N
nelson625@aol.com
Guest
Marc,
I received the May-June issue of the Amphicar newsletter last week and sat
down to send you an e-mail thanking you for the very nice Member Spotlight
article you did on me and Carol, and yes, I do read them from cover to cover.
As I have said to you before, you have really turned the Newsletter into a
first class publication. I am presuming that you are primarily responsible
for the content, layout and appearance in which case, I know every club
member applauds you. If Elizabeth shares the credit, as she probably does,
then she too is to be complimented. Just before sending the aforementioned
e-mail, I looked at my e-mails, having only recently joined the Amphicar
group and found your note. Something told me that you would not welcome my
praise at that time. I have only been on for about 10 minutes during the past
week. At any rate, the foregoing is sincere and I can only honestly apologize
for having aggravated you by what turned out to be a poor error in judgment
on my part. Some of the items you brought up need clarification, however.
No, I did not utilize Jeffrey Sweet’s Roster. I chanced to look your address
up in our personal address book which showed it as it was when we first met
you in 1999 in Celina and we had never updated it. You mentioned the two
holes in the banner. You recall that you asked if "we" would like the banner
for the Swim-In. It had not occurred to me, but of course I said yes. The
first time I saw the banner was at the North Carolina event and I thought the
people who put on that show had had it made up for our club since Amphicars
were the featured cars. I had absolutely no idea it was yours personally or I
might well have declined your offer. I do not like to borrow other people’s
things and when I do, I try my best to give them the same care as I would
something of my own. I only learned it belonged to you when I called and
asked how much you would suggest I insure it for to mail it back. The 2 holes
it had suffered were small enough that it never occurred to me to say
anything about them. When you called me, I explained that a well intentioned
but not very smart spectator was helping me put the banner back up Saturday
morning. He had somehow come up with a small piece of wire and while I was
"tying" the banner to the supports with string as I had done the previous day
(I took it down Friday night to avoid anything happening to it), I looked
disbelievingly to see him pushing the wire thru a second hole. I yelled "No,
no" but he had already made the punctures. I don’t think it is quite fair to
say that I "let it be damaged" because it happened as I described. As you did
see, the punctures are very small and near the top center, but once they were
there, what could I have done? I had taken it down Friday evening for
safekeeping because I endeavored to safeguard it the same as I would if it
had been my own, though at that time I did think it belonged to the club. I
can see by all the Amphicar e-mails that the Amphicar-Lovers website is quite
active. I am not very Internet savvy - in fact, AOL verified not too long ago
that I only average about 15 hours a month on line. Admittedly, were I to
spend more time, my proficiency would improve. I mainly use the computer as a
Word Processor to write letters. I have had frustrating experiences trying to
utilize the internet which is why I had not joined the group earlier. It was
only after you remarked that it "seemed" like the members on line had a
similar feeling about Mount Dora that I realized it must be something I
should look into. As I said earlier, I sincerely apologize to you. I plain
and simple did not think it through sufficiently and your response came as a
complete surprise. We, you and I and our wives, have too much invested in
what has heretofore been a good friendship to allow it to suffer from my
error in judgement and I am hopeful you can manage to forgive me. I would
never have queried the members on line if you had not mentioned that the
subject had been talked about by several other members on the Amphicar web si
te. Consequently, I presumed it was something which had frequently been
discussed. I have lived in Florida 40 years and I know that thousands of
Floridians as well as many others think of quaint laid back friendly Mount
Dora as a Mecca to visit and a place for many to aspire to move to. Thus when
you asked me such an unexpected question, I was simply taken aback as I said
to you at the time. My feeling still is that just about anywhere, a few bad
apples can really sour one’s impressions and if you are the one to whom
things happen, then you are understandably going to leave with negative
feelings. As for our Tennessee members, I had no idea whatsoever why they did
not come except from what you told me on the telephone.
On Page 5 of the current Newsletter under your "Need to Know," I would
like to make a suggestion that in an upcoming issue, you might provide some
insight into how the club contributes (or does not) to Swim-Ins other than
the Celina show which might avoid someone else making similar assumptions and
mistakes as I did. You referred to our Mount Dora event as a Regional show
which it quite correctly is. However, when I had asked if you could print the
flyers, I did so on the assumption that the Club paid for such things and
that the club treasury was partially for that purpose. I thought if I sent
the finished copy to you, it would save mailing the whole lot. It is true
that we live in the country and are 10 miles from an Office Depot, but I was
not shocked that you had equally as far to go - only surprised. Once you told
me that "regional" events were paid by their sponsors, I actually was
embarrassed to realize upon reflection that Dave and Greg Monier had been
absorbing all the expenses for the last several years. Had I known that, I
would have voluntarily contributed previously myself. As it was, the only
expense I had previously incurred was to print and mail flyers to Hugh Gordon
to be sent out with his mailing. I am fairly certain that most or all of our
visitors had no idea that one or two persons were footing the entire event
bill even though it was not "their" show at all. When I put in this year’s
flyer that Dave and I were the local hosts, that was only because we did the
running around and arranging. Carol and I live 40 miles away and I wanted to
relieve Dave of some of the burden. It was not because we two, Dave and I,
were putting it on, but simply somebody had to do it if we were to have a
successful Mount Dora Swim-In.
Once I explored the web site, as I have now done to a limited extent, I
realized the pictures I have asked you about have to have been taken from the
helicopter in 2001, but thank you for putting up with my queries. Dumb as it
may seem to you, I don’t seem to have the ability to readily digest the
internet. Your impression of all the extra time retirees have may be correct,
but when you get there, you may discover that as you get older, things take a
lot longer, the brain is apt to work more slowly, and the energy level is
definitely reduced. I have a digital camera that I need to get someone to
come and show me how to download the pictures (again !) so I can empty the
chip and take some more pictures. Again, I do sincerely apologize to you and
earnestly hope that you can accept my apology and we can weather this storm.
Carol and I are hoping to come to Celina, but have a conflict time wise which
we are trying to work out. It is a much longer trip for us than from
Burlington. I hope to hear back from you. Vic Nelson
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I received the May-June issue of the Amphicar newsletter last week and sat
down to send you an e-mail thanking you for the very nice Member Spotlight
article you did on me and Carol, and yes, I do read them from cover to cover.
As I have said to you before, you have really turned the Newsletter into a
first class publication. I am presuming that you are primarily responsible
for the content, layout and appearance in which case, I know every club
member applauds you. If Elizabeth shares the credit, as she probably does,
then she too is to be complimented. Just before sending the aforementioned
e-mail, I looked at my e-mails, having only recently joined the Amphicar
group and found your note. Something told me that you would not welcome my
praise at that time. I have only been on for about 10 minutes during the past
week. At any rate, the foregoing is sincere and I can only honestly apologize
for having aggravated you by what turned out to be a poor error in judgment
on my part. Some of the items you brought up need clarification, however.
No, I did not utilize Jeffrey Sweet’s Roster. I chanced to look your address
up in our personal address book which showed it as it was when we first met
you in 1999 in Celina and we had never updated it. You mentioned the two
holes in the banner. You recall that you asked if "we" would like the banner
for the Swim-In. It had not occurred to me, but of course I said yes. The
first time I saw the banner was at the North Carolina event and I thought the
people who put on that show had had it made up for our club since Amphicars
were the featured cars. I had absolutely no idea it was yours personally or I
might well have declined your offer. I do not like to borrow other people’s
things and when I do, I try my best to give them the same care as I would
something of my own. I only learned it belonged to you when I called and
asked how much you would suggest I insure it for to mail it back. The 2 holes
it had suffered were small enough that it never occurred to me to say
anything about them. When you called me, I explained that a well intentioned
but not very smart spectator was helping me put the banner back up Saturday
morning. He had somehow come up with a small piece of wire and while I was
"tying" the banner to the supports with string as I had done the previous day
(I took it down Friday night to avoid anything happening to it), I looked
disbelievingly to see him pushing the wire thru a second hole. I yelled "No,
no" but he had already made the punctures. I don’t think it is quite fair to
say that I "let it be damaged" because it happened as I described. As you did
see, the punctures are very small and near the top center, but once they were
there, what could I have done? I had taken it down Friday evening for
safekeeping because I endeavored to safeguard it the same as I would if it
had been my own, though at that time I did think it belonged to the club. I
can see by all the Amphicar e-mails that the Amphicar-Lovers website is quite
active. I am not very Internet savvy - in fact, AOL verified not too long ago
that I only average about 15 hours a month on line. Admittedly, were I to
spend more time, my proficiency would improve. I mainly use the computer as a
Word Processor to write letters. I have had frustrating experiences trying to
utilize the internet which is why I had not joined the group earlier. It was
only after you remarked that it "seemed" like the members on line had a
similar feeling about Mount Dora that I realized it must be something I
should look into. As I said earlier, I sincerely apologize to you. I plain
and simple did not think it through sufficiently and your response came as a
complete surprise. We, you and I and our wives, have too much invested in
what has heretofore been a good friendship to allow it to suffer from my
error in judgement and I am hopeful you can manage to forgive me. I would
never have queried the members on line if you had not mentioned that the
subject had been talked about by several other members on the Amphicar web si
te. Consequently, I presumed it was something which had frequently been
discussed. I have lived in Florida 40 years and I know that thousands of
Floridians as well as many others think of quaint laid back friendly Mount
Dora as a Mecca to visit and a place for many to aspire to move to. Thus when
you asked me such an unexpected question, I was simply taken aback as I said
to you at the time. My feeling still is that just about anywhere, a few bad
apples can really sour one’s impressions and if you are the one to whom
things happen, then you are understandably going to leave with negative
feelings. As for our Tennessee members, I had no idea whatsoever why they did
not come except from what you told me on the telephone.
On Page 5 of the current Newsletter under your "Need to Know," I would
like to make a suggestion that in an upcoming issue, you might provide some
insight into how the club contributes (or does not) to Swim-Ins other than
the Celina show which might avoid someone else making similar assumptions and
mistakes as I did. You referred to our Mount Dora event as a Regional show
which it quite correctly is. However, when I had asked if you could print the
flyers, I did so on the assumption that the Club paid for such things and
that the club treasury was partially for that purpose. I thought if I sent
the finished copy to you, it would save mailing the whole lot. It is true
that we live in the country and are 10 miles from an Office Depot, but I was
not shocked that you had equally as far to go - only surprised. Once you told
me that "regional" events were paid by their sponsors, I actually was
embarrassed to realize upon reflection that Dave and Greg Monier had been
absorbing all the expenses for the last several years. Had I known that, I
would have voluntarily contributed previously myself. As it was, the only
expense I had previously incurred was to print and mail flyers to Hugh Gordon
to be sent out with his mailing. I am fairly certain that most or all of our
visitors had no idea that one or two persons were footing the entire event
bill even though it was not "their" show at all. When I put in this year’s
flyer that Dave and I were the local hosts, that was only because we did the
running around and arranging. Carol and I live 40 miles away and I wanted to
relieve Dave of some of the burden. It was not because we two, Dave and I,
were putting it on, but simply somebody had to do it if we were to have a
successful Mount Dora Swim-In.
Once I explored the web site, as I have now done to a limited extent, I
realized the pictures I have asked you about have to have been taken from the
helicopter in 2001, but thank you for putting up with my queries. Dumb as it
may seem to you, I don’t seem to have the ability to readily digest the
internet. Your impression of all the extra time retirees have may be correct,
but when you get there, you may discover that as you get older, things take a
lot longer, the brain is apt to work more slowly, and the energy level is
definitely reduced. I have a digital camera that I need to get someone to
come and show me how to download the pictures (again !) so I can empty the
chip and take some more pictures. Again, I do sincerely apologize to you and
earnestly hope that you can accept my apology and we can weather this storm.
Carol and I are hoping to come to Celina, but have a conflict time wise which
we are trying to work out. It is a much longer trip for us than from
Burlington. I hope to hear back from you. Vic Nelson
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
