419 posts ago…

I was an independent blogger with one of those “you can blog on our site” weblogs.  I got a couple of hits once in a while, a comment here and there, nothing really earth-shaking.  Let’s put it this way.  Even the spambots weren’t interested in finding me.

Then I got an e-mail.

“Hello Chuck, my name is Michael Huber, I am the blog editor for the Albany Times-Union.  I enjoy reading your blog, and would like to know if you would be interested in joining the Times-Union’s blog page.  Please contact me if you would like to be part of our website.”

A few days later, I signed the TU blogging contract, and my first TU blog post appeared on this very day in 2009.  So this blog is one year old today.

That’s right.

One year of sharing with you every nuance of my life.  All the triumphs and all the tragedies.

All the times I spent photographing in the middle of the night to get a star trail photograph.

Or the times I hung from my ankles off the scaffolding of a ceiling to photograph sports action at the floor below.

Or all the record albums I want to be buried with – at this point, I’m probably looking at two caskets, one for me and one for all the vinyl.

All the times I entered the words Kodachrome, Pontiac 6000, Street Academy the school, Street Academy the trivia team, TRON, Max Headroom, Nipper, Polar Panorama, Nikon, Kiev, Ansco, Patroons, Premier Basketball League, Delaware & Hudson, Skidmarks, Rocky Mountain Film Lab, Holga, August Cove Resorts, layered film, Elbo Room, Recovery Room, “The Robins of Iverhill,” Mohler and Choo DDS, , star trails, efke, Altamont Fair, New York State Fair, here, there and everywhere, then take a drink whenever I say them, and make sure you’ve got a designated driver to get you home, lest the cops pull you over and your blood alcohol content is strong enough to be measured in octanes.

All the times I shared my triumphs and total collapses in team trivia, in life, in philosophy and in reflection.

All the times I dug deep into my life to share how I survived to get to where I am today.

All the times I couldn’t sleep, and started posting at 2 in the morning.  One can get very creative when insomnia battles inertia.

It’s been a long and wonderful run with the TU.  And I’m ready to run again for another year, and maybe years and years after that, if they’ll have me.

So happy birthday to my TU blog, it turns one year old today.  My thanks to Michael Huber at the TU, and my fellow TU community bloggers, and all the readers and posters.  Whether you agreed with me, or whether you didn’t, your say is important to me, and I appreciate that very much.

So what do you get a blog on its paper anniversary?

I don’t know.

But I’ll tell you one thing…

I’d rather celebrate this blog turning one year old today…

than let anyone know that I just turned 47 today.  Shhh….