Can I have another star? promise I'll take care of it ...

5,000. I don't know what it says about me that I've reached a milestone on this board, other than, fuck, how much time do you have to waste to reach it. To even call attention to it, one fellow poster tells me, is an exercise in self indulgence, which I guess is true. Not sure how much I've really added to the conversation. I decided early in my career that I didn't need to be a columnist because, well, I didn't have that much to say. 5,000 posts might seem to indicate otherwise, but it's a number, and numbers can be twisted to mean anything you want them to, as we as a group know all too well. I'd have done this a couple months ago but for the 250 or so posts I lost in the great crash. Frankly, I don't think I've said all that much.

I've gone by Mr. Shallow N. Obtuse and another name alluding to rightwing nutjob that escapes my memory at the moment, an homage to my worldview, which isn't as worldly as many of yours but is, nonetheless, mine. This was back before Douglas came along and in fine totalitarian fashion convinced Webby to decree we would no longer have the ability to monkey with our handles. Monkeying with handles was a source of no small amount of fun for no small number of you, and I suppose I was no different. SNO was my response to 21 calling me not only shallow but also obtuse (I don't remember why but I'm sure it was something I said on a political thread, which I quickly lost my stomach for), and another member of the board, who I will not name here, took to calling me "Obtusey" in PMs, which I found extremely endearing. Gotta tell you, it's nice to feel included.

I've made a couple of friends on here, and have found the board as a group to be engaging and entertaining. I've learned a few things about the world, about journalism, and about myself, not the least of which is I'm a lightweight on at least two fronts -- arguing (some of you are worse than Mona Lisa Vito) and baseball knowledge (hi buckdub -- you da man). I'll leave the arguing to professionals, because it takes too much energy to work up that much angst and back it up with facts, but baseball I'll continue to pursue. There's a third -- number of posts. Just noticed BYH is closing on 30,000. I seriously doubt I'll be posting long enough to reach that number. Again, I don't have that much to say. 'Course, plenty of us have made our living by repeating ourselves.

OK, enough about me. Back to your regularly scheduled banter, already in progress. First down! [/richardjeni]

 

Congrats. Novelist.

 

Do not talk about the stars. Never talk about the stars.

 

I miss Mr. Shallow and Obtuse.

 

Why sure, and it'll only cost you $49.95.

http://www.starregistry.com/

;D

 

If he wins 20 for the Braves, I might forgive him ....

 

"This No. 5,000 is better than the last one I saw. ..."

 

5,000 posts on a message board? I can't imagine being that pathetic.

 

Wait. I thought we couldn't talk about the button.

 

Congrats, amigo. And as far as time spent, think how I feel.

 

I've been responsible for the death of 5,000 kittens.
Does that count?