It's been nine (plus) years!

These things happened in 2006, nine years ago:

• Twelve coal miners died in the Sago Mine Disaster near Buckhannon, West Virginia
• A stampede during the Stoning of the devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, killed 362 Muslim pilgrims.
• Several European newspapers reprinted controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, sparking outrage and rioting
• Saddam Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging
• Zacarias Moussaoui was convicted of conspiring to kill Americans as part of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
• Over 160 people were killed on July 11th by seven bombs on the train network in Mumbai India
• President Bush acknowledged secret CIA prisons around the world outside of US legal jurisdiction.
• The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series
• Italy won the World Cup in Germany defeating France
• The Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup
• The Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl
• Somebody won the NBA Championship. Probably either the Lakers or the Celtics. Who cares?
• And on June 18th, I posted the first entry in this very blog

Somehow, I forgot my 9th anniversary 11 days ago. Nine years. NINE YEARS!! I have been posting what I call Ridiculously Inconsistent blog entries on a fairly regular basis over some 3,285 days (give or take, however the various Leap Years have impacted that). As I often tell people who listen to me talk about it, that's approximately eight years, 11 months and two weeks longer than most blogs last. The world was a very different place back then. For instance, purple was illegal and one usually had to resort to the black market to get it, making the production of this blog a very risky endeavor.

"Psst, whaddya got in a nice Amethyst?"

Point being, I've been doing this a long time. This is the Bowhead Whale of blogs! Do I deserve some kind of longevity award? I don't know. Probably?