Starting again

Well, ladies and gentlemen, after a long absence, I am back again, hopefully with a more consistent and entertaining flow of posts.
I have certainly had an interesting couple of weeks.
Having realized how badly I need to find friends who take me outside my comfort zone and expand my little world, I have started to reach out through several avenues in an attempt to do so.  With amazingly limited success.  However, the one high point in said search is a wonderful woman named Emily who has been really instrumental in helping me through a tough week.  I contacted her, since she was looking for hiking/backpacking friends, and we hit it off fairly well from the beginning.  I got to go hiking with her this past weekend, and had a wonderful time.  More on that later.
Business wise, things have been going relatively well, aside from the fact that a hinge making factory can't grind a straight edge on a hinge.  Seriously, people?  Seriously?  I am going to start a separate blog for my woodworking, which will be up fairly soon, so stay tuned if you'd like to hear about the more practical (boring) and detailed (more boring) side of what I do.  And occasionally see pretty pictures when I finish something that doesn't look like an angry beaver had a seizure with a piece of wood in its mouth.
I destroyed my foot hiking yesterday.  Did a 10 mile trip with my friend Stacy and didn't listen to my body when I got a hot-spot on the inside of one of pinkie toe on my right foot.  It is now a raw, red mess.  And I think I have about 40 mosquito bites.  But it was absolutely worth it.  I got some amazing pictures of the wildflowers along the way, and chopped off another 5.2 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, which, I have decided, I am going to hike piecemeal, in its entirety, over the next few years.  2000+ miles in total.  I think I need to get new hiking boots soon...
And after starting to make a post of truly epic proportions, I am going to break this apart into two posts, one for the review of the trail, and this general post that I am going to do now.  The other one will have pictures.  I promise.  If you ask nicely.  And I'm not too lazy.
Anyway, I am going to be going down to the Bay Area for salsa tonight with a good friend of mine, I am very much looking forward to that, I just hope I get all my work done before then.
I apologize that this post is bouncing around alot, I just got off the phone with a woman who works for the El Dorado County Fairgrounds.  Apparently I am becoming something of a local celebrity, because she heard I do Mountain Man programs, and tracked down my phone number from Coloma Resort, where I do some of my programs.  I had no idea I was so popular...  They are doing a sportsman expo Sept. 30th-Oct. 2nd, and want us to do a Mountain Man encampment: throw tomahawks, demonstrate primitive skills (archery, firestarting, etc.) and talk to the public about history.  They're even willing to set us up with some prime real estate for the encampment.  I will be going in and speaking with her about what we'd like in the next couple of days, but it should be a great event to get some good publicity and talk with the public.
Life, busy as ever, but I am starting to get a better handle on things, I hope.  Lots of important choices right now, but I think everything is moving in a roughly positive direction, as difficult as some of the sacrifices have been, they happen for a reason. 
So, that's my update for now, will have more later.