My head is still buzzing from the road hum. I got in last night, around 2200, and almost immediately crashed.

On January 26, 2013, the world lost a saint, but one of His servants is now awaiting his reward. Paul R. “Prying1” Young, one of my first blogging friends, went home. His loving wife, Renee, was in the hospital recovering from her flu shot, so the service was postponed until yesterday.

I had arranged for an extended test drive of a 2013 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup. Nice ride, by the way. Big thanks to Ed for arranging this test drive. With the Road Rhino not quite road worthy for a trip of that duration, and the Camry needed by my wife (it is her car, and I wasn’t going to force her to drive something that I am not 100% OK with) the Ram was a welcome asset. It came equipped with just about everything – with the exception of a CD player, so Santana had to stay home. The Sirius package made up for that. No dead spots, lots of channels. Full tech package, so the phone synced up nicely and allowed hands-free communications with the parties who needed to be kept apprised. Power everything. V-8 Hemi with a *kkrrksch* 32 gallon tank. Not too bad here in Arizona, at 3.499/gallon, but when I needed to refuel in Cali, the 4.199 was a bit steep. Averaged about 18.2 for the whole trip. GPS was helpful getting to Doug‘s house, where I stayed the night Friday.

(side note here – Doug’s main ride is an older model, basic Corolla. as such, he hasn’t had the luxury – or the conditioning – of riding with a female computerized voice saying “turn left now” or “prepare to bear right in one-half mile” so [for those of you who have spoken with him] realizing that he stopped talking when the gps gal was giving directions was highly amusing. he won’t let anyone else get a word in edgewise, but he’s polite enough not to interrupt her.)

Any way – left Phoenix Friday afternoon about 1600. Arrived at Doug’s house about 2000 (gained an hour at the line) and he and I went to grab a bite at Miguel Jr’s. Good burrito. Crashed for the night, up early the next day and headed out. The service was at Jubilee Fellowship in Torrance, which is about an hour and 45 minutes from Doug’s house.

I have to tell you, if I get half the people who showed up say half as many things about me, I will consider my life to have been blessed. Paul was a Godly man, with a servant’s heart, and every word spoken of him reflected that.

Afterwards, we drove back to Doug’s house, and I left there a little after 1600. Both ways the drive was uneventful, and if it weren’t for cruise control my foot would have been too heavy. There was almost no sensation of the speed I was driving in that pickup. The trip was enjoyable, but not one that I wanted to have to take.

OK, I’ve been back since Saturday evening – and I am still trying to process everything I’ve seen/heard/learned. The ASTRA Conference and the TGTG catalog buying event sure left a lot of information floating around in the head.

Had a great time with several blogging friends (Gawfer, Political Pistachio, and Prying1) at Chronic Tacos in Corona – very sorry that more weren’t able to make it. One in particular (a certain Marine who just transferred back stateside but wouldn’t be actually stateside until a week after the meeting) I was really looking forward to being able to see (but his sister and her son did), and another (American and Proud) who’s schedule just would not cooperate.

Gotta run – more later.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

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The American Specialty Toy Retailers Association is having their conference next week, starting Sunday morning. I will be at that conference, representing Kidstop Toys, along with the owner and her husband.

Gosh, this is the tough part of the new career – having to go to Anaheim, in June, and learn about (and play with!) a bunch of new toys, and meet the industry movers and shakers … [sarcasm=OFF]

I have arranged a meet-and-greet with some excellent blogger friends for Saturday evening. I have already met two of them in person, this is going to allow me to meet more of these fine folks. You will find them in the sidebar, with their blogs listed. I’ll have an after-action report when I get back from Anaheim.

Why after I get back, you ask? Well, we only have the one laptop between us, and since TMBWitW is the one tracking things like bills and whatnot, we decided it would be best if I left the laptop at home. Now, unless I can find a public access computer in the Anaheim Convention Center, I’ll be off line for the next week. It’s OK though – after the ASTRA Conference, the family and I will be enjoying some downtime together – TMBWitW and MEG will be joining me on Thursday of next week. I will also be catching up with a distant cousin, one who helped my family pack up for the move from the LA area to Colorado, before I was born. I don’t know if he reads this, so I don’t know if he’s aware of the passing of Dad, Lea Ann, and Mom – half of the group that he helped move …

At any rate, I will be MIA for a few days, at least. I am still connected by the cell phone, and if you follow me on Twitter, I will be twitting my adventures there, or at least I’ll be trying. Bosslady moves fast at these things, and I’ll be keeping up with her. One thing I’ve learned – tweeting and walking don’t mix.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

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1,000.

Finally, after nearly six years in the blogosphere, I have finally made it to the milestone.

Along the way, I’ve made a lot of friends. I’ve met a lot of other bloggers, some I’ve kept up with, others who have fallen by the way side, still others who have passed on while still active (Old Ranter, Basti), and a precious few that I have actually had the pleasure to meet (Douglas Gibbs, Gawfer, Greybeard). There is a host of them in Southern California that I look forward to possibly meeting up with in June, after the ASTRA convention (Robert, Gawfer some more, Doug some more, maybe Jenn, maybe even John and his sister, and Paul).

I even made a run for president. Don’t you wish I was there instead of the bozo we have now?

I became a New Daddy.

My blog has been used as evidence by the City of Phoenix in an attempt to trample on the First Amendment rights of a private citizen.

Many other bloggers out there have published many more entries than I, heck, some of them *cough*Texas Fred*cough* do that in a matter of months.

I don’t write about politics as much anymore, my weight has popped back up to the 220 range since I quite the paper route, and I have landed in a job that I believe will carry me though my golden years.

I still enjoy working with wood, and get to do just that on occasion.

But, perhaps best of all, I still get to share my world with you, my loyal reader(s).

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!