Editor’s Pick: It’s good to be back
No, for real this time
THAT’S RIGHT, folks: not only do we have a new editor on board, but your favorite (or least favorite; there are only two of us, after all) staff writer is back, having beaten cancer—hopefully for good. It’s been a rough year for everyone, so I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Sam, Jeremy, Guy, and our erstwhile editor-inchief Zak, for all their help. Everyone has been so supportive, both professionally and on a more personal level.
I’m now home with a backlog of cool hardware in my office and a never-ending series of hospital check-ups. That’s me in the photo, doing my best Tom Hardy impression from TheDarkKnightRises as I get my monthly pentamidine treatment (my immune system is borked, so my doctors are making sure I stay safe). I’ll update my photo at some point but I won’t be growing my hair again. Turns out that short hair looks better and is easier to maintain. Who knew?
I spent over a month in isolation in hospital towards the end of 2021, receiving intensive chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. About half of that time I spent in a medication-induced haze, but the rest was spent catching up on Netflix shows, keeping abreast of tech news, and reading back copies of MaximumPC. It’s funny to think that a few years ago, I knew next to nothing about computer hardware, but a spark of interest and a publication willing to take me on has seen my knowledge grow to the point where people come to me with tech questions.
It’s been a learning experience, but it’s also a lot more than that. Developing new skills is never easy and the work I’ve been lucky enough to do here has both taught me about the technology behind the hardware I love, and refined my capabilities as a writer. As much as I wanted to get better, spending months laid low by cancer treatment when I desperately wanted to be working was hard. I’m more than happy to be back, unboxing new products and tinkering with tech, from the relative comfort of my home.
So my next thank you has to go out to you, the readers of MaximumPC magazine. Let’s face it, without you guys and gals, we’d just be shouting our opinions about headsets and keyboards into the void. I’d like to say that as I lay in that hospital bed, a profound wave of gratefulness washed over me, but I felt like garbage then, so I have saved my gratitude until now.
I hope my tenure with MaximumPC is a long and storied one. It’s been a great journey so far, and I’m looking forward to tackling more fun challenges in 2022. Perhaps this will be the year I finally build my own custom liquid loop, rather than relying on the help of more seasoned DIY experts? Watch this space…