I'm honored, flattered and totally undeserving of winning the "Most Entertaining" blog award at the Social Security Awards at RSA [1] this year. Given I was late to the event (and Rich had to spoil the surprise by sending me a 911 text to get my behind to the Blogger meet-up), and Alan got a bit long in the tooth in giving out the awards, and my total shock at winning much of anything - I was a little at a loss for words. Which is the first time I can remember that happened.

And even if I was my usual loudmouth self, the looks from the folks at the party made it clear I was the only thing standing between them and another cocktail. That's a bad place to be, so I kept my comments intentionally short.

I didn't get a chance to say thanks to a lot of folks that made this possible. However undeserving I am, the people around me enable this. So let me send thanks to:

1. The Boss - Yes, without the Boss to keep me honest and focused, none of this happens. She takes care of many things, so I can do what I do. And she supports me and loves me, even when I make that hard to do. I also know that she'll kick my ass if I don't thank her first. Every time someone gets up at an awards show and forgets to thank their spouse, she goes on a tirade. I won't make that mistake.
2. The munchkins - Though I don't view what I do as very entertaining, my kids sure are. So thanks to Leah, Lindsay and Sam - who give me an infinite amount of material to write about. They also teach me something new every day. It's great to see things from their perspective, which keeps me young (even though I look old).
3. My blogging peeps - Yes, the blogging community is integral to the success of all of us. There are too many to thank individually, so I'll just say thanks to everyone. We challenge each other, give each other a hard time, and make the end product much better. Incite is written by me, but it's clearly a joint production.
4. The bad guys - Everything is relative. Without dark, there is no light. Without bad guys, we don't understand what is good. So we can't do what we do unless they are doing what they do - as objectionable as that is. So we can get mad at "the bad" or we can be thankful that they keep us employed, keep raising the bar and ultimately give us a lot to talk about.
5. You - I've always said that I write for myself and I'm just lucky that other people find (entertainment) value in it. That was true at one time, but not anymore. Many people that came to my panels or the booth specifically to tell me they enjoy the Incite. Many also said they wish I had time to write more. Wow. It's a humbling experience and I coudn't thank those folks enough.

You can probably see why I kept my comments at the Blogger meet-up short. I suspect someone would have bounced a cue ball off my head if I rambled on like this at the event.

I wasn't quite sure what this blogging thing was about 3 years ago, but I ended up making a whole bunch of very good friends, building a business, and progressing along the road to happiness. After a brief detour, I recognize that continuing to write is very important to me.

So that's what I'll do.