If'n I Had a Hat, I'd Tip It...

As a tribute to the young lad who kind of inspired me to give blogging a second chance, I dedicate this post to Arnie, whose final blog post for his site ayearfollowingthebreakup was today.

At our company's holiday party, back in January, a bunch of the gang (consisting of the sprightly, youthful crop of new writers and antiquated, enfeebled relics like myself) went out after bowling for some food, bevvies and karaoke. At one point in the evening, talk turned to blogs. Most of the young-uns had blogs and were all a-twitter, comparing notes and styles and favorite posts. At this point, I had all but abandoned crabbydad -- it felt like a chore to cobble together a post I was happy with and I was way too precious with anything I wrote. I felt like Mr. Potter, sitting around a table full of George Baileys:

MR. POTTER: Blogs?! Sentimental hogwash!

But Arnie, and the others, convinced me, somehow, that "Ol' Bloggie" was a beast worth climbing back onto. That I didn't have to be so precious with each entry, and I could just dump whatever I had in me at the end of the day out there and see what I ended up with. Well, I was just not drunk enough to remember what they said, and six months later, I don't know what I have, but I've sure typed a shitload of words.

So, I thank you, Arnie, for the inspiration and for the daily enjoyment I've gotten by reading your very open, very honest and very funny blog. I know you'll start something else up some day, and I can't wait to spend another year reading it, when it comes along.

As Mr. Potter (perhaps the original Crabbydad) might have said: