graememorrison , for being at least one other dope in this city…and for holding out the invitation of distraction if I ever get past the sub-arctic temperatures and decide to go wading into the North Sea.
AL
er…doper…not dope.
But I certainly feel like one. :o
Siege, Ice Wolf, Scotticher: for their genuine humaneness and compassion.
Persephone: for being herself. For being the friend I never met but wish I had.
Definitely RyleDup. He has constantly been there for me whenever I needed him and I love him so deeply that I have no words for it. Although we live on opposite sides of the country, we always keep in touch either by phone or Instant Message (which we use more frequently). We’ve been together since about July of last year.
Message boards are great for meeting people. 
Zette found some pants for me a couple years ago. That was awesome!! There are a couple threads on that one. Thank you, again!!!
And Gulf Widow bought dinner for the entire Tampa Dopefest one night when she was unable to attend. Lucky for her there was only three of us! 
Thank You very much, again!!!
Caldazar picked me up in Tracy, CA to take me to SF so I could meet oldscratch, Rasa, and zyzzyva. He also flew me out to SF so I could drive down to the NorCal/SoCal dopefest in LA with him. He’s just been very nice, and very generous and I can’t thank him enough.
No one else has physically done something for me, or given me anything, but I can’t thank several of the people here enough for the emotional support I was given back when my mom was very sick. I really don’t think I could have lived through that without them. I was changed by my mom’s illness, but I’m okay. And it’s only thanks to the people I know here.
Now that I think of it, the first time I talked to Caldazar was in chat when he asked me how my mom was doing. Weird.
**Persephone, ** for being so easy to talk to and so darn nice.
CrankyAsAnOldMan, for being a solid friend, even when we differ in opinion
**FairyChatMom, ** for always lending an ear
Scotticher, for all of the reasons others have mentioned in here; pure of spirit ain’t easy to find
Opal Cat, for being an excellent cook and a fine hostess
chique, ** for her kind emails after I posted my suicide thread
scout1222, for being just damn awesome and appearing to actually read my journal
Winnowill, for being wise and eminiently helpful when I was house hunting
Una Persson, for being herself
** Flamsterette, for always being willing to talk
vanilla, for her strength and sense of humor
And thanks to everyone who sent me a Holiday card this past year, and everyone who sent me a Valentine’s Day card, too. I don’t get much mail. :=)
thank you.
God knows I TRY to be funny always.
But strength?
I can’t even beat my son at arm wrestling…(okay, I can)
Strength of convictions.
thank you.
Just wanted to state again last December , when I couldn’t buy my son anything for Christmas, DOPERS were the only ones who sent him stuff!
They did!
I started to like the UPS guy!
We got at least 6 deliveries.
This board is the only board that CARES.
Thanks again, guys and gals.
I flew to Michigan Monday evening to attend Persephone’s funeral, and crankyasanoldman met me at the airport, took me to her home, gave me a place to sleep, got me breakfast the next morning, and took me with her to the funeral home.
I’d never met her IRL, I’d never been to Michigan before, I only knew I had to attend the funeral.
She may not have made it possible, to be truthful; I’d have managed regardless. But she did make it much easier, and for that, I thank her so very much.
PS, her son is a delightful little feller, too.
Annalivia for giving me my first ever mention here (which has made me stupidly happy, although i am a bit mullered), remembering me, and generally keeping the Straight Dope Flame burning in the A-Town.
And the invitation is still open if you get bored of your high-fallutin’ PHD-type talk and just want to get three sheets to the wind and speak crap.
Not a problem… I find you easy to talk to.
The OP, Baker, sent me cookies once. Thanks again!
I would like to send out a big thank you to all the people who never get mentioned in these round ups.
I want you to know I appreciate you.
Even if you’ve only said one word. In case you think you’ve never said anything of import I’m here to set you straight.
As a caregiver to my paralysed MIL, in my home, my days whip by and before you know it years have passed.
There are days, I’m sure you can imagine, when I believe I might go mad.
There have been many times over the last 4 yrs when I have come to the Dope, I confess, with nothing to bring to the party, drained, bedraggled, unbathed and unsettled more often than not.
To struggle daily with issues of mortality and human frailty, to see suffering 24/7, sometimes it’s too much for this small creature. There are times, I am ashamed to say, when the darkness threatens to overcome me.
I come to the Dope. And whether I read threads about astrophysics that makes my head spin, or about telemarketers that make me laugh, or other peoples trials and tribulations, it takes me outside of my own small, often disturbing world and into a larger community.
Truth is I’m often too exhausted to participate.
So I lurk and I laugh or wonder, more often than not I learn something. And I can face another day a little refreshed, my spirit just a little lighter.
So to all the unamed thousands I would like to offer a thank you as big as all outdoors.
You just can’t ever know what you’ve done for me over these years.
Thank you, a thousand times, thank you.
Peace
Elbows
Thanks to Algernon for the assist in subscribing, and thanks to everybody else who offered to help.
Nice little community.
Hey, elbows - send me an e-mail pretty please?
Glad you liked 'em!
I was supposed to send Will Santinit cookies last Monday, but it’s going to be this afternoon. He’s in Iraq, and he’s already been sent a story thread that used his name for one of the characters.
He had a thread titled “Goodbye Straight Dope” which he still may get occasional chances to look at. His mailing address is in there, in case anyone else wants to snail mail him greetings.
One question, he’s not our only Doper in the service, but are there any others in the Middle East?
Okay, so sue me, I mispelled his username! 
WillSantini
First Squad
3/4 Lima 2nd Plt
UIC 39784
FPO AP 96609-9784