Breaking radio silence

[greatbear]

So, my self-imposed one month vacation from LJ had a couple days appended to it. Didja miss me? I didn't think so either. ;)

I had several reasons for the hiatus, ranging from escaping drama to the capricious attitude the Russians have adopted regarding the current LJ users and communities. Add in having my everyday PC being wiped out by a virus and dealing with a return of severe back issues and the sinus infection that won't leave, and you have me not wanting to do anything online much less LJ. Even everyday life has been more or less stuck in neutral. I found more comfort and escape doing things around the house and garage, listening to music and watching cool stuff on PBS. Having some decent weather for this time of year helped a lot as well. I still would peruse my friends list and make comments occasionally, though, so I wasn't completely LJ-free. I'm sure I missed a lot. My new PC is still sitting on the floor unused. I am making do with my crappy lappy. I'm not much in a mood to futz with computers.

Something that I can't seem to escape no matter how hard I try also happened today. It was my birthday. The big one. The half century. 5-0, and not the one in Hawaii with either Jack Lord or pocket-sized Scott Caan. The doorbell rang several times today. A delivery of balloons. Then a delivery of an Edible Arrangement. Then flowers. Then the sender of all these goodies comes home early from work bearing lunch from McDonald's. We ate our little lunch, relaxed, I took a couple nice calls wishing me a happy day, then we went off to Romano's Macaroni Grille for dinner in the evening. All in all it was an awesome day, even with the back pain and sneezing. My Jeff is a thoughtful sweetheart, and he's the best birthday present ever.

I have to thank all those on LJ who posted happy birthday wishes. And a special thanks to my newest LJ friend designerotter, who drew a wonderful birthday card for me, featuring Kodi. It made my day. I think Kodi recognized himself!

Will I become a regular LJ user once again? I'm not sure. I had been surfing LJ at the moment my PC caught the virus. The various photography communities have been taken over by Russian users, and it seemed to be one of the photo hosting sites that might have done the nasty deed. The advertising and tracking scripts used here these days are increasing and I don't trust any of it, so I filter them out as well. There just isn't any inspiration for me to post here with all that crap going on, and I don't feel any sensitive information placed here is any safer that on Facebook. So, I might finally kick the crust off my Dreamwidth account and see if I will have any success at grabbing my entries here and importing them over. All my attempts in the past failed, and I don't see the operators of LJ cooperating in any way to make the process work smoothly. If I do anything, it will be a crosspost from DW to here.

One thing I don't ever want to lose in all of this is the friends I have made here. There've been a few clinkers, but so many of y'all rock my world. You are the gifts that keep giving all year long. :)

By the way, I didn't see my shadow when I scurried out from the Burrow of Mayhem. Y'all should have an early spring. You're welcome. =D

Comments

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!!

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

YAY! On the Happy birthday with Jeff!

50 is no biggie, although my own 50 th birthday back in 2007 is what led me to start making changes for the better in my life.

BOO! On getting a virus on LJ- that is sad.

*ULTRA-HUGS*

[rcfozzie.livejournal.com]

Sorry I missed it on the day of...
Happy Belated Bday!
Good to see you back on LJ - even if only temporarily.

[cpj.livejournal.com]

I missed ya.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

You were missed - but I was grateful for your comments on one of my posts, and I always read whatever you post.

"Return of severe back issues" sure doesn't sound good... though I'm glad you had a good birthday in spite of that.

[mort-83.livejournal.com]

Happy Birfday!

Sorry for all the PC drama.

Always nice to see you pop up on comments ;-)

[teddyb.livejournal.com]

I've definitely missed your posts here, but I understand your reasons for giving LJ a rest.

Belated happy birthday wishes, and I am very glad to see you had a great celebration with Jeff.

Big hugs to you, Phil. I'm always glad to see what you write, whenever you choose to do so.

[merlinwon.livejournal.com]

LOL @ Early Spring!

Yeah.. i'm prolly one that fits in the clinkers category! Sowwies.

The dreamwidth idea i've heard some do.. and then they come back and still post here. Nice back up .. but with that past LJ letter yesterday? I've seen it gettin' better! It Gets Better!! At least on the being down on those Ddos things! Ugh!

And yes, you were missed, and sorry to hear 'bout that sinus infection! I've killed off 2 .. with just garlic oil capsule, some advils the first few days to stop it and get it running, and the syrup to dry it up! I thnk i'm majoring in sinus infections! LOL!

Suckage about the virus! I had one as well.. and had to do an entire system restore. I was that scareware i think.. malware. whatever. Don't like those! Now i just put almost 50.00 into norton virus. Hope that works..

Soo.. again.. nice to see you back.. not much happenin' on my end. As to journal.. the pics, the drama of rick, the woes of my life.. etc! LOL! Ah.. i'm on twitter now. Didn't think i'd take much too it .. yet.. eh.. there's some xxx and some good laffs and headlines.

Sry to have rambled.. I guess you HAVE BEEN "MISSED"!

[texwriterbear.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday mister!!!

[meddler-inc.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday. And welcome back.

[bearwad.livejournal.com]

well happy birthday young man. i have the very same milestone coming up exactly a month from today.

[franklanguage.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday!

I've also been making my way to DreamWidth, where I've begun cross-posting as much as I can; seems today's entry didn't make it over here, but previous ones did.

I'd totally leave LJ behind if I didn't have a permanent account; besides, there are still more people over here. For now I'm here; if anyone wants a DW invite code, just let me know.

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Oh hai!!

Indeed, I have missed your posts, but am grateful to see your lovely avatar gracing the comments section of various entries. Nothing wrong with doing your own thing, and giving it a rest for awhile, but do know that you've got friends who miss you quite a bit.

I do hope your physical problems get under control quickly. Neither of the ones you mention sounds particularly pleasant.

A very happy (post) b-day to you, my Friend!

[wrascalism.livejournal.com]

Of course I missed you!!!

Silly bear....

[jkusters]

Glad you had a happy birthday, Phil.

I noticed your absence, but with so many people dropping LJ these days I just assumed you were part of the attrition. I'm glad to see you back, even if it's only intermittently.

[bigmacbear]

Happy Birthday!

You know, that makes you almost the same age as gmjambear, who celebrated his 5-0 while we were away at Fiesta.

[restoman.livejournal.com]

A belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you, Phil!

I'm sorry to hear about the health problems. I hope you can kick that sinus infection soon. The one I had a few months ago didn't leave until I had gone through 2 courses of antibiotics. Also, sorry to hear about the PC virus. Too bad they don't make antibiotics for that!

I'm glad to see you post here again. I missed you.

P.S. Thanks for the early Spring!

[designerotter.livejournal.com]

I'm completely tickled that Kodi recognized himself (I don't have pets myself, but fantasize having the delightful company of pets owned by friends).
Congrats on the Big 5-0 ...I look back on those younger years fondly ;0) Glad to know you've got such excellent companionship there with you on this occasion.

Hope your physical problems clear up soon. I'm well acquainted with back trouble. In case one of your symptoms is the loss of the 'bridge' under your spine when lying down flat: Lying down flat, I roll back and forth on a pair of tennis balls 'til the bridge is restored (so far, it works every time). Also hope your new computer allows us to see you more frequently on LJ.

[notdefined.livejournal.com]

Yes I did dammit!

[2stroker.livejournal.com]

50 , You're a baby ! I found that my 50's were the most productive decade of my life.The 60's aren't going so bad as well so if I'm any indication you should have a decade or more of real quality time in front of you. Shit,I'll be 63 in a couple months and planning another cross country motorcycle trip for 2013 .Good to see you back man.

I just saw the birthday card.

[bonkishnurtaz.livejournal.com]

Your birthday card for Phil was brilliant, as always! Your depiction of Kodi was astounding! Thank you!

Congraulations!

[bonkishnurtaz.livejournal.com]

I am glad that you had a good and memorable birthday, Phil. Your birthday card, created by the brilliantly talented designerotter was really quite wonderful. ((((HUGS))))

Re: I just saw the birthday card.

[designerotter.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your kind words, Keith ...I'm very pleased that you enjoyed the card - Kodi was fun to draw (I love Poms)!

[kspsibear.livejournal.com]

Belated Happy Birthday, buddy. Hope it was a good one for you. This was a BIG one!

Hug