It’s been a while since we did one of these updates, but I have a number for you … and that number is $23000. James is a mere two hours away from our first handoff, and it’s been a hell of a ride. We’re back at one point and looking forward to a great second shift, so be sure to come back at 6:00 when Morgan takes over in the driver’s seat.

I hope Mark Rosewater is still reading this, because it’s pretty obvious the Desert Bus community is fantastic at card design! Check out all the submissions for our Magic card design contest!

Do you sense a stirring in the aether? I know I do. Rumour holds that Cthulhu, in all his horrible bus-crashing majesty, was only the harbinger of a much greater, more sinister power, wishing to reach out and commune with the poor, tortured drivers of Desert Bus for Hope.

As such, stay tuned! We are led to believe we will be receiving a call from Jerry (Tycho) of Penny Arcade in about half an hour (4:00 PM PST). What devious schemes could he be loolking to set into motion? You’ll have to watch to find out!

Woody Tondorf is a  successful web video producer, who has been on the cutting edge of the industry for the last ten years. Not only did he pioneer the hit show, Elevator, but he has birthed countless other projects, working for HBO labs and Break.com.

Woody is a good friend of LoadingReadyRun, and was present for Desert Bus last year. While he’s unable to be with us this year, we can assure you nobody’s more sad about that than him. He is, however, calling in in a scant 15 minutes, so stay tuned to rock, and make sure to log into the chat to say “Hi”.

Get your wallets ready for a special early morning Live Auction! This superpack of Sony goodness includes: a sony executive organizer, a sony business card holder, Resistance 2, Killzone 2, Little Big planet, Modnation Racers, Heavenly Sword, Uncharted 2 and Heavy Rain for PS3. The auction is going down at 9:00 am PST!

That’s right! After a mere 12 hours of bussing, we have raised a total of $16 000 for the children. We are proud; Rosco is proud; you should be proud of yourselves. More importantly, our total intake over all four years of Desert Bus has now crested a quarter-million dollars: an impressive feat in anyone’s book! The wind’s in our sails now – let’s keep busing, team!

Yes, it’s true … in a fit of charity at some (obviously) ungodly hour of the morning, the crew took it upon themselves to worship Cthulhu for donations. Cthulhu, on rising from his slumber in Ri’leh, took control of the bus and hit the brakes, causing the bus to overheat.

All of us are very disappointed with ourselves for this temporary lapse in judgement. Cthulhu’s influence is reflected in the name of our new driver.

Wow, guys! This is a lot of money, and at only eight hours in I’m frankly amazed! Let’s send this bus past the moon!

Wow! It is awesome to see that  we have so much talent watching Desert Bus. Because you wanted to see them, here’s some very tasteful pinups of Kathleen … in a bear hat, of course (I said they were tasteful).

Ok well technically it’s Saturday, but we haven’t slept, so it feels like Friday.

Thanks everyone for sticking with us into the wee hours (or time) to help us push a few additional thousand for the children!