Firstly before we get into it, I don't know if you all have noticed or saw the piece I uploaded marking the occasion. But I'm at (and over now) 1000 viewers! Thanks to you all and hope for a 1000 more. :)

Now for the first bit of explaining for why I've been quiet.

Well the short of it is...2018 has sucked for me so far, mainly money wise.

Why I hear you asking? Well...mid January my daily pickup truck I used for going back and forth to work finally took a shit and blew a head gasket with nearly 240,000 miles on the clock. Seeing as it'll probably cost more to fix then it's worth it's safe to say it's still in the driveway...broken. The biggest thing to add insult to injury is that I had literally...LITERALLY put a full tank of gas in it not five moles from my house. On the way from filling it up the thing decided to go.

Well..that was the first thing, so luckily I had a second truck (the one I usually use to tow my car trailer) and started using it to daily to work and back. Sometime in February I had a friend that needed my help in going to Illinois (3 hour drive from where we are) to pick up an old Ramcharger for him. Well, did that without a hitch and decided I should get an engine and drive train monitor for my truck so I can watch all the temps as I tow things. Well I got one from a well known brand, an...expensive one...and proceeded to hook it up to my truck. Well...things didn't go as planned and long story short it fried the PCM on my truck. Of course the maker of the monitor offered no refunding of the PCM being fried so I sent the monitor back, but that's without saying.

"Well get a new PCM and be done with it!" I hear some saying. Well I tried ordering one online, and...well the place more or less took to long getting me one that would work...and I say that because they did end me one...but it didn't work, that I just decided to get a refund. Problem was I had gone over their sixty day return policy and wouldn't give my money back. So...in me being Mr. Nice Guy and being patient with them in getting me a PCM I fucked my own self. In a desperate attempt, I went to the local Ford dealership to see if I could find some bastion of hope, and I did...an expensive one, but a plan of action none the less. I told the lady at the parts counter I was gonna sleep on it, and I'm glad I did.

Happen to run into an old friend I went to our local vocational center with and stopped to talk to him. Well he wondered why I was there, I told him and he paused, looked around and said "Come outside with me, can't tell you this in the shop." Once outside he told me if I can find a matching PCM from a salvage yard he, could program it for me for pennies compared to what the dealership could. So that's what I did. Acquired one, he programmed it, and I was back on the road.

BUT!...I'm getting ahead of myself. During the time of having both vehicles down, I had to buy something to get to work and back. Found a 2004 GMC Envoy, and my brother had an '06 I liked so I decided to pick it up. Well...It needed some work...Like a new belt tensioner, CV axle, and brakes upfront work. Well that wasn't cheap, but I got it done, all the week before I went off to GFM. Kind of why I was so sudden with my announcement of me going, I didn't know if I was going to make it!

So now in this story, got both vehicles running. But my check engine light keeps coming on in my pickup, the readout saying the front o2 sensor is reading wrong. Well, my truck has had an exhaust manifold leak since I got it and I figured it had gotten bad enough it was time to get it fixed, and seeing as I had always wanted it fixed I told the shop to take care of that for me. They did, and anyone who knows 5.4 Triton engines knows how expensive that was...and just for one side! I get the truck back, drive it around...light comes back on...I guess it was the o2 sensor after all. But before I was able to take it back, Envoy problems again.

My Envoy starts making squeaking noises under the hood, but the kind that go away after about five minutes of running so I decided to let it slide. Then!...then the A/C starts to putter, and in the West TN summer heat, that ain't too well. Took it back to the shop, they look and find out the A'C compressor is about to fall apart, so they end up redoing that whole thing.

So now we're about up to date on the goings on thus far into the year and why I haven't uploaded much, mainly because I haven't had the funds to get anything recently! But I've managed to acquire a couple here and there that you've probably seen, and some I haven't uploaded...or gotten back yet!

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So there's all the bad things written out, hope you suffered through the wall of text like I have so far this year. :D

Now for the good news, planned cons!

Provided I can save my funds back up over the next few months, I do plan on making the same racket I did last year. That list being from soonest to latest, Anime Blues Con (next weekend!) Indy Fur Con, Memphit Fur Meet, and the big one, Midwest Furfest!

And I hope I can make them because...well I've already registered and booked hotel rooms. XD

tldr: Halp.

Hope you all have had a better 2018 them me so far. :D