Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving –  a good excuse to use when you plan on taking the rest of the week off like I do. It’s also a good time to sit back and think about what you are thankful for I suppose… And since I don’t have anything else to write about today, I figured I would do that. Regular readers can peal off now, because who really cares about what someone else is thankful for?

For the past several years, I’ve lived in a dream. I wake up fairly early, I strap on my boots, and I drive down a few country roads to my little office in the middle of nowhere. Once there, I sit down in front of a computer, look out the window, and write up my post for the day. Sometimes, that post doesn’t resonate. It just falls out of the barrel and splats on the ground. Other times, I fall in love with it. In either case, no time is spent considering the bottom line or how my thoughts might effect my bank account.

Essentially, I write whatever the hell I want to write about. I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal, but in this industry it often is. Recently, I was thinking about how big-a-damn-deal that actually is and how I’ve found myself in the position that I am in.

I work pretty hard I guess. I typically do 55 hour weeks – some shorter, some maybe even a tad longer. I’ve often heard that the smarter guy doesn’t have to work as hard. I’m not all that smart, so I figure I can make up for it by worker longer than the next guy.

Still, lots of guys work harder than I do.

At the end of the day, I owe everything in my life to you guys – the folks the support me by reading my crap, posting their own crap, and putting up with other’s crap so gracefully. It’s impossible to take you all for granted and I can’t tell you fellas enough just how much I appreciate you – Alliance members, regular members… All of you. Thank you.

And then there is the Alliance vendors. No sufficient words there either…

And how about the sponsors? To be frank, I’m not huge on “advertisers.” I don’t like the connotations that come with that word and I don’t like what the publishing industry has become in an effort to keep “advertisers” happy. So screw it… Screw advertisers.

Instead, I have sponsors. Folks that blindly support this site and have done so for years. We’ve added three new sponsors recently and have nine others that have been with us longer than 18 months – most for over five years. They get a sponsor slot on The Jalopy Journal, pay their dues, and never infringe any further on the publication.

And there are guys like Corky Coker and his company Coker Tires. They’ve done more than just sponsor the joint and give steep discounts to Alliance members. They’ve become good personal friends… family… cohorts in crime. And they support me unconditionally and regardless of what hair brained idea I might come up with next.

Finally, there are the fellas that donate their time and help me run the joint – The Speed & Power Society. Without these fellas, I’d be lost in a sea of spam and malcontent users. They are all really good friends of mine and while some of you might cross them from time-to-time, I hope you know how good these people really are. They are golden.

In any case, I’m feeling pretty damned thankful this year and am planning on taking the rest of the week off as an excuse for it. I know… That doesn’t make much sense… and, I’ll probably end up posting something at some point simply because I don’t know any better.

Rambling on from a rambling man…

Happy Thanksgiving ya’ll.