Virtual meet-up session - 16th August 8.30-10pm (Sydney time)

Hi everyone,

I thought it might be nice to have a video chat amongst the users here next week or the week after. I’m happy to set it up over Zoom.

If you are interested, please fill out the Doodle poll here:https://doodle.com/poll/nadegdpigfqycad4?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link. Please fill your name out as your user name and I’ll send around details.

Cheers,
Thomas

EDIT: The meet-up will take place on 2021-08-16T10:30:00Z2021-08-16T12:00:00Z in your time-zone. Please message me if you want the invitation details.

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Thank you for organising Thomas! Im definitely interested.

Elton

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Hi Thomas,

Are the times that show on Doodle, Oz time or local based on each person?

Thanks,

Paul

Hi Thomas,

Nevermind, I’m being a bit slow over here. I just noticed that it is based off of OZ time but showing in local time, as they are mostly in the early AM. I’m not complaining as that totally makes sense, since you are in OZ. I have been pushing for this, so I hope I can make it but more importantly, I want the most amount of people to get the benefit from this as possible. So if a time is selected that I cannot participate, then I will be more than content that it happened. I would just ask that you could record it and post a link for future consumption.

Thanks so much for doing this. Like I mentioned before, the more publicity and access people have to this community, the more work it is going to be on you. There has definitely been a lot of new users and activity lately, so I hope you are doing well and not overdoing things due to the demands of hepbcommunity.org. I tend to be the type of person that tries to help everyone around me and I can pay for it with my health. I am pretty sure you are younger, but hopefully wiser than I.

I know that you are not in this for accolades, prestige or notoriety. I know it’s because you suffer from the same disease and because you care and are concerned for all of us around the world and want to actively help us all. Regardless, you do deserve awards but I would ask all of the community to pray, wish, hope (whatever your beliefs or religion allow for) that Thomas would be blessed with the best health (that can be afforded with Hep B) and the ability to handle all the stresses of life, family, work, finances and this community.

I know Thomas doesn’t stand alone in this, so let’s add some of the top contributing professionals to our prayers, wishes and hopes like: @Joan_Block, @john.tavis, @MarkDouglas and @Suwang88 because where would this community be without them and their continued time, effort and support?

I know @Joan_Block has mentioned before that I am gracious with my praise which was very kind of her, because we all need encouragement, especially when time and effort comes from the heart and these people deserve as much positivity and blessing because their work on here is voluntary and obviously comes from their heart and dedication to the HBV community.

With all due appreciation,

Paul

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Ok… so when I first went to the Doodle survey, it showed what I thought was OZ time translated to my time zone and I voted. Then, I subscribed to updates for this event and had to create a user account. Then, when I logged in, it showed completely different times that defaulted to Zurich time. So then, I had to go into my profile and change the time zone. NOW, I can see the real times for me, so I will correct my votes. Just a note to other people that are voting on the survey, to maybe create an account FIRST, then change their time zone in their profile and then vote when it shows their local time.

Or I could be totally confused… lol… but I’ve got it all set now and voted.

Hope this helps anyone else,

Paul

Hi Thomas,

Definitely interested in a zoom call.

Pete

Well said. Wish you and everyone here healthy.

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This is a good initiative Thomas. I’ve indicated my interest in the doodle poll. Kudos to you and everyone here.

Hi Paul, you are so generous with your praise! Let me say that I want to also thank you and the rest of the folks posting on the forum for sharing YOUR stories and experiences which benefit us all! Although Thomas, Su and I are more publicly “out there” as people living with hep b, we are inspired and motivated to continue because of you and others on this forum.

With that said, thanks for the tip about logging into Doodle.com before checking the calendar. I have to say that many of the times are impossible for me since I like to sleep
late and go to bed early! Yep, that’s how I deal with fatigue. Anyhow, I’m glad that Thomas is initiating this and although I may not be able to participate, it will definitely be worthwhile for those who can!! Always, Joan

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Dear Paul,

Thank you again for such kind words, I really appreciate it. Yes, it can get a bit overwhelming with this and the day-job of running the lab, but I think it is important (and rewarding) enough to keep making sure that this community runs smoothly and keeps developing.

Really good point about the time-zones. Yes, everyone double-check that your time-zone is correct for the doodle poll.

Regarding the “let’s chat” session, there’s an obvious preference for 8.30-10.00pm (Sydney time), Monday 16th August (this should be 2021-08-16T10:30:00Z2021-08-16T12:00:00Z in your time-zone), so I’ll lock that in and send around the details to everyone who has participated in the doodle poll. If you wish to join and haven’t participated in the doodle poll, please contact me for invitation details.

I apologise that we can’t accommodate everyone, but I hope that this won’t be our only one. I foresee this as a monthly event and very happy to rotate the hosting to others in other time-zones.

Cheers,
Thomas

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By the way, I’m not sure who Jin is on the doodle poll. So please Email or message me and I’ll send the details.

Cheers,
Thomas

This was a really great conversation and I loved meeting some of you “in person”. I hope we can make this a regular thing because I felt there was a lot of issues that everyone benefited from talking about. And it was really fun.

Cheers,
Thomas

P.S. Sorry @PuallyHBV, I forgot to record it, but hopefully it can be at a time where you can make it next time. Did you maybe want to run one on US time?

Hi Thomas,

I am willing do what I can to help the community. How would I run it though? Do you mean as a host? I can host a Zoom meeting but obviously, I don’t have the qualifications to answer questions. Maybe you could shoot me an email or a private message with what you mean and how we could go about it. Again, I am happy to do whatever is within my means to aid you in furthering this cause and facilitate helping this community.

Sincerely,

Paul

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Hi Thomas,
I was not able to make it at the last minute. There was something unexpected happened. I hope the meeting was fruitful.
Best,
Jin

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Damn I missed it. I would have loved to joined in. If there will be another one, please let us know. It would have been nice to talk to see others with hep b. I be never talked to anybody about my hep b, except my wife, mom, and doctors.

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I’m sorry that I missed the meet up as well! For some reason I forgot to put it into my calendar. Of course the time difference is pretty difficult since Thomas lives in Australia and I’m on the U.S. east coast. I’d love if Paul could facilitate a meet-up based on U.S. time zones! Thanks Thomas for suggesting it. Look forward to seeing this happen maybe in Sept? Always, Joan

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