By July, 21, 1999, we had gotten a computer, learned how to create a document with Microsoft Word, started using email, and fumbled our way through creating our newsletter in a digital format. I got into the game and contributed graphics and an essay so it became a joint effort, a rewarding activity we could carry out together. We thought it was great that we didn't have to Xerox the pages, buy stamps, and go through the trouble to mail the copies out. Most of our family had email accounts so we could just connect the file to an email and send it off. The attachment was frequently problematic (such as not being able to be opened), and at least one relative still did not have internet access so we continued sending a hard copy, but we persisted. This version was called LARVALBUG BYTES, a title we kept from then on. Because we sent the first one out on the 21st of July, that became our official monthly publication date.
The curve was quite steep at the beginning, as I learned about computers and, in order to bypass the problems of files that could not be universally opened, how to make web sites. Our first online issue, published on our very own web space, was in April, 2000. By our fifth anniversary of the online version of LARVALBUG BYTES, in April, 2005, I was so thrilled with how far we'd come that I wrote an essay about the process thus far.
We were both close to retiring from our principal jobs when we began co-authoring the newsletter, and we both enjoy writing, so it was easy to continue, month after month, for years.
Our July, 2008, newsletter marked our 100th online issue, so my essay that month was a little celebration of that particular milestone. Considering that there was a prolonged maturation period at the beginning of our publishing endeavor, we had a number of anniversaries we could choose to recognize for a variety of reasons, so any actual observance occurred simply when we happened to notice a landmark and had the urge to point it out.
The very next month, in August, 2008, due to privacy concerns and a growing non-family readership (I think we had at least 8 unrelated people reading our publication!), we split the newsletter into a private family version and a public one.
I got rather lazy about noticing how many months had passed until we were close to number 200. The reason that the online issue numbers are particularly obvious is that I keep each one in its own folder on my computer. It is pretty easy for the machine to count them up and mention to me, in a discrete little note at the bottom of the screen, that a directory contains, say, 198 items. How did I acknowledge number 200? With short paragraph in "Final Thoughts" at the bottom of that issue. Definitely more subdued than festive.
With this issue, we've now completed 275 monthly issues, from BULL to BYTES, over a period of nearly 23 years. Larry has a light-hearted predilection for numbers divisible by 5, and since 275 is also divisible by 25, that makes it a pretty good candidate for wrapping up our monthly newsletter career. We have certainly enjoyed writing essays and choosing illustrations for our stories, as well as the additional contributions by several members of our family. Most of our essays and features will remain accessible in our archives. I have learned a lot about graphics, HTML, and web design, and found making silly little animated GIFs to be an amusing periodic diversion. But, as time passes, some activities eclipse others and we have both decided that we need to make room for other pursuits. We hope any readers have found our publications to be engaging, amusing, or enlightening, and thank you all for your continued tolerance of our efforts. So long, and thanks for over two decades of fun.