The Ultimate Hat Tip.

Hat Tip: Curt, the first of my friends and coworkers to start a blog, which inspired me to do the same. Though his blog is retired, he remains a Happy Husband and currently a Happy Father of two.

Hat Tip: Jerry, who introduced me to Curt and whose own blog covered a wider variety of subject matter, including comics and other geeky things, cementing my interest in joining their ranks. Though being a husband and a father eventually took Jerry away from blogging, he continued to send great links and support the Nexus.

Hat Tip: Rey, my oldest real-life friend who also became a blogger. An old college pal who got me the job where I met Curt and Jerry, the self-proclaimed “GeekFriends”, Rey already had a Bible blog when he started his personal one. He also designed the nifty icons that topped my blogroll for the past six years.

Hat Tip: B13, another work buddy who got into the blogging game after I told him about my “secret identity”. His skill as a photographer made his daily photoblog a pleasure to check every day, and inspired me to push my own photography at a time when my interest in the hobby was waning. Though he's moved on to other hobbies and updates his site far less frequently, I could still depend on him for the occasional comment or link. He is also partly responsible for the largest number of comments I ever received for a single post, thanks to his campaign to defeat the Unseen Blogger in a competition I was running.

Hat Tip: Kev and Rubi Bayer, who if memory serves were the first readers I didn't already know in real life, who found the Nexus through Curt's Happy Husband site and have been readers and supporters ever since. Their appreciation of things like The Transformers or Joss Whedon made them welcome additions to the ranks of the Cloakfriends™.

Hat Tip: Janet, found through Jerry, whose blog was arguably once the most popular on my blogroll. Her grasp on pop culture and penchant for audience participation through her Tell It To Me Tuesday features would prove anyone wrong who found people disappointing, making her blog one of the most missed active ones.

Hat Tip: Darrell, film geek and Southern conservative who stood by his views with persistence and faced personal and medical problems with a good sense of humor and a strength of spirit. Always a good read and a good online friend.

Hat Tip: Lorna, whom the blogosphere could always count on for wisdom, comments, support, and encouragement. She was like a virtual Aunt May, though a bit hipper and wittier.

Hat Tip: Rhodester, hands down the funniest blogger out there and unsung star of Seabiscuit, and his better half CoffeeSister, whose experience in a video store first brought this dynamic blogging duo to light.

Hat Tip: All my former message board RPG peeps who made the transition at one time or another to blogging and/or commenting on blogs, specifically Neb, FawnDoo, Motocron and Spaceman Bill. Some of them are even still at it.

Hat Tip: Cube, for her great cat pictures, political quick hits, and of course inadvertently being the Samus of the blogosphere.

Hat Tip: Sean, who always posted the best links and pictures of pretty ladies, and whose countdown device I recently borrowed.

Hat Tip: Lyndon, honorary geekfriend with a similar love of robots and music, discovered through Janet's blog.

Hat Tip: SwanShadow, another great find from Janet, a patriarch with determination in adversity and a fantastic collection of commissioned comic book art.

Hat Tip: Sarcasmo, a witty blogger who left this world far too soon, only for her mother to keep the site going a while longer as a tribute to her.

Hat Tip: D. Prince, for keeping the blogosphere abreast of the absurd goings-on of celebrities with humor that rivaled Rhodester or Darrell and photos that rivaled any tabloid.

Hat Tip: Chris Sims, and Bully, my favorite comic book bloggers. Thanks for making me laugh and showing me I'm not the only one with an obscure knowledge of and appreciation for sequential art

Hat Tip: Spockgirl, the latest addition to the Cloakfriends™, certainly one of the more active commenters these past few months, showing there was still some life left in this old blog.

H.T.: All the rest who supported or inspired me in some way. Some were frequent commenters; others were bloggers I read on a regular basis, and more than a few deserve more than being lumped in at the end under “all the rest”. Know that, in one way or another, all of these people made this experience a genuine pleasure, as much as those listed above. Thank you AverageJoe, G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Giuseppe, Dan, Sue, Pratt, Jay, Big Orange Michael, Ali, Dosetaker, The Fifth Column, Dave, Jeff (A Golden World), Hulk, Jamie Dawn, Nehring, Kelly, Jeff (Peachwater), Quick-Change Artist, Solonor, Cap'n Eucalyptus, R.C., Wendy, Paul, The Unseen Blogger, Wil Wheaton, Kristine, Xtine, Otis, Snowball02, The Brothers Chaps, Felicia Day, Stan Lee, Elaina, and TheGreek(because not including him in this list would be seen as escalation).

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I hope you'll join me tomorrow for an important announcement that may or may not come as a surprise....

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