I just received my copy of the NSS News - February 2017 issue by email. I have not been paying attention, so I do not know if that is the first time this has ever happened.
But upon clicking on the provided graphical link, I was able to easily log on because I have my NSS # memorized. That login procedure is a very good idea, and extremely well implemented. The issue of the NSS News loaded in less than a second, I think. The graphics or image of the issue was beautiful. ( I am using a FreeBSD computer and I had no problems ). This issue features a very professional article by Bob Richards. Bob was a member of the Greater Houston Grotto for several years, and was very active in the club. I recall sometime around 1996, that GHG was not doing a whole lot of stuff, and along came Bob, who presented himself as a caver from California. At that time from my perspective, the caving club ( due to the work nature in Houston ) would get a lot of transient guest who were in town for a few months working. So my immediate impression of Bob, was he might be one of those. But the 2nd meeting, he brought an awesome slide show. And he continued to do that or offer to do that at every meeting thereafter, for the next 10 years. He hosted at least one party at his cool house where he had a real impressive library mostly devoted to caving topics, and he showed everybody his computer and how he made his award-winning maps. We did not realize he was a famous speleo-cartographer. At that time, I had only been to the 94 NSS Convention. Anyways, after all that, I was extremely impressed with Bob's dedication to caving. He was and still is one of my greatest inspirations in life. His lovely wife ( R.I.P. ) also made the most beautiful little quilts that had a real cave theme. The quilts were very unique formed by tiny little pieces of cloth partially sewn to the quilt, like feathers or leaves dangling from the quilt.. Bob left for greener pastures somewhere around Durango, Colorado about 10 years ago and he was sorely missed. That was about the same time, I stopped going to meetings, although I had not been a regular full-time active member since 1995. I was very interested in cartography in high school, and made an impressive drawing, my sophmore year in 1980. I placed 3rd place in the state UIL drafting competition as a sophmore competing with about 30 juniors and seniors. I was still working as a contract-draftsman or had aspirations to be a draftsman when I first met Bob, but after seeing Bob's work, I felt I would never be that competent in cartography. I changed careers in 1998, but I doubt that experience played a role. I just could not find a stable job drafting, and was going to have to take a risk to re-learn everything, and instead, I just said to heck with it. But back to the NSS News, I think every member needs to get on-board with receiving their NSS News via email, or at least make some effort to reduce cost or reduce wasting paper and ink. I have boxes full of old issues of NSS News, and I cherish them, but I am not sure if I will ever find time to read any of them, unless I live a long time in a nursing home, that will let me have my speleo-library. That seems unrealistic at this point. On to another topic, not related to anything, And if you are still reading this email, I would like to take a moment to defend myself from the humorous attempts of the Bockbeerist. I have no earthly idea what their secret agenda really is. I have no relation to this cartoon character. He does not look like me, and I don't drink beer, and Bock-flavored beers are my least favorite. So if you see or hear them going on a tantrum, it is your prerogative whether or not to give them any credibility. As far as the topic goes of people using me for a punching bag, it started long before I got involved in caving. I have lived like a gypsy since I was born and I never lived anywhere more than a few months until just recently, and I still live more like a truck-driver. The point is I never lived in the Hill Country or made friendly bonds with a lot of those people, so when I would go on a rant about caving, they had no idea who I was or where I had been or what I had accomplished. I can sleep knowing I made a minor contribution to caving, eventhough I had low financial resources and lived many hours drive from caves my entire life. I have never broken a bone in my entire life, and except for a bad twisted ankle, from an injury on the Texas A&M Bonfire in 1982, I have never been clumsy. At the moment, I am just too overweight and out of shape to take on a real caving trip. I know I would be an accident waiting to happen. But I still love caves, and hope to find some caves I can safely go in. I do not have any friends or any real family, except for my mom and daughter and a half-sister in Mansfield. My acquaintances in the caving community, and you know who you are are my closest friends. I have only known one caver in 33 years that went out their way to not be on my friend list. It is not who you think it is. On another topic, My daughter has shown no signs of health issues since her incident on January 5th. All the test results showed she is perfectly fine. My theory is she drowned in her sleep, somehow. We will never know what happened. I have lost a whole lot of sleep, but I am just going to have to forget it, and hope it never happens again. See you all at the Spring Convention. David Locklear NSS # 27639 ( Author of 16 YouTube videos on TrueOS under the pseudonym, El McFrolicker )
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