SchadeBLOG

For tonight's HNT, we were asked to go back through our archives and pick our favorite HNT photo from the past year.  Well, I went through mine, and I had trouble picking just one.  I had a few boners, for sure, but there were more than a few gems this year.  Among my favorites were:

• Three-Headed Me
• Myoptic Me
• Wizarding Me
• Undecided Me
• Centaur Me
• Me and the Huge Bawls
• Ludicrous Me (this has been suggested to be amongst my best work to date, in fact)
  

And of course, there were many others.  But I think if I had to pick just one, I'd have to go with the one that I made from scratch.  The one where I created literally everything in the photo except myself.  The chess board and the pieces were rendered with a free open-source software called Blender.  The image of me is recycled from an earlier HNT set, but it really worked in this shot so I used it.  So I give you my pick for my favorite SchadeBLOG HNT - The one that I called…um…wait…don't tell me…no really, it's on the tip of my tongue…um…dang…Oh!  New Era HNT!

This year brought a lot of changes, but I was just lamenting to my Bishop this evening, this year is also the first year in recent memory that literally passed by in a blur.  It really feels like we just went through this whole Christmas thing, and now we're finished up with another one.  How does this happen?  I mean, look at my activity on this blog recently.  A whole week has already gone by, and I haven't posted a thing since last HNT.  Yet, when I think back on it, I remember lots of things that happened.  I took my kids to Legoland…twice .   I jetted off to Virginia for a short time.  And I did improve my photo manipultions.  But it still went by so fast.

One thing that I've noticed that has changed is this blog.  I'm not just talking about the appearance and the fact that I went from Blogger to my own hosting company.  I'm talking about the overall goals that I had intended for it.  Truly, this has become a place where I post images of my life.  That's not a bad thing, but I've done far more of that lately than I have of what I really enjoy - writing.  And the purpose of this blog, as the tagline suggests, is to be funny.  I wrote some pretty funny things over the course of this year, but most of it happened near the beginning.  I want to get back to that.  But I can't write and do photo editing and do all of the other things that I have to do without something breaking.  And unfortunately, I think the thing I value the most (my family) is suffering.  Which means I have to make a change.

My goal is to become a writer.  And I plan to use this blog to improve upon that.  It's a place where I will practice my humor commentary skills.  With that said, I'm going to take a hiatus - perhaps permanently - from HNT.  Tonight's is the last for the foreseeable future.  It has been quite a ride to participate, and I am so grateful for the friends I have made, and the laughs we have had, and the tears in some cases.  You all have helped me so much in boosting my creative juices.  I hope that you will continue to drop by and see what I have to say on things.  And I may pop back in every now and again.  SchadeBLOG will continue forth, but not with the regular HNT fair you're used to.  For those who have become my HNT friends, I still plan to visit.  Thanks again for everything, and I hope you have a very happy New Year.

By the way, I want to push on you my latest endeavor.  My wife and I have been looking for some time to start our own business.  We've made several attempts in the past that really had no place to go but downhill.  Well, we've come across something that we believe has a built-in customer base.  We're building a product that has proven to be quite a huge undertaking for the person who tried it last.  We're selling t-shirts again, but not of the kind you can get from CafePress.com.  This is custom-made silk-screened stuff, based initially on the characters, plots and situations in a series of best selling books by author Stephenie Meyer.  If you're into love stories or fantasy, and really like it when the two come together, then you'll like her Twilight series of novels and short-stories.  The books have vampires, werewolves, mind reading, superhuman powers, and a story of impossible love.  The part I find surprising is that I, being a guy, have really gotten involved in these books despite the fact that there isn't a single high-powered energy weapon, spaceship, or super-explosion anywhere (yet).

Anyway, the series is immensely popular with the young adult crowd (women particularly - weird).  When Stephenie was making shirts for the series, she couldn't keep up with the demand and write at the same time.  She was getting in the neighborhood of 100 orders a day for her shirts.  Very impressive.  So my wife and I discussed the possibilities with Mrs. Meyer, and we have come to an agreement where we have exclusive rights to produce her designs and sell them.  My wife, in particular, has been as giddy as a teenager over this.  Trust me when I say this is a very good thing.  But enough of my personal life.  I believe we have finally found our home-based business.  The company name is called Twilight Teez, LLC, and is on track to open for pre-orders on January 15, 2007 and for regular business on February 1, 2007.  Until then, we're finalizing the legal stuff, getting the online store ready, and setting up accounts with vendors.  I invite you to drop on by and take a look at the store as it stands.  And maybe even come back to see the grand opening.  Click the logo below to get to the store.  Oh, and for those of you who are no doubt wondering how this will work after the lamenting I went through above, never fear.  I will still be blogging on a regular basis, and have a whole line of articles in line to be written up.