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Wow. Today I got to hear my baby’s heartbeat.

I just got back from a 5-day trip through three events in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. If you count layovers in airports, add Baltimore on the first day and Nashville on the last. Today I spent 11 hours and 20 minutes in cars, airports, and airplanes to cover about 3000 miles. I am tired.

This weekend was an experiment to see if traveling and speaking at events is something that I want to do now that I married. I don’t have an answer to my own question yet.

As I type this, the Suns are in the fourth quarter of a much-anticipated game against the San Antonio Spurs. Candyce was kind enough to begin recording the game for me when I was at 25,000 feet over Amarillo, Texas. I bolted through the airport without glancing left or right at the TV screens in the airport sports bars. I didn’t want to know anything about the game.

While I waited for Candyce to pick me up, I opted to leave the massive crowds inside the airport and stand among a handful of smokers outside, because statistically, there was less chance that I’d overhear someone yapping about the game in progress. I still smell a little smoky, but at least I can enjoy the whole game.

The most authentic and engaging game is one that you watch there in the arena. If you can’t be there (and few of us can afford to), the next best thing is watching a live game with friends in your home or at a sports bar. If that’s not doable, then Tivo is there to save the day. It won’t be live, but it’s the same game. It’s an abstract concept, but what I miss most about watching a the game live is the solidarity of emotion that sweeps across a city with each tick of the game.

I admire a fan who can watch every game live, not because he is morally superior, but because he doesn’t live with the anxiety of an impulsive friend calling me and spoiling the end of the game. So with that, I’m going to turn off my phone and close this computer. It’s time to watch the game.

Every so often I’ll go online and see what cool cars are for sale here in Phoenix. Last night I found this massively custom 2000 Chevy Silverado on ebay.com

I read online that the owner invested $100,000 to make this truck look just like he wanted. By the time the time ran out on the auction last night, the highest bid was $15,000, which did not meet the minimum reserve.

All of these photos were taken here in Tempe. I love the special photo effects that give it that sci-fi feel.

I’ve found some trucks online and at cars shows that I’ve stored on my hard drive. I decided it was time to post them to my blog…

1974 Datsun truck. This is a badass little truck with clean lines and an impressive ride height. Although I wasn’t alive when all of this went down, I’ve heard that Datsun and Toyota pioneered the “small truck” concept in America in the 1970s. These trucks don’t have a large following with classic car fans, but you’ll occasionally find one customized at a local car show.

I’m guessing they shaved off the door handles. I like that the bench seat matches the color of the bed liner. It makes the truck look more like an open-air SUV.

1970 Chevy C-10. The 1970-72 Chevy C-10 shortbeds are my all-time favorite truck because they have balanced proportions and clean lines. This primer black truck proves that you don’t have to do much to these trucks to make them look customized.

There’s nothing prettier than an understated chromed-out front end.

1970 Chevy C-10 stepside. I show this because I love the gray-on-gray paint with the subtle red pin stripe to separate the two tones. I don’t care for the rear flared fenders on these trucks because they look like an afterthought–the designers didn’t spend much time getting it right. Although I’m guessing that the builders of this truck spent some time smoothing out on the top of the bed to clean things up. Most builders don’t bother with the drama and remove the bed altogether and replace it with a Chevy bed from the 1990s Silverados.

Nice paint.

1972 Chevy C-10 Cheyenne Super. This is the best-looking truck that Chevy has ever put out. On most of these trucks, the cab is painted the same color as the side stripe (usually white.) On the top and bottom of the strip is two pieces of chrome trim inset with a wood panel. The colors are custom here, as is the blacked-out side trim.

Notice the grid-like stock grill, bumper with inset lights.

1999 Chevy Silverado. This was the last year of the body style that began around 1988. This was a complicated era for trucks because in the 1990s America fell in love with the extended cab pickup. (Then in the 2000s they moved on to a bigger crush with the quad-cab pickups. ) The problem with these longer trucks is that they no longer have the tidy proportions of the standard cab truck.

Notice the clean line that begins near the hood and stretches to the end of the bed. I like the smooth chrome bumper, stock grill, understated side-view mirros, and new custom leather seats.

2000 Chevy Silverado with Escalade front clip. Cadillac dressed up the Chevy Tahoe SUV with a new front clip and created the Escalade. It seemed lazy if you ask me, and I didn’t expect that anyone was gullible enough to invest primo dollars on a SUV that was obviously a Tahoe. I was wrong. People bought it…a lot of people.

Since then, I’ve seen a few SUVs around town that were born as Tahoes, but the dude owner invested in a Cadillac nose job so he could impress women who are easily impressed. On the other hand, I think it’s creative when dudes add the Escalade clip to their standard cab Chevy Silverado. There’s no intention here of convincing people you are more rich than you are. You’re just having fun mismatching body parts that came out of the GM factories. Plus, it looks cool:

From the windshield forward is all Cadillac.

I snapped this photo at Barrett-Jackson a couple years ago. It’s a 1939, but I don’t know what type of truck it is. I love yell0w-letter tires that give the truck a beefy, street-fighter appeal.

1939