Heck Of A Guy

Heck Of A Guy Post #1000 Now Online

OK, it’s an arbitrary celebration based on the same inculcated fascination with numbers featuring a series of terminal zeros, an artifact of the  Hindu-Arab decimal  numeration system, that led us to celebrate the millennium in 2000 rather than the arithmetically correct 2001, that results in shout-outs from network TV weathermen to those who survive 100 years on this mortal coil, and that causes us to refer to a conflict between the two royal houses of France that continued from 1337 to 1453 as the “Hundred Years War.”¹

Still, any justification for a celebration which allows even a brief respite from the tedious day-to-day grind that is life should, it seems, be gratefully acknowledged and made manifest.

So, I’ll be decorating the place with traditional  Millepostingfest  ornaments in preparation for the caroling this evening.

1000th Posting At Heck Of A Guy

Gifts, accolades, presents, commemorations, donations, cards, letters, and, of course, gifts may be forwarded to DrHGuy@1heckofaguy.com.

Thus Spake DrHGuy In Heck Of A Guy Post #1

On March 3rd, 2006, the first post on the Heck Of A Guy blog was published. It went a little something like this:

Opening Statement

An undertaking of this sort, it seems, should begin with a fanfare and a profundity or two, or maybe one of those one-size-fits-all mission statements, or at least some huffing, puffing, and pontificating. No doubt it’s a sign of the times that the best I can offer are disclaimers. In keeping with the full disclosure, I herewith confess that

1. Most of the content now displayed is not freshly minted but is instead drawn from emails and such that I’ve previously inflicted on my friends and family. This violation of the minty-freshness commandment will continue at least until I learn enough behind-the-curtain Wordpress mechanics that, should a fortuitous sequence within the lexical Brownian motion that passes for my consciousness seem blogworthy, there will be a reasonable chance that I’ll actually be able to post it. Some of you may, consequently, have seen some of these pieces before; if so, well – now you’re seeing them again.  …

When I began blogging, I had little notion of what I would write, let alone why I was writing, a state of affairs which has continued to serve as the Heck Of A Guy central theme unto the current day.

Little did I anticipate that the Heck Of A Guy Blog would, for example, lead to an intensely ambivalent relationship with Google. Check out a few of the Google-focused posts published on this site:

• Google’s Just Not That Into Heck Of A Guy
• Google Crossed
• The Heck Of A Guy Image According To Google
• 25,500,000 Hits For Heck Of A Guy At Google; Guess Who Is #1

In addition, most of the web stats that I’ve used as content for posts, most recently in the series on the “Ten Most Viewed Posts,” were supplied by Google. And, the ascension to #1 on Google searches has been the criterion for successful blogonyms used on Heck Of A Guy.²

Nor did I guess that publishing posts would lead to an intensely unambivalent relationship with Anjani and that boyfriend of hers, Leonard Cohen.

When I began, I had no plans to issue lengthy expositions on, among many, many other topics,

• Ketchup decantation
• George Washington Carver 6 Posts (Link goes to first in series)
• The reaction of my hometown to the Gay Games Rowing Event being held here 5 Posts (Link goes to first in series)
• Broomcorn 2 Posts (Link goes to first in series)
• The proposed revision of The Seal Of McHenry County Illinois More Than 10 Posts (Link goes to first in series)
• Giles Brindley’s scientific erection exhibition 3 Posts (Link goes to summary)
• Mom’s inventory  of Ozark tchotchkes Multiple Posts (Link goes to summary)
• The overuse of the exclamation mark
• Recommendations for additional subtypes of quotation marks:Quid Pro Quotation Marks And 2 More Specialty Quotation Marks and Misquotation Marks & Quasi-Quotation Punctuation
• The explication of the significance of Cohen’s Take This Waltz as used in The Gin Game 3 Posts (Link goes to first in series)

Most surprising, however, has  been the gratification of hearing from strangers telling me they found something useful, interesting, reminiscent, moving, or funny about something I wrote. It is a treat to discover that I introduced Leonard Cohen’s or Anjani’s music to someone. Similarly, I get to share in the accolades for Lord of Leisure’s Photo Gallery. I’m touched when someone tells me they were struck by the account of the love story Julie and I shared. And, the responses to the posts about Lady Lawanda’s death and my son’s  accident and his injuries have been comforting.

It’s been an adventure so far.

1. Those round numbered years are not, however, the only mathematically-determined justifications for soirées and organized merrymaking.  Certain individuals,  including MIT students, commemorate March 14  (3.14) as Pi Day.↩
2. #1 hits have included Very Very Good Girl, SportsBizPro, Duke of Derm, Princess of Peds, Lt at 14, Lord of Leisure, and, especially, Hippie With Tiara.↩