Thanks
Tomorrow is a day set aside in the United States to express thanks for one's material and spiritual possessions. In the spirit of the day, I’d like to do a little expressing of thanks for what I’ve got here in this little corner of cyberspace.
First, I’d like to thank Chris Hafner, our genial host, founding father, most prolific author, editor, mother hen, and all around swell guy. With nothing more than a wild idea and a great talent for expressing it, he built a neat little cyber-community here where one can, without shame or irony, celebrate the marvels of the minivan, the charming absurdity of the Dodge Rampage (RAMPAGE!), the availability of soft Corinthian leather, or the unbreakable bonds between a young man and his 1983 Chevrolet Malibu station wagon.
I’d like to thank Chris in particular for an e-mail he sent me on June 25, 2008, the one that asked, “would you be interested in being an official poster on Car Lust?” I spend most of my workdays writing, but it’s almost all uber-geeky technical legal drafting aimed at other lawyers. I was truly flattered that I might be considered good enough to write creatively for a wider audience—and simultaneously terrified by the prospect of being so tested. I enjoy the opportunity to write in a language other than legalese and have it actually get published.
I should also thank Amazon for giving Chris the resources to start up Car Lust, and for letting me and the other contributors play in the company sandbox. Large organizations tend to be risk-averse and overly-controlling, and it says something positive for Amazon’s corporate culture that it sponsors this website and extends complete editorial freedom to Chris--and to a bunch of pistonheads who don’t even work there.
I’m also thankful for those “pistonheads,” the Car Lust regular contributors, a group I’ve come to think of as friends in the relatively short time we’ve been working together. There’s Rob, with his passionate intensity and attention to detail; Anthony, who understands the “car lust lifestyle” first-hand; David Drucker, who’s owned enough different cars to fill a mall parking lot and can tell a fascinating story about every one; Nathan, who looks at family sedans the way most of us look at Ferraris; Big Chris, who so clearly sees the nobility of “everyday iron,”; David Colborne, whose account of a simple (???) intake manifold gasket replacement reads like a combination of Homer’s Odyssey and Damon Runyon’s “Butch Minds the Baby”; and Mochi Mochi, who has something interesting to say about nearly everything. I am honored to be in such company.
I am also thankful for our readers. It is a feeling beyond price when I see in a comments thread that something I wrote has struck a chord with one of you. I am particularly grateful for our regular commenters: Sillypickle, Shawn, the Old Car Guy, That Car Guy, Steaming Pile, ...m..., meccano, Caddy Jeff, SwedishMetal, John Boyle, Jim Milliken, and so many others I’m forgetting—so glad you all keep coming back and have so much to share.
Finally, I’d like to thank my family: my wife and two boys, for putting up with and supporting this project, and my dog Cookie, for giving me my pen name.
Happy Thanksgiving, and see you all on the backroads.
--Cookie the Dog's Owner
Rob the SVX guy on November 25, 2008 at 10:52 PM
Cheers!
Mochi Mochi on November 26, 2008 at 12:21 AM
:) ! happiness is a dog named cookie. have a wonderful thanksgiving one and all!
V8Dan on November 26, 2008 at 05:15 AM
What do I give thanks for? Where do I start. My wife for putting up with me, my dogs for unconditional love on the condition I give them a biscuit. My country, job, caring doctors and medical researchers, and as corny as this sounds; truly nice people.
Chris Hafner on November 26, 2008 at 07:51 AM
Awww ... :-)
What a pleasant surprise this post is. Thanks, Cookie the Dog's Owner.
I'd like to echo the thanks to Amazon for making this site possible and allowing it to be interesting. I'd like to thank my co-contributors for making this blog vastly more interesting than it would otherwise be and for picking up the slack when the paying job overwhelms my blogging time. I'd like to thank the readers and commenters for listening to the ravings of a Saab-loving maniac and finding them worthy of continued attention. It's a lapse of judgement on your part, but I appreciate it.
And, most of all, I'd like to thank the automakers for making interesting cars. Long may that continue.
John B on November 26, 2008 at 10:37 AM
I want to thank you for thanking me. Since I found this site as a result of a Google search when you wrote about my car, I’ve been very impressed with it, it has a great tone. The contributors are knowledgeable without being pompous and always polite and humorous.
I agree, we need to be thankful. Every day when I walk to the garage, I thankful that I have the means and ability to enjoy my cars. Right now, I’m busy helping some talented people restore my 1963 Avanti, so I’m keeping an eye to the future. I hope my cars are around years from now giving their owners and regular people on the street enjoyment.
And I’m thankful for my patient wife (she was called a saint on one website for her support of my cars, dogs and helicopter flying!) for indulging me so I can indulge my cars.
And in the spirit of Cookie, I’m thankful for my basset, Douglas and his late predecessors Thomas, Wilbur and Shirley Bassey.
I hope everyone has a great holiday season. Be kind to everyone…two and four-legged alike.
David Colborne on November 26, 2008 at 10:44 AM
Thanks, Cookie! That's definitely a well-timed, heartfelt post right there, and I couldn't agree more on all counts.
Have a happy Thanksgiving!
Anthony Cagle on November 26, 2008 at 10:45 AM
I, too, am thankful to have the opportunity to impart my own brand of blather here. It's got a bit more pizazz than my usual blogging gig posting about all things archaeological. I mean, how many people get all excited about stable isotope analysis of lipid residues in Neolithic and Bronze Age Kazakhstan ceramics? Not too many, I assure you. At least, fewer than care deeply about the Mustang II. Which is saying something.