Hi Thomas. Happy belated birthday. That is Mr. Archie Black up there at the top of the thread. Archie is the original founding member of this club. I can't say that I know Archie very well but I do know that the success of this club and the number of members are very important to him and his personal pride. Many people come to this message board who are not members and they are all welcome to come here and post. I know that Archie has been given awards in the past at the convention for the "Most New Members" in the year. Heck, I have even done that from time to time just to say, "Come join in on the fun!" I was told by a great old chip collector once, "They are all so scarce until you have a box of them." I believe in random acts of kindness and I gave new member incentives as a part of sharing. I turned 60 on May 29th this year. A milestone because when I was young man my father used to say, "My advice to you son is... don't ever get old!" The way I lived my life as a young man it is amazing that I am still here. I can tell you exactly how I spent the day on my 60th birthday... I spent it right here on this board and nobody knew I had made it to this milestone. No Happy Birthday to you Smitty. Nobody here had any idea at all... but I spent the day here with my friends.

It is very hot here right now and I am sure TEXAS is hot like a Firecracker too. The light at the end of the tunnel will soon be here and you and I both will have our reward with beautiful weather that others will envy. When that happens, you should be able to find me right here with my friends, as usual I will be here on this board.

Every day at work I deal with decisions that effect people lives in many ways. I try to find the "good" in the situations and then try to move forward in a possitive direction even though the deck seems to be stacked with negative light... Let me see here... Archie is member number 1... I am member number 7638... you are member number 7788... 2 pair! You Win!