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During high school and college, I worked at Kentucky Kingdom amusement park in Louisville, Ky. Besides battling racuous crowds and the blazing heat, one thing that was interesting to me was trying to keep track of the different people I was seeing throughout the day. As a games attendant (a.k.a. carnival barker), I would attempt to personally say things to people that I saw multiple times, whether at different games or at different parts of the park. This was mostly just a sales tactic, and I think the customers likely thought I was training to have my own magic show.

Raymond and Damon are back to their shenanigans in "The Surprise Visit," the second book in the Caimans at Work series.

Raymond and Damon are busy with many orders these days. Their friend Clara stops by the shop with an urgent request. Will the caimans be able to help her before time runs out?

In the web world, an upgrade is usually a thing of joy and agony. On one hand, you want to have the latest and greatest, but on the other, there are usually so many hoops to jump through that it can oftentimes be better to wait until the last minute.

I guess in this case, I'm a little late to the game with Drupal 9, but I've finally upgraded this site - all the way to 9.1 with the Gutenberg editor. Now it is time to dance.

I decided to write a little bit here about my hobby of collecting trading cards. Maybe this will turn into something of interest to the Internet, or at least my kids will have some background info on me when I move along.

The first time I remember receiving cards as a gift was the Christmas of 1983. We were at a neighbor’s house - the boy who lived there was in my brother’s class - and Santa was giving out 1983 Donruss rack packs. The most interesting thing about this is that Santa was either related to or was Vinegar Bend Mizell, a former major leaguer.

I certainly had High Hopes for writing more on this website last year. I suppose it's easiest to blame it on the pandemic, but that wouldn't be completely accurate.

Lily, my 6-year-old daughter, wanted to bring in copies of The Special Delivery for her friends at school. Not only does it appear that they enjoyed the gift, but they took a bit of class time to say what they enjoyed the most!

Here is the text:

Dear Mr. Woods,

The book is out! The Special Delivery is available directly through me and Amazon.

Raymond and Damon are not typical caimans. Sure, they look like small alligators, and they are fierce - at baking cakes, making paint and selling their great wares at affordable prices. Today is a “special” day for Raymond and Damon. Let’s ride along with them and find out more about their delivery adventure!

I'm in the process of releasing my third published book. This time around, I'm starting a children's book series. The first book is called "The Special Delivery," and it's part of the series called Caimans at Work - The Adventures of Raymond and Damon. Check out the website and tune in for more news when it's hot off the presses!

Thanks to everyone who sent along condolences for my grandma. I wanted to post the eulogy I gave at the funeral to show our gratitude for her life.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Ben, and I am Tiny’s oldest grandson. Despite being her oldest grandson, I sort of felt sometimes that she thought of me as her son. But maybe that’s just because she frequently called me Doug or Rusty.