It's been a long time since I've been here. It's nice to see you finally made it to Spain. I've never seen anyone with a passion as strong as you had, to make the switch, and after reading your blog entry from 2/13 , I came away with the feeling that you did the right thing. You couldn't seem to be any more happy than you are. And that's what life is all about!

The site is fantastic! It's nice seeing that there's a lot of the same people around that there were, so many years ago, when you were pulling your hair out (It shows in your pics by the way! ...)getting the site running smoothly.

I remember when you changed services, and spent endless hours getting the darned thing to work, but kept smiling through it all... even without sleep.

If there's anyone who deserves the success of something like this, it's you.

It's great seeing all the old faces out here. I've missed so many of you, and hope life has been good for you.

Stick with your dreams. Without them, we just walk through life, without enjoying it. MadridMan has proven to all of you, that dreams are reachable, and can be enjoyed. Follow yours too.

Hiya, Wolf! Wow! GREAT to see you!

Yup. I finally made it as you've read on my blog entry, " Common Questions to MadridMan ".

And thank for your kind words. They're MUCH appreciated. You know better than almost anyone how things have gone here on the message board over the years and on MadridMan.com-BASE for that long and longer. How many times did I stay up until 3am trying to finish the latest "format change" by my self-imposed deadline. I don't often stay up until 3am working these days but that's because now THIS IS my dayjob so I have more time to work on it, make additions and updates - and lovin' every minute of it.

There are still some of the members from the first couple of years here on the message board but, logically, few stick around. Members come and members go but a few stay somewhat active.

Hope you make it (back) to Madrid someday. It'd be good to meet up with you.

Un abrazo, MadridMan

Good to hear from you too Wolf! I knew there was a reason I kept checking back on this website.

Just joking you know MadridMan. I still like to hear about Spain, even though I can't make it there.

Listening to Onda Madrid tonight. Great programming.

MadridMan, I read your "Common Questions to MadridMan" where you say that you "can eventually apply for citizenship too but so far I'm not in a hurry to do that".

Are you going to vote in the General Elections?

Regards

Nope. I still can't vote in the General Elections because I don't have citizenship, not even a passport yet but probably, hopefully next time around. We'll see.

Saludos, MadridMan

MM, I think you are selling yourself short on this. What I think there are more people that visit your website/forums and blog than you realized. They are like me. I still drop by each week read the messages and your blog. I will post something once in a while; if I have something to say that I believe adds value.

The reason for my inactivity on the message boards is that I have not visited Spain for over two years. There is no value in my opinions or advice.

My motivation to still drop by MadridMan is I still want to visit more of Spain. There is plenty of unfinished business for me in Spain. I was even toying with the idea of Portugal/Spain visit early this year but with the economy in the US getting worst I decided not to. I thought one vacation this year on a budget would be a better idea.

Bottom line MM, there are many people here that are “active”. They are like me nothing to say but are still happy that I can read about Spain and that MadridMan is doing fine too!

Bill

Yeah - what Bill said!

Hi Everyone

It's been *ages* since I've been here to read, post, participate, so whenever I come back I'm reluctant to post because nobody knows me... my fault for not being here more often...

But I do think about this message board a lot and reflect upon many of the discussions that have taken place here over the years...

MadridMan, what a *great* service you have provided over the years for education on Spain! thank you so much for all your hard work, to share with us, the internet, and the world...!

My excuse for not participating more is just that life has had my family and I so busy for so long...

I've been back and forth to Spain many times in the past few years, and even found a great deal of peace here ( even tho the discussions got so heated) right around 11M when I was in Madrid and arriving at Atocha the morning of the bombings. During that crazy time it was really comforting to be able to be with this forum in the midst of all of that chaos...

Anyway,, just wanted to say thanks to MM! now, off to catch up on your ( MM's) life on the blog!!

Thanks,
andrew

Same as Bill from NYC and Megia!!

Thanks everybody!!!

megia, no need to apologize. "Life Happens", and of that I'm keenly aware. Every year we humans have more and more distractions, more forms of entertainment all competing for our time.

I was having a similar conversation at one of the recent Suma Flamenco concerts and the topic was broached that it would be a shame if gypsy families stopped teaching (either on purpose or just because) FAMILY gypsy dances because now their kids are distracted by more television, more internet, more videogames and text messaging and they're not as interested in maintaining the family ways.

It's the same thing with our message board or XYZ website or XYZ service. Every year we have more competition for our time, more competition for our mind, more things pulling us in some other direction. I'm sure it's been like this since the beginning of time just now at a much more accelerated rate.

So I'm happy people continue to enjoy our little message board (our 8-year anniversary is this month!) and the MadridMan website, blog, etcetera. I too try to keep finding ways to entertain and educate the visitor.

Thanks for coming, sharing, and hopefully enjoying yourself while here.

Very sincerely, MadridMan