Horndog Blog 2008 in Review

A look back at some favorites.

As is the tradition this time of year, now is the time for some introspection and reflection. Here are some highlights from 2008.

With a purchase of the CS3 Adobe Creative Suite came updated Photoshop software. This was a significant upgrade from the old version I had, and it got the creative juices going with a barrage of fun things.

1. A Halloween send-up of classic monsters:
   • Frankenstein
   • Dracula
   • Wolfman
   • The Creature from the Black Lagoon
   • Mummy
2. The “Jaded Clam Award.”
   A spoof for recognizing the good, the bad and the ugly in our field.
3. Taking classic artworks and adding a twist:
   • American Gothic
   • Washington Crosses the Delaware
   • Nighthawks
   • The Birth of Venus
   • Freedom from Want
4. Lampooning hot-button issues:
   • The Columbus Symphony
   • The AFM/RMA conflict

I anticipate doing more of these – it is fun and it good practice for fine tuning my Photoshop chops. Also, I enjoy combining the occasional political message within these satirical pieces.

On a more serious note, some notable series were posted:

1. The Art of Practice
   A series on practice basics.
2. Narcissism and Top Ten Lists
   A simple way to list various thoughts on a single, broad topic.

Lastly, this year saw a major upgrade in the platform for the Horndog Blog, from burying it within my main web development site to moving it to Blogger. Over the course of a few months, the blog was tweaked and refined to it current format, which includes a variety of new items in the right-side panel, including a search engine, featured items nested in sub-menus, links to recent posts and a dynamic blog roll that links to the latest posts on my favorite blogs.

While I began blogging about three years ago, I did not maintain a regular schedule until this year. I have since implemented a better strategy, taking advantage of banking articles that auto-post at future dates. This comes in handy, especially when I hit a dry spell or am too busy to post anything.

While my career is taking a recent turn towards more web-development, I still maintain a full-time love of music with part-time playing. I hope to keep blogging here for many years to come on both horn and non-horn related topics.

I also want to welcome guest bloggers – if someone is interested in writing something, please contact me.