[Closed] I've been away from this place for far too long....

I've been away from this place for far too long....

First & foremost, I hope everyone is well and I hope everyone that celebrates the Christmas season had a very merry Christmas. It's been a really long time since I've had time to check in here and I just wanted to stop in and say hello.

Life has been VERY busy this past month or so. My family just moved into a "new" house back around Thanksgiving, lots of changes happening at work (not for the better unfortunately), I'm starting a networking/computer training course next Monday (as a result of the negative changes at work), and I'm trying to make some significant changes related to my health. On top of that, we had a very busy Christmas with not much time to prepare along with 4 birthdays that we celebrated in December - my wife on the 4th, my niece Becca on the 22nd, and my sister-in-law Amanda as well as my son Chase on the 27th. Needless to say, my "cup runneth over", so to speak. It has been a very exhausting & expensive month, but it has been a lot of fun.

Anyway, I had some time today to catch up here and I just saw Paul's message from a couple weeks ago along with the responses. I would like to thank each of you for the truly kind words. It means a lot to receive such encouragement from a group of fellow enthusiasts that I have nothing but the utmost respect for. Paul mentioned my position with Diecastfast.com. I have been working with Justin Snyder at DiecastFast.com for a couple years now and have thoroughly enjoyed the working relationship as well as the friendship we have developed. Justin is a great guy. My most recent assignment - which Paul may have meant - has been with 1:18 Diecast DownUnder. For those unaware, 1:18 Diecast DownUnder is an Australian magazine fully devoted to 1:18 scale models. A lot of the models featured in their magazine are brands native to Australia and other countries outside the US - like Biante, Classic Carlectables, etc. - but they also feature several AutoArt models as well as GMP, even Lane/Exact Detail. That's where I come in. I'm more or less their contributing writer for the American side of things. I've recently been presented with further opportunities with the magazine which sound very intriguing. A couple of my reviews were featured in the last issue (#4) and I believe a couple have also been featured in this months issue (#5). I haven't received my copies yet. For those interested in learning more about 1:18 Diecast DownUnder, you can view their website by clicking on the following link - http://www.diecastdownunder.com/ .

Other than that, not much else has been going on...:))

I have had a number of updates to my website since my last visit here. I can't remember the last thing I shared here, but in the past month or so, I've added pictures & reviews for several models - from Lane/Exact Detail, I've added pictures of the Zone 68 Shelby GT500 along with pictures & reviews for the red & white 68 Shelby GT500 as well as the cranberry red 1970 Chevelle SS454 LS6 hardtop. From Supercars & Highway 61, I've added pictures & a review for their wickedly awesome super street 68 Barracuda along with pictures of their most recent super street release, the super street 1967 Coronet R/T. Lastly, from Ertl, I added pictures of the impressive and simply cool replica of KITT from Knight Rider which is part of Ertl's "Joyride" series. I have provided links to each set of pictures or pics/reviews. If you're interested in seeing any of them, just click on the corresponding link.

Lastly, for those who may have emailed me in the past month, my email address was changed back at the beginning of December. The new address is detourdave@verizon.net - not much different than my old address, but different nonetheless.

Thanks again to everyone that has offered me support & encouragement. It is greatly appreciated. My apologies for the long post but I hope all is well for everyone and I'd like to wish everyone here a safe, prosperous, and happy New Year in 2005!!

Dave