Hello again … I think I’m awake now, but I can’t be sure. The Blogathon is officially over but you still have a few hours left to sponsor me if you haven’t had a chance to do that yet. I’ve put together a quick and dirty guide to the 2006 Blogathon as it pertains to TMFB and you can find that by visiting this page.

I wanted to again thank my sponsors who were a great motivation and inspiration to make it through the event (and I have two new sponsors since the last post): Jamelah, Levi, Anonymous, Tom, Julia, Caryn S., Alicia, Slawek, Syntax of Things, Miss Meliss and Neil. The final pledge total comes to $261 for ProLiteracy Worldwide and that money will help them fund new initiatives, provide support and materials for volunteers and literacy programs around the world.

There are still unclaimed sponsorship premiums … so if you’ve sponsored and haven’t requested your limerick, poem or other goodie (or sent me your mailing address if it’s something I’ll be sending to you), feel free to add a comment here or send me an email.

During the Blogathon I had a lot of time to surf other blogs — which was entertaining and enlightening. There were a lot of funny, well-written blogs and many with some interesting information. Some were the standard blog fare, but there were some that were exceptional and I found several that I added to my blogroll. Here are some highlights:

Escribition: Nicely written observations on literature and life.
Lady Lunchalot: Step by step recipe adventures and photos.
In the Kitchen with Moozie: Lots more great recipes and pictures.
Smarmy Carny: The Champion of Breakfasts (and much more) To see this year’s champ, you’ll have to just click on through for yourself.
Abstract Utopia: Some of the best top 5 lists you’ll likely ever see.
Renegade Kosher: Taking Kosher cooking to a whole new level.
Get Rich Slowly: Some interesting, humorous and educational facts about money.

I learned a lot of other things during the Blogathon, of course. Like I tend to make a lot of weird faces just sitting here at the computer. Most of them evoke boredom or a weird mix of fear/confusion/disbelief. Which I think pretty much sums up how I feel most of the time. Or whatever. I also learned …

… that ice cream tastes pretty damn good at 7am
… that I need to figure out what the hell is going on with my microphone
… that Bono is, like, apparently the new Mother Teresa in addition to being the new black. And that we’re not allowed to poke fun at him, ever. Ever! Do you hear me, Jamelah??
… that when you don’t sleep like a normal person, everything becomes a lot funnier. Even the things that annoy you. Hilarious.
… that despite it’s awesomeness, Life cereal is still vastly underappreciated.
… that I should have put more cushion in the chairs.
… that I look tired all the time. Not just at 2am.
… that your nose will itch like crazy the moment you turn a camera on yourself.
… that Poetry on Demand^TM isn’t dead yet.
… that I’ll never stop loving beef jerky.
… that Jamelah is the new queen of millinery.
… that I’d like to go to cheese school for a PhD. (Go to chese school here)

And so much more. So there you have it. I’m sure I’ll be Blogathoning again next year, although I may have to come up with a different game plan, because this year it seemed like 24 hours was an awful long time and 30 minutes to post came up on us quickly. In the meantime, I’ll be resuming my normal blogging schedule, well actually … hopefully a more regular blogging schedule. So stay tuned, send in your requests and thanks again.