A lot’s been happening…apprenticeship application mailed…trip to San Diego…presented at a conference…did my taxes… and got an unofficial “pink slip” at my day job dated June 30. And yes, I admit it…I’ve been hiding from my own website.

This afternoon, I’m flying to Bangkok. I’m going to Thailand to visit friends…I’ve wanted to go for years…so I’m going. 3 weeks. My pal Tex Menefee is gonna pick me up at BKK. She’s gonna show me around Bangkok for a few days and nights, and then we’re meeting Molly at the beach…then up North to see their everday lives in Chiang Mai and Mae Hon Song.

Right now, I’m looking forward to the plane ride. I do my best thinking in the window seat of a flying plane…maybe it’s that all my electronic devices are in their off-positions…maybe it’s just the decongestants I take before I board, but my head always seems so clear….staring out the window.

Well, Melody mailed off our application today…phew. Now we just wait…I think we wait until the end of June to hear whether we’ve receive one of the awards. It was a few years ago, but they have chosen bootmakers before, like Luis Jovel.

There’s a great article in The New Yorker about Lyle Lovett…with some great quotes from “his bootmaker” (a.k.a. my pals Lee and Carrlyn Miller).

This morning I’ve been sitting at my desk. I’m applying for a small California apprenticeship grant. I’ve got plans to apply with bootmaker, Melody Dawkins…I’m hoping the “girl-power” thing’s gonna work in our favor.

Wish me luck. The application’s due at the end of the month. I have until then to come up with answers to excellent questions like… “What role does this traditional art form play in your life?”, “What do you expect to accomplish?, and “What are your plans for continuing work in this traditonal art form after the apprenticeship is completed?”

…oh yeah, then Melody’s gotta tell them why she’s picked me as an apprentice. I wonder what she’ll say?

I don’t usually think of myself as competitive, but when Boot Barn bumped me out of the number one Google spot a couple months back…I have to admit I was annoyed. Annoyed mostly because I have a sentence in my book proposal which says “The Cowboy Boot Web Page is currently ranked first on Google.com and Yahoo.com for the keywords ‘cowboy boots’.”

…some how figured it was gonna be easier to regain my number one spot…then it would be to rewrite the sentence. Anyway, while I was on the plane to El Paso I figured out a plan…a bit wacky, but it seems to have worked.

…better hurry up and finish that proposal.