Dave returned my call from yesterday (sorta cool to have my wife call out to me that "Dave Sim's on the phone" :^).  Dave told me that he did not try to log on this past Thursday because Gerhard had been having problems with his ISP (no - Dave did NOT use the term "ISP! :^).  Gerhard's on vacation now in Arizona, and Dave figured if it didn't work for Gerhard, it wouldn't work for him (I didn't get into an explanation as to how the fact that Gerhard's ISP not working probably wouldn't have affected an attempt to get on at the Library). I also told him to tell Gerhard that emails sent to his Yahoo account were being bounced (so if you sent him an email lately-  odds are he didn't see it).

 

Anyway, I told him that it was just as well because Yahoo was all screwy this past Thursday.  However, with respect to rescheduling, Dave told me that he was sort of hesitant to return - that he had viewed the initial visit as a one time thing, and that because of the neck pain it had given him straining to reply within the short time limit, it was his preference to not do the "real time" visits.

 

I suggested that perhaps the format we used for the Follow-up questions would be more to his tastes - and he said that's exactly what he was thinking:  i.e. we pick 5 or 6 questions via a poll, Gerhard copies it onto a disc/prints it off - and Dave will reply.  I mentioned that we were pleasantly surprised when we got the long followup answers last time and that the format would be fine.

 

Otherwise, Dave mentioned that he had nothing to do today! He's all caught up on his mail - and the Post Office is closed for a few days for Easter.  I suggested that if it was as nice in Kitchener as it is in NY today (warm and sunny), he should just enjoy the day.  He said that he intended to.  He mentioned that the mail comes in random amounts.  I asked him if he thought it would tail off.  Earlier, I had told him how much we all enjoyed SPACE, but that I regretted the crowds that limited our ability to talk to him.  I mentioned that I'd heard it had been MUCH more crowded than in previous years.  I suggested that the longer lines were due either to the last tribute to Dave for the end of Cerebus, or (and I was 1/2 joking) to the recent exponential growth in the popularity of Cerebus.  Well, I think Dave opted for the latter explanation - because he suggested that a trickling off of his mail would be inconsistent with the exponential growth.  Well, he COULD be right - I guess time will tell.

 

Y'know, it's funny - Dave feels the (admirable) compulsion to answer every bit of mail he gets.  It sort of reminds me of the cumpulsion I (and I assume many of us) feel to reading all (or a good chunk) of the Yahoo Group posts!

 

One other item - Dave was exceedingly polite in not mentioning my screaming 3 year old in the background.  Yoohwhoo knows what was going through his mind as I was slowly being Larry-ized in his thoughts! ;^P

 

Anyway, Dave suggested that we give Gerhard the Q's when he gets back from vacation on the 20th.  I suggested that we shoot for new Q's once a month on the 1st of the month.  Dave liked that idea - so we ave another few weeks to mold our top 5 Q's. 

 

   e

L nny