I respect everyone on this board (well maybe with 1 or 2 exceptions), just some more than others and for different reasons. Some are obvious; such as Rory for his awesome talent or Russ for his talent, professionalism, and generosity of spirit (and of course his taste in music ), DonM of course, has all the 'goods' but with the added gift of a great, great, sense of humor, and of course we all love Rikki for the many great qualities she brings to the table......and the list goes on. Diki is right up there in this top echelon of SZ contributors (along with many others that I did not name). Love him or hate him, you've got to admire his intellect, his talent, his knowledge, and his ability to make his point (which is usually right on the money, even if we don't want to hear it.......again ). He may tweak some (that probably deserve it) or rankle some that chose to 'kill the messenger', but he is rarely, if ever, just mean or malicious just for the sake of being mean or malicious. I think the board is richer (certainly in usable content) for his presence and as for me, I'll take one Diki any day over ten of our egotistical, blowhard, self-proclaimed 'pro's', some of whom should be dragged off of the stage and flogged for impersonating a musician (don't respond to that last statement unless the shoe fits).

Glad Russ decided to throw some well-deserved kudos his way. Now if we could only get him to stop playing that Jimmy Buffet music .

chas