Written by: Marsh

What you are about to read is absolutely, 100% true.



"Vegas, baby!"

That's what John Beck and I were yelling at the top of our lungs as we cruised down Las Vegas Boulevard in a stretch utility vehicle on a hot July night.

We'd both won several hundred dollars at Mirage's poker room, then dined at Bouchon, the French bistro inside Venetian. We were dressed to the nines, had money to burn, and were in the mood to party like rockstars. The limo dropped us off at one of the hottest nightclubs in town, and we ordered enough drinks to intoxicate the 82nd Airborne. But we were still a little bored. Around the pulsating music and gyrating dancers, I nodded to Beck and said, "Hey, I've got an idea." He perked up.

"I wanna write for INCITE," I said. This blog has a rich tradition, being a Weblog Award Finalist four years ago. Yeah, I know, 2004 might as well be four light-years away in cyberspace for how far back that was, but it really wasn't that long ago. Michael Phelps won six gold medals instead of eight. Big deal; "American Idol" is still the #1 show on TV, and the Cubs still can't win games down the stretch. It wasn't the Pre-Cambrian Era.

Beck was stunned. "You know I've only made about a dozen posts this year." I nodded. What am I going to do, complain? The posting rate on my personal blog could best be described as "glacial." I say that makes us a perfect match.

So with an enthusiastic vote of confidence — "yeah, sure, I guess" — Beck decided to let me guest-post here. And I immediately lived up to INCITE's recent breakneck pace by posting nothing for two months as I lost my job and my computer fried itself. Oh well; not like I missed anything.

But now that I'm here, I intend to drive INCITE's output to the dizzying heights of twenty, perhaps even thirty posts in 2008. It'll be a tough task to accomplish, but I'm confident that nobody really cares.

In the meantime, you can send me an e-mail. I generally reply to correspondence within about six weeks or so. But don't rush me.



Okay, not all of the above is true. I lost $500 playing poker in Las Vegas.

Labels: about the author(s), awkward first impressions, posts by Marsh