(Or, "Isn't it interesting the ways we meet the coolest people nowadays?")

The world's changing, and changing fast. How we meet people, how we get to know each other, how we communicate and stay in touch over vast distances, how we immediately connect with someone around the world... It not like it used to be when we (those of us who remember the first skateboards, that is) were kids.

Nowadays they have extra wheels on skateboards. We have instant communication of several types, and we share our lives online for others to read and relate to. Sometimes we meet people online that just seem to click, with whom we have something in common. People we want to meet in the carbon world, not just in the silicon one.

That happened to me.

For quite a while now I've linked to Jill's web site, which chronicles her family's progress as they remodel a fixer upper in a Portland suburb. I started reading her web site a while back when the writing style caught my eye. I saw it on ORBlogs, a web site that aggregates blog entries from people around Oregon, or who used to be here.

Charlie, Jill's husband, is a cop. I used to be a cop. Jill's stories (with the occasional Charlie prose tossed in) are hilarious, and paint a great picture of life in general, not just the process of repairing their rather unique fixer upper home, which she nicknamed their own little Kosovo.

Jill and Charlie also embedded into me the term "big ass honking truck," to the point where I have adopted it as my own, because it so perfectly describes what I recently acquired (yes, I know I owe pictures, they're coming...).

Anyhow, it also turned out (in this big small world we live in) that someone I work with and respect greatly is friends with Jill and Charlie. Funny how that happens, eh? You meet in the ether and someone made of carbon makes the connection.

I drove my Big Ass Honkin' Truck to Kosovo today, to go say hi to Jill and Charlie, to show off the Hemi and built-in bluetooth, and to tour the fixer-upper. It's quite a project, but a good one. The front deck is awesome. The fireplace is great. The trim is very nice. Downstairs is ready to paint. It's going to turn out to be very nice, I can tell.

It's fun to meet people you have something in common with - Things like a desire to write in order to clear your mind of the clutter and to think new thoughts is a process that drives bloggers everywhere. I also have a bunch of unfinished home projects (upstairs floor and painting in the "bonus" room, deck plans, yard, fencing... Ummm, you get the idea). Cops always have something in common that others can't quite experience unless you've been there - not in a bad way, just a real-world, seen-it-all kind of way.

So, I'm really glad I got to meet them in person. And the "kids," if only briefly (Random inside info: The anti-fart spray was a bonus, but vegan food will do that to ya. Go-Go Speed Racer. Heh. But alas, another story, for another time. And hey General - take your time and driving will come easily. You'll be fine.).

Have you ever "met" someone online, wished you knew them in person, but never got around to meeting and shaking hands? Stop putting it off. You'll know if it's the right thing to do. Do it and you'll be glad.

I know I am.