earlier this evening, offlist-by a pal, it was suggested that
i was being too vigilant in my stance re some of today's
threads. see the archives if you missed this. regardless,
these 'things' mean alot to me. i replied to my pal, and
followed up afterwards to ask his permission to post
that email to the group, minus his initial remarks.
that text follows.
many thanks for indulging me.
e-RICHIE

here:

If you put it that way-FINE!!!-i'll keep my thoughts
to myself. But if you're serious, you're kinda asking me
to roll over and play dead. No-you're asking me to roll
over and die!!! Read my lips-I think, and I say as much-
that we all live outside the lines. So what if the industry
and the market does one thing. Are you asking me to believe
that what I do is not as good as the average 'modern'
bicycle because it doesn't represent the typical 2003 model?
If that's the case, and if I believed it, there'd be no reason
to come in to work everyday.
Laugh if you will, but I continue to ply at this because
I think it's the best possible method. And if that weight
'issue' pops up again i'm just gonna go to the window
and do a Howard Beel kinda' thing. (Note: a reference
to the film, 'Network').
More than anything, ALL of this reminds me of the scene
at the beginning of the film 'Sunset Boulevard' when actors
William Holden and Gloria Swanson meet with this exchange:
JOE GILLES- "You're Norma Desmond, you used to be in pictures.
You used to be big."
NORMA- "I am big, it's the pictures that got small."

So that's how I feel. I have no guilt about airing this
publicly. I might have felt better had I not had to
spell it out.
e-RICHIE