Editorial: Where's Cybermodeler?
Wow, the last year has been busy! I reread last year's editorial that was put up in March aftter I had my first ER/hospital visit. Around Easter last year I started to feel normal but gave myself heat stroke trying to mow too much pasture at once. When started to feel awful, I parked the mower and tried to walk back to the house. Instead I got dizzy and fell, and couldn't get back up. My "Smart Watch" noted my fall and my lack of response, so it attempted 911 several times before going into stand-by. We have terrible cell phone service in several spots around the propery, including the one I fell onto. I guess about four hours later, my wife came home from work and discovered my groggy butt on the ground, and she did get 911 out there. That led to several days of my not knowing much about what was going on and several more days trying to convince the hospital staff that was finallly okay. A month later, I fell three times inside the house, with the third time going down a flight of steps. There goes yet another week iin the hospital. By the time we got done wth insurance, we maxed out our deductables and everything was just about free. In other words, if either of us needed anything done medically, late last year was theoretically great!
So here we are in 2026 and yes, we did have a trip to the ER, but it was Tammy's turn as patient. I am updating Cybermodeler again, right now on a weekly basis but that is set to go back to a daily basis if all goes well. I did note the emails of concern about the site yesterday, and I was surprised to see that we we're indeed offline. We were so offline that all there was to see was an empty file directory where the website (all 35,000 pages) was supposed to be, and an empty file directory where the cybermodeler email was supposed to be stored. I spent an hour on the phone trying to reach anyone on Easter Sunday and while I did find one, his English was broken up Hindu. I tried again this morning and while I could communicate with them better, I thought I had dialed into a Gordon Ramsey class. When came back for another attempt, I saw that my missing cybermodeler email was back online, and with a quick check of my browser, the site has mysteriously came back online as well.
So here we are again, I'm still on the mend from last year but getting better. I need to learn a few new levels of detail because there are more things out there that can take you offline. Thank you all for your kind words and concerns about the future of Cybermodeler Online. I'll get back into the swing of things again soon, but please don't be surprised if I take a mental health day now and again.
Take care and go build something!
Respectfully,
Michael Benolkin
Owner/Publisher, Cybermodeler Online