Once again, it's time for some meaningless, .... uh, I mean, .... meaningful, drivel from your friend and mine.  Not much going on in the way of Hot Wheels from my end, but I have been lucky in finding a whole set of the Johnny Lightning "Hot Rods" in one fell swoop.  And the best part is I only paid regular retail for them; no scalpers for me, no sirree!  I've all but given up on finding HW's, but I still look for them.  I was lucky about a month ago to find a 2001 TH Corvette in a local Kroger, but that was a rarity for me.  Just enough to keep me looking; got to enjoy the hunt, if you know what I mean.

It sure is nice to see the site up and running with regular postings again.  I know ol' Boss Lady is thrilled.  I sure hope things will finally turn around for Dennis and her; not to mention their daughter, April, too.  These folks are just way too nice to have all this bad stuff thrown at them.  I also see where Mr. "Viper" is coming back and "Mossee," too!  Yehaw!  Gonna be nice to get some of the old barbs flying again guys!  Now if we can just wake old man "Rocko" from his nap and hear more from him again.  I'm sure lots of you out there have a few tears that need to be shed, right?  That man can sure tell a story.

I've really enjoyed seeing the rippling graphics on the logo on the Welcome page again; I always did like that effect.  The whole CB's site is looking very professional here lately; hope they still have a place for a Tennessee "mountain man," as Boss Lady calls me.  Huh, ... come to think of it, ..... I haven't been able to access my email account because of password trouble and my updated bios page mysteriously vanished and was never posted after being sent in.  Reckon someone's trying to tell me something? 
(I'll be good, Trish; I promise. See, you didn't even have to edit me this time)

Hopefully, Boss Lady will see the true value in my contributions (still trying to recover from the 99 convention), and see the need for my laid back, though sometimes sarcastic attitude (not to mention my undying devotion to her and CB's), enough that she'll keep this mountain man around for awhile longer.  I'm gonna make a concerted effort to revert back to the old "Stoneman" and try to contribute a little more regularly.  I've adjusted to my new life (not so new anymore) and have told my love that I'll have to spend a little more time on the keyboard and less time in her arms and that she can thank Trish for that (that mean, ol' slave drivin', whip crackin', if I only had a dollar for every Hot Wheel I have, Grandmother). 
I'll tell her you said "Your welcome", Boss. 

So maybe with a little luck and lots of whippin' from Boss Lady, her ol' crew of talented writers, car destro ... um, I ... mean CUSTOMIZERS, scalper kickers, picture takers, and of course, you the reader / collector / contibutor, CB's will continue to be a force to be dealt wi .............. uh ............. a leading authori ........... well ok, how about a pretty darn good die cast collector's web site! (and someday a true to life museum, too)
;-]
Hope everyone has a wonderful & productive year and Happy Hunting as always,

Stoneman