Hello again! How are you doing? I want to apologize for being gone so long here. The last two years, I’ve been spending most of my time working toward a master’s degree in data science. The virtual certificate arrived last week, and the paper diploma is supposed to show up in February.

After decades of working with computers using self-taught skills, I wanted to get some validation of what I can do. Data science sounded like the perfect field. It combines computer programming, which I used to do for a living; clear communication, which I also used to do for a living (and still trying to do here); and statistics. No problem, I thought. I can whip up an earned run average or a shooting percentage with the best of them.

They weren’t that kind of statistics.

What I had to learn involved stuff such as how to plot regression, how to compute confidence levels, and what the heck are random variables, which are neither random nor variables. Thank goodness for the Khan Academy, whose free online classes brought me up to a base level so I could start learning more. Long story short, the statistics component was the source of the missing 0.1 in my 3.9 grade point average.

During my longest semester break, I finished Drive-Ins of New Mexico. (Find out more including the free epub download here.) I chose that state because of all the helpful, friendly people I ran into while doing research there for Drive-Ins of Route 66. They were so friendly in Farmington that they repeatedly requested that I come give a talk there. That finally happened last August. I had a great time; my only disappointment was having to cut my visit short because of a change in one of my school assignments.

Anyway, that’s all behind me now. My goal is to get Carload back to regular updates. While I also research California drive-ins for a future book (got any photos for me?), I’ll be catching up on some of the general drive-in news that I missed. At least I’ve still got plenty to work with. Stick around, won’t you?