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It's been several years since I joined this unbelievably addictive forum, this calm eye within the turbulent hurricane maelstrom of the untamed internet, this brain-trust of an incredible group of members with an amazing capacity and depth of knowledge AND the willingness to share it among our membership. I lurked for a good while searching the forum to try to glean some information and identifications for the places I hunted and the things I found. Finally, I decided to dip in a toe and make my first post asking for some IDs for items I'd found in the Peace River. It didn't take long for the welcoming membership to draw me out of my shell and get me chatting regularly about the few topics I knew a little about. You all were too inviting as now it is hard to shut me up. Though my areas of fossil expertise are few in number and shallow in depth, I try to compensate with copiously illustrated novella-length trip reports to the places I'm lucky enough to be able to visit and collect. The Nature Photography topic that @Jesuslover340 (Skye) started some 4 years ago has been a fun outlet for one of my many other passions--photography (both land-based and underwater). I've learned a heckuva lot along the way and I'm glad to say I learn a little bit each day from the forum: new books to read, new fossil types that I'm more familiar with, new fossil sites that find their way onto my bucket list, new forum-friends that I grow to respect (and, hopefully, some day visit in person). I now always keep a browser window open with TFF loaded so I can always get my fossil fix at a moment's notice. A while back I was asked to join the moderator staff (which I humbly accepted). I enjoy being able to contribute behind the scenes and join the team that works behind the scenes to keep this forum running as smoothly as possible. This particular post according to the counter is number 4,000! That almost sounds impressive till I realize my first computer (a TRS-80) had 4K of memory (a whopping 4096 bytes). At least my verbose verbiage and profuse photographs would likely fill a data-DVD and probably contribute to a not-insignificant portion of the amazing volume of information stored in the treasure trove of posts that comprise this forum. I look forward to my next milestone (5K) and promise to try to make at least some of the next thousand posts useful and worthy of reading. Thanks for making this forum such an addictive place--it's the only form of Social Media that I believe in. Loquaciously yours, -Ken

It seems like only yesterday that my postings on this forum crossed the 2000 posts milestone and now (with this post) I've somehow made it to 3000! My minimal areas of fossil knowledge pale in comparison to others on this forum who have an astounding wealth of information and who freely share that with the forum. In fact, what little information I do possess mostly comes from what I've been able to glean from reading thousands of postings on TFF. With few exceptions, the bulk of my 3K postings have been devoted to lengthy and highly verbose (but also copiously illustrated) trip reports to places I've been fortunate enough to visit and hunt. I come from a long line of storytellers and must have the raconteur gene enabled in my DNA (I'm taking no responsibility for my actions and blaming it solely on heredity). I also travel quite often (it's the luxury of one who has no kids, pets, boats, or other responsibilities and obligations that normal people have and enjoy) and like to take a lot of photos on my trips to share with friends and family (and so I can remember the details of my many trips). I consider the TFF membership somewhere along that spectrum from friends to family and so I have shared a lot of my photos in the long-running Nature Photography topic with my fossil family here on TFF. Recently, I've been asked to join the moderating team. Between my various trips I hope to prove worthy of that new role and responsibility by pulling my weight as part of the efforts behind the scenes to keep this place running smoothly. I'll be uncharacteristically terse and not let this 3000th post run on for page after page. In short (yup, this is short for me) I'd like to thank the members of this forum for making it such an addictive place for learning and fossil camaraderie which lead to me posting here so often. Congratulations really go out to you all for your part in my personal milestone. Cheers. -Ken