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Gary Istok in Hospital...

IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,362
edited March 2012 in Everything else LEGO
Well I was....
http://www.bricklink.com/message.asp?ID=619553

A wakeup call, for sure... time to lower the stress level. I still owe a few Brits some packages.... if you don't have it yet... it hasn't been sent... so don't worry about Customs holding onto it.

I'll be shipping again within a few days.... and the CDs will be going out shortly... had another problem... the new PDF generator was making the PDFs too big to fit all on a CD... so I had to reduce them AGAIN!!!

It's funny how in the Canada, UK, and Australia one would say "he is in Hospital"... but in the USA we say "he is in THE Hospital". We quirky Americans.... moiderin' the Queens English! :-)

But I'll be fine...

Comments

  • The_Brick_BuilderThe_Brick_Builder Member Posts: 658
    edited March 2012
    I'm so sorry to hear Gary! ;( Don't work too hard and get some rest. Best wishes for your recovery!
  • rocaorocao Administrator Posts: 4,290
    Glad to hear you're ok! I don't have a pressing need for old/vintage parts, but I could easily buy older sets without needing to do too much research if you have some for purchase. PM me if you have some you're selling.
  • OdinduskOdindusk Member Posts: 763
    Get well, sir.
  • samiam391samiam391 Member Posts: 4,486
    Glad to hear you are alright, and hope you get well soon!
    -Sam
  • legoDadlegoDad Member Posts: 529
    Best wishes Gary. Glad to hear you're ok.
  • OldfanOldfan Member Posts: 704
    Good to hear you're OK. Amazing how stressful a hobby can be...please take the time you need to stay well.
  • Si_UKNZSi_UKNZ Member Posts: 4,179
    edited March 2012
    Sorry to hear that Gary, hope you get better soon.
    I can imagine it's very stressful running a bricklink store.
  • SirKevbagsSirKevbags Member Posts: 4,027
    Good luck to a fast full recovery Gary!
  • Blue1dotBlue1dot Member Posts: 78
    Gary, wow, sorry to hear about the stroke, but glad it was minor. I hope you get well soon and get some needed rest.
  • drdavewatforddrdavewatford Administrator Posts: 6,754
    Sorry to hear the news, Gary, but glad you're on the mend.

    I never 'met' you before you joined this forum, but it's been great having you around and long may it continue, so please look after yourself !
  • atkinsaratkinsar Member Posts: 4,258
    Yep, get well soon Gary, wishing you a speedy recovery.
  • HuwHuw Administrator Posts: 7,076
    edited March 2012
    ^^ What the good doctor said -- the forum wouldn't be the same without you, so get well soon and take care!
  • MinifigsMeMinifigsMe Member Posts: 2,844
    Sorry to hear you're unwell, but pleased that the private healthcare is spoiling you nicely :D Hope that getting rid of your Lego won't cause you too much stress
  • princedravenprincedraven Member Posts: 3,764
    Pleased to hear you are on the mend Gary. Look after yourself.
  • LostInTranslationLostInTranslation Member Posts: 5,572
    Take care Gary. All the best for a speedy recovery.
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,362
    I am very humbled by all the well wishers I've gotten from all over the world. Thanks all... you actually made me very "Verklempt" (eyes welling up with emotion).

    Funny thing is I had a dream last night about my mother... who recently passed away at 88 of cancer (I took care of her for 11 years in her battle. In the dream she said it wasn't my time...

    For those of you who have ordered my 3000 page collectors guide... (or one of my older ones) they've always been dedicated to her in the Preface... and this picture shows her at her happiest... with her family in our annual Good Friday jaunt to our local Conservatory.

    P.S. That's me behind my sister and her brood... including mom's great granddaughter.
  • RedbullgivesuwindRedbullgivesuwind Member Posts: 2,108
    Im glad to hear that your okay and are recovering. Even if you do sell all your collection do not leave the site love having your knowledge to use about a set.
  • OrthobotrexOrthobotrex Member Posts: 165
    I hope you're getting well and better, sir!

    Though people may own a copy of all your works, reading your comments regarding the history of LEGO, sometimes even to the nitty gritty details, is always interesting to me, in the way that Spock would say, "fascinating"!
  • tk79tk79 Member Posts: 329
    edited March 2012
    ... with her family in our annual Good Friday jaunt to our local Conservatory.
    @Istokg Gary, glad to hear you're ok, that's scary stuff. Get better soon.

    Also, couldn't help but notice the place in your photo looks familiar, is that the greenhouse over at Matthaei Botanical Gardens in A2?

    Either way, that's a very nice family photo with 4 generations....my condolences on your mom's passing.
  • AlczervikAlczervik Member Posts: 93
    Your comments are unique here in breadth of knowledge of history, I am sorry this happened and hope you have no more issues
    Nate
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,362
    edited March 2012
    Thanks again all... the number of emails I have gotten has been amazing! And thanks to the very patient Bricklink buyers!

    @tk79 No it's not the Ann Arbor Matthaei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor 50 miles west of Detroit (close though!)... but Detroit's own Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory (donated by the USA Scripps newspaper heiress) on Belle Isle, the largest city island park in the USA (located on the Detroit River between USA and Canada). It was mom's favorite tranquil place, and I took her there every year for the Christmas and Easter flower shows. It can house palm trees up to 80 ft. tall!...
    https://www.google.com/search?q=anna+scripps+whitcomb+conservatory&hl=en&safe=off&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=zJpbT67uHI-ltwfW1vmEDA&sqi=2&ved=0CHoQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=655
  • MinifigsMeMinifigsMe Member Posts: 2,844
    ^
    So it's not just lego you know everything about then? :-)
  • streekerstreeker Member Posts: 299
    I enjoy reading all your posts. More than anyone else on this board, you have an encylcopedic knowlegde of LEGO that would put probably put even some archivists in Billund to shame. Funny thing is you never come across as a condescending, arrogant know-it-all even though you do know it all! You remind me of a good instructor. However obscure or irrelevant it is to us with much shorter memories, for e.g. the first LEGO trees, the biggest LEGO house never sold, why only Japan and Denmark had the 321 Clown set, it still makes me go hmmmmmmm.... Thanks to you. I hope you get back on your feet soon.
  • MinifigsMeMinifigsMe Member Posts: 2,844
    ^ ditto! Don't leave us Gary!
  • LegoboyLegoboy Member Posts: 8,825
    @Istokg -That's a great picture Gary. Looks like you've got yourself a really supportive family there.

    Glad you're on the mend. Looking forward to learning more from your seamingly endless vault of knowledge.

    James.
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,362
    Hi folks, I'm back... had another scare and had to go to the emergency room and get hospitalized again... but it was a reaction to some medicine I was taking... I owe some of you some Bricklink stuff for a while (and some EMAIL replies). Just overwhelmed... but one thing about my Bricklink shipping... the longer you have to wait... the more freebies I send along! :-)

    The LEGO CD had its' share of problems, which didn't help my nerves at all... believe it or not... too much information for 1 CD... so I had to shrink it a little bit (PDF sizes, not data).

    But the delays have had one beneficial side effect.... I've had about a dozen more updates that I didn't have before... sets you folks have never seen... and had the CD not had some production problems, would not have made it into the Chapters... 70 chapters in all...

    Check this out... USA/Canada sets #750 (1963-66) which cost $50 back in the 1960s... and #7100 which cost $100 back then.... more than any other LEGO sets until the current century...

    And lastly... a set that was in the 1956 Norway and Sweden catalogs #1237. The #1236 plus the #1237 set, when put together make up the #310 Esso Service Set. The Billund Archives have no record of the 1237 set (although the 1236 they do)... but it may just exist, since the Billund folks admitted to me that they weren't aware of a lot of what was going on in Norway and Sweden in the 1950s... and what was going on in the USA and Canada in the 1960s.... so they have no records on any of these sets...

    Cheers,
    Getting back to sanity... and shipping... and a few more PDFs to send to the CD makers.... including some updates to the Counterfeit LEGO chapter.

    Gary Istok

    P.S. All LEGO CD orders in my Bricklink store get automatic freebies as well... Gary Istok Rare Bricks. Not a shameless plug... just gotta pay for some expensive medicine! :-( Also, I found a USA only (1968-70) 2x10 trans-clear brick (NEW), now in my store.


  • MinifigsMeMinifigsMe Member Posts: 2,844
    Sorry to hear you're still not well yet Gary. Please take it easy. I'm sure your customers understand and don't mind be patient!
  • CoolsplashCoolsplash Member Posts: 935
    Do feel better and get well soon and on your feet Gary. I love reading all of your posts here as they are always so full of knowledge and fun. And not one bit of arrogance with your expertise and knowledge. God bless you always my friend.
  • OldfanOldfan Member Posts: 704
    The man just can't stop with the history...and we are the lucky beneficiaries! But please Gary, rest up a bit; my CD and baseplates order can wait a while while you recover!
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,362
    edited March 2012
    Thanks folks, I feel badly about the delays... (which doesn't help the stress)... but your kind words will always be rewarded! :-)

    Since you folks love my LEGO history.....

    Here is a 1953-55 LEGO set.... the 700/3.... they packed them by hand and they were shrinkwrapped over the packed parts. With their attractive checkerboard designs, these early sets are works of art in themselves!!

    The first image shows slotted bricks (the windows/doors didn't have studs on top back then, they were held in place by the slots on the sides that the protruding "wings" of the windows fit into. There should have been 4 colors in this set, but what likely happened was the LEGO employee ran out of red bricks... and made do with what she (yes she) had to work with until more red bricks arrived at her work station.

    The 2nd image is the box top to this set, showing KKK and his older sister Gunhild (they together own all of TLG). These 2 images are from Chapter 5 (LEGO Basic Sets 1953-72).

    The 3rd image (dates to 1957, in the LEGO History Chapter 57) is a historic pic of a LEGO employee packing these sets.

    The 4th pic (dates to 1959, in the LEGO Retailer Catalogs Chapter 53). These all show these early 1953-65 basic sets that were packed by hand in the Checkerboard fashion.

    Cheers, (and thanks!!!)
    Gary Istok.... mending from the laptop in bed....

    P.S. If you want a copy of my nearly 3,000 page mostly color images CD, but don't have a Bricklink account, you can always just Paypal me directly (mentioning the CD of course) at account ..... [email protected] ..... $29.95 + $2.85 shipping outside North America... $1.85 shipping in North America

    Now back to PDFing....
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,362
    ops.... that would be $29.95 + $2.85 shipping outside North America... $1.85 shipping in North America.... (odd that I could not do a post correction within 6 minutes...
  • MatthewMatthew Administrator Posts: 3,714
    ^ Just added into your original post for you...
  • HuwHuw Administrator Posts: 7,076
    Is it shipping now Gary? I need to post that review of the sample chapters if so...
  • IstokgIstokg Member Posts: 2,362
    No not yet Huw.... we're still doing some final tweaking. I am so sick of PDF'ing... probably should have stuck to Adobe.... but then when I have an extra day I keep improving something... glad what I send them a new file, it just overlays what they already have... otherwise they'd be sending my business elsewhere.

    Just snuck in another image for a Dutch collector... Cologne Cathedral in 1960 in BIllund...

    Huw, I'll give you a few days notice! Thanks!

    Gary

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