The End (And Week 9 of the BMC)

It is with very little regret that I announce here that this blog is approaching its terminus. I say this, not because I dislike blogging (indeed, when I actually get around to it, I love it, and may continue on another blog -- but I'll address that in a bit), but rather, because as of Thursday, I will no longer be living in Sweden, which makes a blog whose purpose is to report my stay in Sweden rather obsolete. The reason I don't regret this is because it means going home and seeing all (most) of my friends again, the majority of whom I haven't seen in six months now.

On another note, I have the final (belated) entries for the Bearded Man Challenge:

Here I am, grinning like a madman after coming back from Italy:


And my chin (also grinning -- secretly):


Presenting...the Spaniard!


And by "Spaniard," I mean Irishman...with a stache:



And a gor -- I mean, Anna:


I don't have a witty comment for this one...may the gods preserve me:


So actually, this won't be the absolute last post here; for the next week, I will be accepting votes for the final winner of the BMC via email or comments on this (the blog page -- for you Facebookers, I may not check the comments there, so send me an email). As a clarification, I am posting this on Wednesday, August 29th, so the deadline will be Wednesday, September 5th...but if, at some point, I still haven't posted a winner, your vote will probably still be taken.

In other news, as I mentioned, I have just returned from my tour of Europe, having visited England, France, and Italy. As usual, don't expect photos (unless you're reading this on Facebook, and even then, don't count on it), but I might put up a few at some point. Also, if you ask me in person, I'd be happy to tell you stories about it, but I really would rather not type up a full report of the trip here, so I'll stick to the essentials --

Vital Statistics of the Trip:

3 Airplanes
1 Punt
1 Water Taxi
1 Private Car
2 Funiculars
11 Subways
11 Taxis
24 Trains
41 Busses

...and...

57 Pizzas

Obviously the most important information regarding the trip, so what else needs to be said?

Still More News:

Though this blog is ending, I will be working on other projects in the near future, including a webcomic, to be found here, though I will probably move it as soon as I can find a more convenient way to host it (right now, it's a subdirectory of a friend's website), and will post a link to the new location both here and where it is now. In theory, it will update once a week, although we'll see how regular this turns out to be. Additional future projects may include a podcast, another blog, and/or another webcomic, this in collaboration with a friend of mine, all of which will be linked to here, so this blog may turn into nothing more than a stomping ground for links to other projects...
So be it.

For almost the last time, I am welcoming questions, comments, love notes or hate mail at smithw12321@gmail.com

Peace, Love, and All That Jazz,
--Gazebo