Oh, my!  The MMD hit the decade mark?  Wow!  I got to looking at the
MMD Archives a while back and realized that my first post to the MMD
was back in its first year of existence.  Guess that makes me an old
timer -- who'd have thought?!

My first awareness that there was such a thing as this was back in
1995, when I was raising all kinds of commotion down in Texas among the
folks in AMICA, having joined in 1990 and jumping feet first into the
organization, and making friends with Janet Tonnesen at Custom Music
Rolls, who opened _so_ many doors for me in the hobby.  She mentioned
one day that "this guy up in Canada" was putting together an email list
for player piano enthusiasts.  So I emailed Terry Smythe, and I was
on the list.  Wow, ten whole years...

To me, the MMD has been a source of two things: information and
friendships.  If there is some arcane question I have about some aspect
of our hobby, I can generally find the answer here, often in more
detail than I imagined.  However, the friendships that have come out
of the MMD have been, in the long term, the most rewarding aspect.
If you'll indulge me for a minute, I'll tell about three friends of
mine who I'd never have met were it not for the MMD.

The first is Chris.  Chris is not a MMD subscriber, but "lurks" in our
midst, reading the Digest on the foxtail web site.  Some years ago,
I wrote a piece here about young people in the hobby, and the need
to encourage them, making some comment that I was fairly young myself
(I was probably 31 or 32 at the time) and that it was nice, if rare,
to run into people under 40 who shared my interests.  Chris emailed me
explaining that he was 19, had graduated from high school the summer
previous, and was also interested in this stuff.  A series of emails
ensued and Chris and I became friends, realizing not only that our
interests as they relate to the hobby were almost identical, but much
about us in general, on a personal level, were so similar as to make
us, in many ways "two peas in a pod."  Now out of college and gainfully
employed, Chris is still a good friend, one with whom I "visit" almost
daily via the Internet.

And those of us who have been here a while will recall with some
amusement Damon Atchison's first posts.  Damon came to the MMD knowing
next to nothing about players, except that he wanted to know more.
A voracious learner, Damon is now working in an allied field, that
of theater organ work.  Damon and I, too, have build a successful
friendship; he visited me last June and I hope to see him again in
a few months, and he and Chris are friends as well.

Finally, there's the man to whom I owe my livelihood, D.L. (Lynn)
Bullock.  In January of 2004, after losing both my job and my car and
not being successful in my job search, I emailed Lynn and asked if
he'd like me to come run his office, having done the same thing for
a piano shop in Texas for a while.  I explained that I had attended
but had not finished a piano tuning and repair school some years before
and therefore knew more about pianos than most office assistants could
be expected to know.  Much to my surprise, he proposed that instead
I do office work as suggested but also work in the shop and complete
and augment the training I already had.  Having worked for Lynn for
a little over a year now, all I can say is -- well, gosh, I can't say
anything; words fail me, and those who know me know that says a lot
right there.  Its been absolutely amazing.

Thank you to all who have made this possible, to Jody and Robbie for
their amazing work, for Terry Smythe and the others who got this off
the ground, to Janet Tonnesen, for giving me so very many opportunities
in this wonderful hobby of ours, and to all of those wonderful people
who make this community of enthusiasts what it is.  Thank you, thank
you, thank you.

Bryan Cather - Piano World
Saint Louis, Missouri