First of all....Pete, how in hell do you come up with this stuff? I'm impressed! HOSK is really Hoskins, a geodetic monitoring site in Papua New Guinea. Man, Pete, you are indeed "Da Man".... I've worked in the airline industry for 29 years and you showed me something...
Now, on to Downtown.... no need to be "in awe" of me...my "masterful teachings" are really just the ramblings of a madman...
... Yes, I was a little peeved and somewhat bewildered
at your post. But, then I realized what the real problem is...and it's indeed a common one for most internet users.
Y'see, when I read your posting, I couldn't see your face....and neither could Excaliber, nor SpitzSpitz, nor Casaleenie...nor anyone else for that matter. And, frankly, your posting took on a 'tone', if you will, that led the reader to believe you were being spiteful and gloating and taking all this situation in less than the pure fun in which it was intended. Your tone sounded almost vengeful... simply, because we couldn't see your face. But, now that I've explained how
I interpreted your posting, let's work on how we can help you get your real meaning across to the legions who are hanging on our every word of these exchanges...(
).
See the little "smilies" I'm using in my posting....little things like
and
go a long way to helping your reader understand that you're not really being serious...just havin' fun....and, Heaven knows, we all need to have more fun...
Anyway, if you had inserted some of these into your postings, we would have all known you were being a little sarcastic (
), but still meant your comments all in fun
See, what I mean...?
It's just one of the 'problems' we have with the internet...it's so impersonal....we can't see the originator of the message laughing as they're typing and we are left to only guessing what frame of mind they may be in as they type. So, a little judicious use of smilies will help address this phenomena.
But, even if you can't use the smilies...use things called 'emoticons' to express your meaning....things like {;O) indicate that the originator is smiling and winking at the same time. {:O) says they're smiling, and {:OD says they're laughing....
O looks like they're surprised, and {:O* says they're sending a kiss (or just ate something sour!). Worse comes to worse, use things like (LOL), meaning 'laughing out loud', or ROTFLMAO, meaning 'rolling on the floor laughing my ass off'...even HAHAHA tells the reader you're not being serious.
Okay....end of "Internet Etiquette 1101"...on to the point at hand.
I have no intention of "walking the walk of shame" for you, Downtown, or any other person on this website, nor anywhere else in this world for that matter....period. I doubted your story...and, as anyone who's been on this website for any length of time already knows, I had good reason to doubt your fantastic story. Do you have any idea how many trolls have been here touting some fantastic story of how they found a Cobra in their Uncle's garage, barn, bedroom closet, or wherever...and how it was indeed real and genuine, and how they wanted to know how much it was worth, and so on and so on and so on...ad nauseum? Do you have any idea? And EVERY one of those trolls turned out to be charlatans and were proven to be several times over. Do you have any idea how many trolls have come here hawking, selling, offering, or peddeling brand new, NOS, guaranteed to be original Ford NASCAR 427 side oiler parts? The number is staggering... Here, let me put this another way....how many people have come up to you while you were driving your new car, and stated their Uncle, cousin, father, brother, or even them personally...."used to have one of those in the mid-60's"...? If one were to go by those ridiculous statements alone, one could infer than Shelby American must have made 100,000 cars, or better! Truth is....they made 1021 vehicles....and only 31 real 427 SC's...! But, nevertheless, the truth doesn't stop some of these folks from insisting they had an original and it somehow got away from them. I imagine 'some' of those stories are true...but, sadly, most are mere figments of their imagination. I've learned to doubt them all....
So...ANY time someone comes over here and on their first post makes some fantastic claim, we all have reason to be suspect of that person and their intentions. And, whether they posted their doubts, or not....I'd wager most who read your first postings thought the same thing as did I. But, your story turned out to be true...much to EVERYONE's surprise. But, unlike the others who merely 'thought' your story to be made up, I openly doubted you. When you began to say you were so busy and didn't have time to post pictures, etc, that only added to the incredulity of your story, which is the exact same tact other
trolls had taken. Can you begin to see why we doubted your story?
But...again, unlike some folks...I offered to eat crow and make a public apology if you posted pictures of your car...which I made good on. Moreover, I offered to buy your lunch at the TCC Annual Meeting as an incentive for you to post your pictures, which I will make good on in February. Hell, I gave you directions on how to post pictures, and even offered to post the pictures FOR you, if you were having trouble posting them... what does
that say about me? Who else would have taken the time and effort to post a picture of themselves "eating a crow"...?
...and, as most who know me already know....I don't take much of anything too seriously....life's too short and fun is too hard to come by.
It comes down to this, Downtown, I can be as gracious a loser as I can be a winner. I wonder, though, can you...?