle the diseases and problems of our time.
My heart bursts with pride to be part of this great effort.
You will always be in my thoughts and memories.
I am grateful for all that you have done to help out with these global problems.

We have divided into Teams to create competition and increase the levels of participation. In these Teams, there are many varied formats, web designs, logos, names, strengths and personalities, all hoping to encourage members to join one team or the other, but, once you remove the 'armor and uniforms' we are left standing as one, all with the same common goal, to ease human suffering and increase knowledge within the human race.
May we never lose sight of this most basic level of participation and strength.

December 24th is Free-DC's 2nd birthday. It sure has come a long ways in that short period of time. I am proud to have been part of it, as I'm sure you all are.
I am watching with interest as you continue to grow in strength and numbers. We have become one of the top DC Teams because of your efforts and I expect more of the same to continue.

I would like to say a special thank you to Dyyryath for all his assistance he has given me the past two years, DarknessProduction for his invaluable help with stats behind the scenes and the creation of the Free-DC Super Computer and Magnav0x for his efforts in helping me to create the http://stats.Free-DC.org History databases. I could not have done what I have in the past two years without their help.
There are many others that that I should mention but the list would go on and on.
Heretic, thanks for the assistance when I needed to move the Ars Teams. Because of your help, it was flawlessly done and painless to everyone.

/me tips hat to all members of all Teams and to those that wished me well in my new life and hobbies.

You have all impressed me in one way or another over the years.
Keep up the good work and never give up!

[Hinton]

Originally posted by rsbriggs
Dunno if many people remember those days of things like Exec-PC-BBS and Rusty-N-Eddies...

I remember porn comming to Denmark supposedly originating from Rusty-N-Eddies. I guess it had a porn section

[phlump]

Get well soon, IB!

[pointwood]

Hey Phlump!

Good to see you again - hope you're doing well too in your new job and all!

[mr_mann]

its time to retire the avatar of one of the greatest people on the internet

if this was more like the army we would have a big ceremony where
lots of younger soldiers would stand in formation and present u with
awards and plaques and all sorts of goodies but for here we can
just wish u good luck and better health

Goodbye old friend

[Marc_1]

Well it seems, as usual, I'm late the the game.

While I still check these forums daily, as I have since their inception, I suppose my attention is elsewhere, hence my reason for missing this important, and saddening thread.

Some of you know me, some of you know who I am, some of you are even my friends. I'm proud to say, IronBits knows me better than most.

Since the days before Free-DC, IronBits and I have had conversations, about DC, about computers, about life. About personal issues.

While not unheard of, it's rare to find a person "online" that you connect with, that you can truly call a "friend".

The man known as "IronBits", is truly, a dear friend of mine. One that will be, and has been already, greatly missed.


As I said, I'm not around much lately, life, personal issues, and my job, distract me from that which I helped start. That which, could NEVER have been started without IB.

From the first thought of an open DC community, to our first website, to his West coast, and my East coast IRC server, IB has been there, with time, resources, and, probably more importantly, patience.

I"ve seen IB "take a break" before. Let us all hope, that this is one of those such "breaks".

If not, then I can do no more, than offer you my best regards, my thoughts, my help should you require it, and my friendship should you need it.

As has been said, you know how to get in touch with me. Just do me one favor, at least keep in touch with one of us. Don't make me come out there to check on you.

Not sure your health could handle the beer that would be involved in that.

As always,
Marc

[gopher_yarrowzoo]

IB mate you'll be missed, your wit, humor and general okay come get Me attidute was fun... Didn't know all that stuff but I remember all that and I wasn't on the net at that time, I just heard rumors..
No-one is worthy enough to step in and take over from you mate...
Hope your health improves.. dang bet weaning yourself computing is hard... I know I couldn't...
<mad spell>NO you can't take her away NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!</mad spell>
you are friend, GOD, all round funny guy, I know I just got round to reading this post (dang PC decided I had read all the posts in here *smacks it one*)

You will be sorely missed by everyone oh and don't worry Im sure the Fridge will be kept well stocked I'll make sure of it...
dang here have a crate of on the house mate
Cheers for all the hardwork and dedication to Team Ars and Free-DC

*gets out trumpet and plays the Last Post*


And someone was right Old Crunchers don't die they just evolve
Peace, Stroll On...
Con: Warp 7 Heading 314Mark35....
Engage.......

[LAURENU2]

I for one am vary happy you could stick around and I am vary proud to call you a friend

I don't know how to say this, as it is hard for me...
My health has gone down hill, and my doctors tell me I must get away from computers.
My hobby for the past 20 years has been my passion and something I have felt very strongly about.
Now it's time for me to pass the torch and let others carry on.

Here is some of my history highlights I'd like to share with you....

I have done alot for the computer community starting way back in 1983.
I ran a free BBS and provided free Netmail, echomail, forums and free downloads of files.
I taught folks how to repair their computers and get more performance from them.
I also provided coverage to 1/3 of the globe for email/netmail and files.
There were 3 of us in the United States and we split the costs amongst ourselves to provide this free service back when there were only modems.
At the height of my 'career/hobby' I had a total of 6 top of the line high speed modems and had folks from Russia, Japan, China and Australia, to name few, dialing in to exchange their email/files/netmail from their regions, then I would process that new incomming information and pass it to the other two stars so they could exchange it with their territories and they back to me and round and round it went.
I also had satellite feeds 24/7 to help pull in all the usenet newsgroups and files, convert to/from usenet/fidonet formats, and pass it on to keep the information flowing. I belonged to an organization called FidoNet and I had 7 Servers at that time.
I was referred to as the 'Western Star' and did this for 2+ years before the internet took off.
At that time I retired the BBS and passed on my duties to others. That was back in 1995.
Since that time, I dabbled and fumbled around until I ran into SETI and Ars back in 1999 where the DC bug bit me.
I hosted almost every Ars Team, including Team Lamb Chop, for about a year, gave free email services to those that needed and asked for it, hosted several other sites that need homes and recently put up a stats server for Free-DC with the help of DP and magnav0x.
I am currently still hosting the Ars SuperComputer and the Free-DC Super Computer along with the Stats Server. Maybe someday I can get someone to take this off my hands.

I will still be around, but you will see a severe drop in my output as I try to wean myself away from computers and find a new hobby.

I have made a lot of friendships that I will cherish forever.

With that said, help yourself to the virtual fridge, I'll try to keep it well stocked.


Thanks for the memories!

[IronBits]

I forgot all about this thread! Did my heart and spirits a lot of good to re-read through the whole thing.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments, sentiments and love! I miss the action. Thank you Lauren for reminding me! You will always be a good friend

I did have to put it down for awhile and I had to reduce the amount of computers I ran to a handful. I gave away most of my computers to a deaf friend of mine so he could make them into complete working computers that he gave to many of his friends that couldn't afford computers, so it was a win win for everyone, and I gave a whole bunch more parts and pieces to Free-DCers ...

I managed to change jobs and took a transfer so I would only have 1/5 the workload and what do you know, my health returned, but not so much my memory and abilities.

I'd be bored out of my skull if I didn't have some computers around to tinker with now and again, and I'm learning not to take on too many responsibilites.
Recently, I was reminded that I have to stop promising to help so much because I can't do what I used to do, and it forces me to ask my friends to help me out to help someone else out and that's not right or fair to them.

But, I'm still kicking, albeit at a much slower pace, and when my brother TeeJay past away last July 21, 2007, I was given all of his computers and I found myself having to pass some of his basic crunchers off to another deaf friend and gave the serious expensive server rigs to a Free-DCer so that I didn't become overwhelmed and his computers would be put to good use.

What's hard to get used to is I have now become one of those that need help, more than one of those that can give help.
My son just tells me that it's my turn to get back some of what I gave out and not to worry about it, and that he's got my six no matter what, so that makes me feel better, but doesn't take away the yearning for better days gone by.
I still like challenges and I'm easily confused and it takes me 10x longer to accomplish anything, but I am not giving up.

All you guys

[gopher_yarrowzoo]

Yeah IB you , but your no spring chicken now, I do believe that F-DC wouldn't be half the team it is with people like you at the helm giving out the advice. I do wonder how many people started crunching stuff because of stuff they've read here, makes you wonder sometimes.
Then again your just like , old but serviceable .

[Paratima]

I have sat here on Free-DC since it got started up seven years ago (next month) by Marc, Dyyryath, IronBits and a couple others. I just pretty much went along for the ride. They did all the work. Since then, I've watched IB help damn near EVERYBODY. It has been and still is amazing. If he can't answer your question (rare), he knows who to ask. If anyone has his lifetime dues paid up, it's IB.

As for being confused, I've pretty much done that all my life and Gopher appears to have turned it into an art form, so no big deal there...

You still da man, IronBits!

[gopher_yarrowzoo]

I have sat here on Free-DC since it got started up seven years ago (next month) by Marc, Dyyryath, IronBits and a couple others. I just pretty much went along for the ride. They did all the work. Since then, I've watched IB help damn near EVERYBODY. It has been and still is amazing. If he can't answer your question (rare), he knows who to ask. If anyone has his lifetime dues paid up, it's IB.

As for being confused, I've pretty much done that all my life and Gopher appears to have turned it into an art form, so no big deal there...

You still da man, IronBits!

I'll take that as the backhanded compliment it's meant to be Paratima old bean...

[Angus]

Seven years??? Wow.

Glad to see you're still hanging in there, IB. The place wouldn't be the same without ole Target-Butt.

[Paratima]

I'll take that as the backhanded compliment it's meant to be Paratima old bean...

Just credit where it's due. It was said with fondness, not rancor.

[gopher_yarrowzoo]

Just credit where it's due. It was said with fondness, not rancor.

I know, I know gosh I've been here a long time as well - Thank you Mr Clyne for dragging my slow ass over here originally.
Okay Paratima - you've earned a "custom" tag background...
PM me with what you'd like..

[Paratima]

I'll have to think about it... Tain't easy!

[dragongoddess]

Have I been away so long not to know of IB's health problems. Guess it's true. While late I hope the road to recovery is progressing and you are now in a relaxed state of mind and body. So Merry Christmas and back to the cave this old dragon goes.

[IronBits]

Thanks dragongoddess! It's truly good to see you stop by.
I am doing much better thank you.
Hope everything is going your way these days.
I put out a fresh trail of bread crumbs for you so don't be a stranger!

[gopher_yarrowzoo]

Yeah dragongoddess don't be a stranger, pull up a pew, it's not 100% wall to wall geek you know . Some of us are just here for the ride...