Not "adding to the crap," but a thank you to Gene.

"We went to great lenghts to try and see every one, got 1."

He sure did - even to the extent of making sure that each of the club officers, most of whom were unable to leave the Orleans during the convention, received a chip each through Bob Whiteman, who was kind enough to volunteer to ask for them when he was able to get up to the Fiesta.

We're rather quick to complain, quick to criticize, but we often don't take time to thank people who have gone out of their way for their fellow collectors. And in my experience, after 11 years in CC&GTCC, there are far more of those than there are the few others.

Most chippers I know are eager to help newbies, selfless, honest, and great friends. And I think we can each point specifically to people who have helped us along the way, not only in terms of knowledge, but also in terms of helping us build our collections when we were new collectors.

The positives far outweigh the negatives, but I suppose we'll always hear most about the negatives.

Michael