I hear ya... I really do. Personally, I'd love to be more involved, but to be honest, I simply can't swing it logistically. I'm in Sarasota, and with my family, home, and doctoral degree commitments, it's difficult to get much time at all to do much of anything like this, even participate. If I were a single guy, didn't have 2 young kids, or were even just 10 years younger, you can bet I'd be there helping, organizing, and even running events. My lifestyle requires I plan well in advance if I want to do an event, and I mean usually months in advance. If you don't understand what I'm talking about, then either you are single, don't (didn't) have kids, or are 10 years younger. And while my wife is about as supportive as she can stand to be, she just doesn't understand the nature of grassroots DIY style events conceptually... modern lifestyle and consumer culture has made such things an oddity to most these days. And given the kinds of time constraints so many suffer with, professionally planned-way-in-advance, customer type events make a lot of sense sometimes, even if the costs are way higher.

Like I said, I'd love to be more involved, so if there is something I can do to help with these events, sitting 60 miles away, in the later evening hours, via mail or email, then sign me up. Otherwise, the best I can offer right now is all my enthusiasm, a good attitude, as much as I can do the day of the event, and lots of moral support. And in the meantime, I'll be looking forward to when my lifestyle will permit me more involvement.