Sunday Post: May 2, 2022

Hello, my lovelies.

Sunday Posts continue to be tardy…but at least this week I have a reasonable excuse—I was out of town at a memorial service.

I’d love to use this space to tell you a story about some remarkable people, if you will indulge me.

Back at the VERY beginning of this milennium, I decided that I wanted a TiVo. I wasn’t sure how they worked, what the subscription model included, where the best deals could be found. I went looking on the Internet, and stumbled onto a web forum called the TiVo Community.

I registered there on 2/22/00, a day that would become among the most important of my life.

And over the next couple years, as DVRs became more ubiquitous, the board grew—pretty exponentially. Hackers learned how to drop larger hard drives into existing units, and that attention brought hundreds of new people to our little corner of the Internet, looking for help with their units.

But it quickly grew beyond that. You see, it turns out that the sort of people who geek out over new tech seem to have a lot more in common, too. Soon, the off-topic posts became a problem for the admins, as we typically talked about anything BUT TiVo most of the time. The folks who ran the board tried to keep us focused, but it was futile. Finally, they made the very fortuitous decision to just give in and give us an off-topic board to call home. It was a defensive move—we were literally taking over the main board. And once they gave us our own home, things got even crazier. We started meeting up, in various places all over the country. Vegas. Miami. New York. DC. We deathmarched through various cities all over the world. We came together for regional gatherings practically monthly. We attended each other’s weddings. Graduations. Funerals. We went on cruises together. We stayed at each others’ houses. Some even found husbands and wives on the board.

I know. It’s INSANE, this thing we do. But we’ve all been together for 20+ years now, and it has become clear that what started as a bit of a lark, geeking out over some sexy new tech is now…well, now, we are just a family.

And one of our own died in December, quite suddenly, and the pandemic-delayed memorial was this weekend in Atlanta. Nancy was beautiful and funny and amazing—she was loved by so many people in her real life, in addition to being so loved by us. But as I looked around the celebration on Saturday, it was clear that we were the largest single group in attendance. And people flew in from all over. Seattle. Tampa. Miami. New York. California. South Carolina. DC. Key West.

And we are just a bunch of dorks who met on the Internet a couple decades ago.

So, here’s a picture for you of a subset of some of the best people I know, from this weekend. Not everyone who wanted to be there was able to make the trip, but it was still a pretty impressive group, if I do say so myself.

I read seven books this week, a MUCH more reasonable number.

The Elite Trilogy from Brooke Blaine and Ella Frank follows the romance between two pilots in a Top Gun-type program, and examines the very important question “What if, like, Maverick and Ice Man were really, super gay?”

A Little Bit Like Desire is a rare one-off from Blaine and Frank, and is a spin-off of sorts from their Fallen Angel series, and follows the ex-lead singer for TBD, Trent, as he finds love on an Island off the coast of Georgia. Nice story, but a slight under-performance for me.

Jingle Bell Rock is a “crossover event” where couples from seven different Blaine and Frank books find themselves at a charity ball. It was light on plot, but seriously delightful.

The Wedding Season was a disappointment, but I also did a full review on Saturday, so not much to add. And Riley Thorne and the Blast from the Past was hilarious, but I was a little underwhelmed by the ending. I hope that Lucy Score is able to execute on her plan to write more of these, because this one provided a lackluster ending to what was originally supposed to be a trilogy.

OK, that’s all from the 52 Rest Chamber, where we are still recovering from our flight from Atlanta being delayed until 12:30 AM. Getting back home around 3:30 in the morning was brutal on these old bones, y’all.

Till next week, stay safe, think about getting *another* booster shot, and take care of each other. Life is short and brutal and precious and beautiful, and in the end, our friends are all we got.

Also, we love you Nancy. I hope they stock Blanton’s in heaven.