[AccessD] There and Back Again

Mon Oct 11 21:56:20 CDT 2021

Dear Lists:

I was in Chicago last week for a wedding and we drove up to Door County for
a few days just to explore a new place. On the way up we stopped to see
Bartow and his wife - really nice folks. I've got a pic somewhere - I'll
post it when I find it.

Steve Erbach is also up there, in Green Bay. We didn't have a chance to see
him but we chatted on the phone. and he sent me this (low res) picture of
the members at the first AccessD conference.  It was at my house.  How long
ago was it?  I don't know but feature this - the presentations were given
using transparencies and an overhead projector.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KFDBa_Sh4fvYTomGkIYSS1cQLwo1x4I2/view?usp=sharing

Aside from the motley crew at the conference I have only met Martin and
Bryan and Tina personally, and now John Bartow (unless I've forgotten
someone, which could happen, I suppose). It would be nice to have another
gathering but I think that ship has sailed.

Anyway the List saved my bacon more times than I can count over the last
25+ years. Truly remarkable group.  As John says, when the original host
pulled the plug on us, it was like panic in needle park. But in short order
we had formed a corporation, sold some shares, and were up and running in a
couple of weeks.  Not really remarkable considering the talent on the list.
But a great story.

Best to all,

r

On Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 8:13 AM John Colby <jwcolby at gmail.com> wrote:

> Giving thanks is a part of the human genome.  This list has been huge for
> me as well.  I would not be where I am today had the list not existed.
>
> I remember starting to learn access in 1992.  I lived in San Diego County
> at that time, and real in-person user group meetings were the best we had.
> And real books as well.  Every month I waited impatiently for the next user
> group meeting so I could go get my questions answered.  It took so long to
> learn stuff. Sometime around early 1996 (?) I found this group, at the time
> owned by the fellow (name long since forgotten) that started it.  It was
> such a gigantic relief to have hundreds of fellow programmers deep into the
> bowels of Access and VBA, answers to questions in hours if not minutes.
>
> And then the day AccessD mysteriously shut down.  The mad scramble to
> discover why.  And obtain control from the owner who was very done with
> maintaining the list.  All old history but part of who we are.  Hard to
> believe that was 25-ish years ago.  And yes, I too am finding old date
> stamps in the headers of my code.  Access 97, 1998 in my first libraries,
> still using them today.
>
> Good stuff, great list and many magnificent programmers around the world.
> And I am also very grateful for all of you guys.
>
>
> On Sun, Oct 10, 2021 at 10:56 PM Bill Benson <bensonforums at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Late to the party, is there any pie left? (No John Colby, I don't mean
> > Raspberry Pi).
> > Definitely thankful for this List as well. I am sure I will get back to
> > Access  coding again one of these days.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Oct 10, 2021 at 5:25 PM Borge Hansen <pcs.accessd at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Arthur,
> > > I completely concur with your sentiments about Thanksgiving as well as
> > > AccessD.
> > > Regarding 26 November as a day of thanksgiving, it was instituted by
> > George
> > > Washington back in 1789. It’s worth googling and reading his letter of
> > that
> > > time.
> > > But why not use a moment every day to reflect on what thanksgivings we
> > can
> > > offer to family and friends, to community and institutions, to nature
> and
> > > creation in it’s immensity … and to our Creator.
> > > Arthur, .. and everyone else … thanks for your many inputs on this list
> > > over the years.
> > > /borge
> > >
> > > On Mon, 11 Oct 2021 at 1:17 am, Arthur Fuller <fuller.artful at gmail.com
> >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > I know the American date is roughly a month away, but here in Canada
> > > today
> > > > is Thanksgiving. That means that we pause and take a few moments to
> > > extend
> > > > our thanks to those who matter to us. Typically we cook a turkey and
> > > share
> > > > it among family and friends, but COVID-19 has pretty much put the
> > > > kairbosh to that, at least this year, so my little party will consist
> > of
> > > > three people, all of whom have received double-vaccinations.
> > > >
> > > > Here comes the Thanks part. I want to thank all my cyber-friends
> that I
> > > > have met here on the AccessD list -- to many to name, or I would go
> > over
> > > > the message-length limit.
> > > >
> > > > So far as I know, Thanksgiving is only a celebration in North
> America,
> > > and
> > > > in the USA it's even bigger than Christmas. Geographic distribution
> of
> > a
> > > > moment of thanks doesn't matter. Try a Canadian moment and take a
> pause
> > > and
> > > > give thanks to those you love, and those events that changed your
> life
> > > for
> > > > the better.
> > > >
> > > > AccessD is the best site I ever found to exchange ideas and problems
> > > with.
> > > > I program in several languages,, but Access +Word + Excel is the main
> > > one.
> > > > I've created dozens of apps that begin with Access and then reach out
> > to
> > > > SQL Server and Word and Excel -- and one of them, which I am
> revisiting
> > > > currently -- I wrote the original code in 2004! (How do I know this?
> > > Thanks
> > > > to MZ-Tools, which plants headers in your code that include
> StartDate,
> > > > Aurthor, Purpose and so on.)
> > > > When I look back, I think that trivial apps (those you can write in a
> > > week
> > > > or a month) have formed a small part of what I've written over my
> > career.
> > > > More often, the apps I've written involve 100+ tables, and now and
> then
> > > > 500+ tables. Most of these were written in Access, and in the large
> > > > examples, with a SQL back-end (the only way to deal with Terabytes of
> > > > data._
> > > > I learned a ton from this list, and thanks to you all, I scaled
> > > mountains I
> > > > didn't think I could climb.
> > > > This is Canadian Thanksgiving, and I thank you all!
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Arthur
> > > > --
> > > > AccessD mailing list
> > > > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com
> > > > https://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd
> > > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
> > > >
> > > --
> > > AccessD mailing list
> > > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com
> > > https://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd
> > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
> > >
> > --
> > AccessD mailing list
> > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com
> > https://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd
> > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
> >
>
>
> --
> John W. Colby
> Colby Consulting
> --
> AccessD mailing list
> AccessD at databaseadvisors.com
> https://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd
> Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
>