Lately, and it may be because of the new job and/or the recent troubles with the hacking and upgrading of the blogs, my sense of urgency about trying to get the ol' dream off the ground is even more pronounced then usual.

Actually, I do believe it was and is that I must devote most of my time to coding, fixing, and genuinely script-and-database bug-killing... instead of working towards the dream.

What's worst, the new job is in the outskirts of the city... and in the suburban streets, I can't help but notice the wider thoroughfares and lack of overhead wires... and... *sigh*

What also prompted this was a post... a "meme"... sent to me by Ms. Demmie about goals where I repeated some stuff that Sue and our little one had said...

The reason I want to "re-bring it up" is that through all the nonsense of broken blogs and hackers, the meme kinda got buried... and these two bits of info are really important as to why we're doing this blog...

First of all, some people HAVE asked, and rightly so, if we feel a bit odd about basically being here BEGGING for help to make our dream come true and rescuing RLH 3... the short answer is yes.

We've taken our lumps... being called cyber panhandlers and being told how we were sacrificing our credibility and integrity by being so out about trying to garner help.

Now, that said, we made a joint decision a year and a bit ago... we were going to try.

After all, better to say we tried and failed then to say we failed without an attempt.

Now, this was when our little one had just turned ten... now she's turning twelve and, as you can imagine with the wonderful tweenaged feelings kicking in... she is a little more "cold" to what we're trying to do... in fact, I'm pretty sure she'd be slightly mortified if a friend at school said, "Hey! Aren't your parents the ones trying to get that double-decker bus?"... and she is AWARE this could happen.

That said, it was not at all long ago that Sue and I...

...were talking about "what if" we got the bus and just talking about if all our ducks in a row with the storage and how things would progress with the upkeep. The little one walked in, and coming in 3/4 of the way through the conversation and hearing us talking about storage and upkeep, lit up like a Christmas tree plugged directly into a giant dynamo at Niagara Falls and said, "You did it!?! Someone's getting us the bus!?!"

Now, the importance of this is that she's STARTING the "dissociated teen" moments... and when I say she "lit up", I ain't whistling Dixie. She looked as if I had just said, "We won the lottery and now we're going to skip you off school for a week and take you shopping on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles for some clothes."

In other words, the importance of seeing the dream come true is STILL exciting and important to her... and that made Sue and I both very happy... even if she "no sold" her depression when we broke the news that we had indeed NOT gotten the bus... yet.

Now, the other important thing mentioned in that meme was something Sue wrote...

I admit I've been stressed lately, which is probably why I dreamt of One Old Green Bus last night. No, not the blog ...silly...the bus!!!!

Matthew, the kid, dogs, and I were packed into the fully restored, and outfitted bus (no disco balls, this was a serious dream, and post. I was driving (natch!) and we were adventuring across Canada, driving through the mountains and off to visit our dear friend Heather and her clan in the wilds of British Columbia .... we were happy......sigh....

I honestly don't know if we will ever realise our dream of rescuing RLH 3 and restoring her, but she has provided me with so much hope for the future, and that alone makes our dream worthwhile.

Now, why this is so important to me is this was written without any coercion from me.

That probably may not mean much to folks, but as a husband, you're never sure if your dreams have overridden your partner's dreams... and that they are humouring you.

Sue has OFTEN said this was not the case, but you know, I'm never sure really...

...then she posted that "just 'cuz" and we talked... and yup, the dream is HONESTLY hers too.

So what's my point? Well, making this dream happen has meaning to me... and that's one thing... but it also has meaning to my whole family... and if we can do this, we can prove to our little one that, indeed, dreams CAN come true... and it's okay to ask for help to make them happen.

...and in some ways, that's the most important bit.

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our tiny banner site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...