My 200th Post!

According to my WordPress installation, this is post number 200 on Shiny’s Takeout. Which, in my opinion, isn’t so bad:  my first post appeared on March 11 of last year, meaning that I’ve blogged 200 times here in 333 days. That’s  a ratio of about 3 blog posts for every five days –certainly a far cry from blogging every single day of the week, but pretty impressive for a guy like me who gets sidetracked quite easily.

I’ve also certainly fallen short of other blogging goals: I’m simply terrible at replying to those of you who have left comments on blog entries. Perhaps it’s because I feel like I have to come up with something impressive to write to every single person. Or it could also just be a time constraint. Or pure selfishness.  It’s something I’ll try to work on a bit more as I continue with my next 200 posts.

I’m also noticing that I’ve fallen short on some of the serial entries I’ve attempted. I still haven’t revealed the exciting ending to Operation: Enduring Tofu, the search for the girl for whom I became a vegetarian nearly twenty years ago so I could come clean about my possible transition from herbivore to omnivore. I used to have rotating header pictures on my blog, and I was going to finish my Shiny Stakeout contest asking you all to identify the pictures for neat prizes.  I’ve neglected a “List on the 3″ on occasion.  These are certainly things I need to improve upon as well — if you guys want me to. (Is anyone still interested to find out about my conversation with Robin the vegetarian girl? Has she deterred me from eating hamburgers? Anyone?)

I do want to let you guys know, however, that I’m so grateful that I’ve found a wonderful community filled with crazy cool cats like you all who stop by my blog every now and again.  I was fortunate to meet many of you at TequilaCon last year in Philadelphia, and I hope the opportunity arises again sometime in the near future. (If any of you happen to visit the Washington, DC area — well, you know how to reach me.

It has come to my attention that a good friend named NYC Watchdog has bestowed an award upon me — the Great Buddy award.  I’m touched — literally, in fact, if you take a look at the image as re-interpreted by LeSombre:

This, of course, means that I would do wonderful things for NYCWD — including pretending to give an innocent victim a foot massage as to distract him enough so Dawg can slip off his Rolex for a quick resale.  And I would, too — even though I’m not so fond of feet. Yuck. The things I do for buddies…

I would give one of these back to NYCWD if I could since he’s such a wonderful, stand-up guy. My brother from another mother who enjoys cereal even more than I do. Alas, the rules of this meme are that I pay this forward to up to ten other bloggers whom I consider to be great buddies.

Anyway, here is how this Great Buddy thing works :

1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Award up to ten other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message for your awardees on their blogs. Na. They’ll figure it out.

So –here are the folks who make it onto my list:

Hilly: This lovely lady and I met at TequilaCon and became fast friends ever since.  She’s been a great source of inspiration for all things bloggy on the Takeout. In fact, she’s the one who did a complete redesign of the blog a few weeks back — and did a fine damntastic job of it.  I’d urge you all to read her blog — but chances are that if you’ve found me — you’ve already read her.

hello haha narf: Possibly my first friend in this new community. The impetus for me attending TequilaCon. Just an awesome person in general. Kind of like the big sister I never had.

Avitable: This guy isn’t really a great buddy to me as much as I am a stalker to him.  I found his blog and thought “Christ on a stick!* This is the type of blog I want to have!”  From his “Lazy Sunday” contests to his own brand of satire — he’s been the source of inspiration.  And he’s an all around nice guy.

Princepessa: Here’s a great person who truly knows how to be a great buddy. She’s been a supportive friend through and through, caring about the welfare of others.  She’s kind of like the glue that holds the world together. And if you sniff her, you get all woozy and stuff.

Finn: You know how sometimes you have acquaintences who call you up at least twice a month asking you for favors — which you’ll gladly grant — but when you want to get together with them they simply disappear into the ether as if you’re a common stranger? Finn is nothing like that. In fact, she’s very warm and friendly. Great writer, great photographer, great Mom, great person.

Faiqa: She’s a new addition to my list.  She’s funny, sweet, and has an interesting perspective on everything and anything.  She’s always willing to say something encouraging. Faiqa and positive motivation go together like Mike and the Mechanics and cheese. And you can’t simply say that about just anybody…

whall: There is a DC area radio producer with the name of “Wendell Hall.”  Because of this, I always simply think that whall’s true first name is not Wayne, but Wendell.  He and I don’t agree a lot on many political issues, but Wendell’s been a true friend to me nonetheless — always happy to share his expertise with all things Internet and networking, and allowing me to live vicariously through his experiences (almost) attending Yes concerts.

Dave2: Just a great, friendly guy. Helped me feel at home at TequilaCon. And I gathered that if I mention him here, he’ll make a trip to DC. Davestrict of Columbia in 2009!

Dessie: This one is a bit unique — Dessie’s public blog at Mindsay is no longer being updated.  But she’s been a friend through the blogosphere for years now — and someone with a special place in my heart.  I hope we get the chance to meet up again — the last dinner we had with our families was great, but that was several years ago.

Miss Britt:  She’s like my twin. Except that I’m Jewish and she’s not (yet). And she’s a woman and I’m not (yet). And she’s blond and my left arm weighs about the same as she does.  But she’s a parent of kids around the same age as Avi, and some of her parental instincts are right on the mark to my own. Granted, we’re very different in other ways as well — which makes her opinions worthy of reading.  But it’s always great to see what she has to say.

I know that I’ve probably forgotten many of you — and I apologize if I did.  This entire community is important to me, and I thank you all for being such a wonderful part of it.

Here’s hoping the next 200 are just as much fun…

___

* Technically, I belong to a denomination of Judaism where we hold dear the Gospel of the Jesuscicle — a frozen son of God sold in a variety-pack. So it’s totally kosher when I use this expression.