Goodbye My Friends

[GadgetTravel]

Wow, as a fairly new person here you were someone who was often there with great information as I was learning. You will be missed, the best to you and yours in the future!

 

[Bravo25]

I hate to see you go. I have had the pleasure of dealing with you, and you will be missed. "A friend can be hard to find in the wilderness. You are welcome at my campfire anytime"

Best of luck in all your endeavors, and may you prosper in your goals.

Chuck

 

[fuelblender]

Best of luck, TIN.
I enjoyed reading your posts.

Dave

 

[avusblue]

I tried to quit once before too. I lasted, oh, three or four days!

I've personally made probably more than a dozen transactions with you, Ray, and I can attest that you're a first class trader. And from the quality of your posts and opinions, I'd be willing to wager that you're also a first class individual.

Your approval of a product is akin to the "good housekeeping seal of approval" around here. Your reputation is evidence of your wisdom, substance, and candid truth-telling, and is well-won.

Selfishly, I hope you don't disappear, but whatever you end up doing, I personally wish you well, heartily thank you, and will miss your contributions.

Cheers,

Dave

 

[Ledean]

Like other have said you are a real pleasure to deal with. Thank you.
I wish you all the best is whatever you do .
Your posts will always be there for us to read ; there are 8300 of them.!
Take care my friend.
Ledean

 

[MaxaBaker]

Sad to see you go TIN It's a real shame to lose another great flashaholic from the forum.


You will still go to the Photon Fests, right?

 

[Beamhead]

Take care of yourself and yours TIN.

 

[LightChucker]

Ray,

You were one of the first icons of CPF that I came to recognize and appreciate.

I'll never forget the first time that you announced you were going to fade into the sunset. How sad.

You were selling everything. It sounded as if something terrible had happened. I mean, you were selling all your flashlights. I figured it had to be bad. I figured that you had already sold your house, your car, and your dog. After all, the last thing that a flashaholic would sell would be his flashlights.

But then it wasn't long before we all started seeing your posts again. What a relief it was! You were back...as if good had conquered evil.

Then suddenly, you were telling us that you had to leave CPF again, but it wasn't long and you were back.

I think there may be a pattern here

. LOL

Ray, I wish you the best of fortune, good luck, and good health.

Until we see your light again...

Chuck

 

[McGizmo]

Be well Ray and keep up the "good fight" !! :thumbsup:

 

[Silviron]

Golly, this is about the last thing I ever expected to hear today!

Well, for whatever reason; good luck, God bless.

And thank you for everything.

 

[LifeNRA]

Ray,

I will never forget what you did for me and my family. Thanks for everything. May God bless you and your family.

 

[nikon]

You've been a real asset, Ray, and I hate to see you go. Best wishes in your future pursuits.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

We're going to miss you around here, Ray. Best wishes for whatever life has in store for you though. Good health and good luck to you and yours. May your road always be brightly lit.

 

[Sigman]

WHAAAAAAAT?

Talk about having the carpet pulled out from underneath me! I know we've "wheeled!~n~dealed" here and there (and are still doing it!), never had any problems with those transactions.

Certainly respected & enjoyed your thoughts & opinions as well!!

Here I am "catching up on the daily CPF" and I run across this post!!

Take care, nothing but positive thoughts for you and we look forward to you stopping in now and then!!

You're family!!

Rick (with a middle name of "Ray"!)

 

[BayMoe]

Sad to see you go. Take care TIN.

 

[cheapo]

Sorry to see you go... if you ever need advice, or help... let us know, we've got your back.

-David

 

[Phaserburn]

:thinking: Say it ain't so, Ray! Can you share why? I hate mysteries!

A. Tired of flashlights
B. Tired of CPF
C. Just plain tired!

If you don't feel like explaining, that's ok with me, too. Sorry to see ya go. I always enjoyed reading your perspectives on things. This is a bummer.

If this is it, adios, amigo, and take care!

:buddies:

 

[Greta]

I've been running CPF for about 3 years now... or something like that. Way back when, I used to take every and all comments about CPF (good and bad... mostly the bad) personally. I felt that I needed to defend CPF and myself and I spent many a sleepless night and long days and weekends trying to please everyone. After awhile, my skin grew thicker. And I realized that some members just like to complain. As my father-in-law used to say... they'd complain if you hanged them with a new rope! And I realized that I can't please everyone and while their lives may be CPF, mine isn't. It can't be.

So consequently, there are very few members of CPF who can "get to me" now. Very few whose opinion really does matter to me. Very few who can still hurt my feelings and put me on the defensive. Very few who I will take the time to explain myself to.

Ray is one of those members.

We've had our differences... that's for sure!

But as many of you have already said here, Ray tells it like it is. He doesn't pull punches and he believes in the truth as he sees it and letting everyone know exactly what that is. He doesn't know it, but Ray and just a few others are the ones I count on to maintain the integrity of CPF by calling others on their BS. And he's never let me down.

At one time, Ray's perception of me and the way things are with CPF was just a little "off" from the truth. And I knew that. I'll admit that it hurt... because I knew that he didn't have all of the facts and he was simply going by what he did have. I couldn't defend myself because of circumstances. So I let Ray and many others go on thinking the worst of me. But in truth, Ray and very few others were the only ones that I cared what they thought.

When a bunch of stuff finally came out in the Revelations thread, Ray made this post to me:

First off Sasha, I owe you an appology. When I first heard the story that the LC pricing was so high based on the "CPF cut", my immediate reaction was to jump on the "here we go again with CPF (Sasha) with her hand out looking for more dollars to support CPF, buy shoes or whatever else the monies are used for". Now that the facts are devulged, I can honestly say that I'm sorry for feeling that way. Although I never made my opinions public, I held a very strong "grudge" against CPF and you personally. For that, I sincerely appologize, stand corrected and ask for foregiveness.

And I replied to him:

TIN... believe it or not, your post means the most to me. You don't have to ask for forgiveness... I completely understand why you thought the way you did. I took it all on the chin because it was the right thing to do to protect CPF. I've never been out to win any popularity contests and have accepted that not all will like me or how I handle things around here. And I feel that as long as things are running smoothly and my conscience is clear, there is no need to stand on a soapbox and constantly proclaim my "innocense". I have never had a problem looking myself in the face in the mirror when it comes to CPF.

Thank you though for your post... it truly does mean alot to me...

For those of you who haven't been around CPF for very long, Ray is one of CPF's greatest assets. He is one of "the good guys". He keeps ALL of us honest.

I'll miss ya Ray.... and to borrow a phrase.... We'll leave the light on for ya...

 

[Lunal_Tic]

Take care T.I.N.

I have always looked to your graphs for info to help me decide on which lights would be best for my application. You have been a valuable resource to CPF.

Thanks for all you've done.
-LT

 

[Icebreak]

It's been an honor and pleasure to know you, Ray. You have my respect, admiration and friendship.

On May 30th I'll be sure to toast you.

--------

- Jeff