Hello friends.

I once again commend those of you who have successfully completed the challenge that is the BufBloPoFo. It is not easy. Many of you were undertaking this challenge this year for the first time. I hope that you will try again next year. For those of you who were participating in their second Fortnight, I trust that you (like me) found it to be difficult but worthwhile.

This technology has made our lives easier, and has helped us connect (and re-connect) with people from whom we have been separated by the sinister forces of time, life and circumstance. This internet not only provides us with naked women, but is a valuable tool for keeping touch with those you cannot or do not see regularly, speak to frequently, or share with personally. This series of tubes is useful and wonderful for telling your friends, no matter how far-flung, what you are doing, how you are doing it, and why. But do not rely too heavily on this World Wide Web.

We are a social animal. Following the daily blogging of a few friends for a couple of weeks may have made your parents' basement feel a little less lonely. Your hours of Warcraft have been tempered with some "real world" stories of coffee too hot and kids too precious. You may feel invigorated and connected to humanity in a strong way. But the Fortnight is over. I urge you, friends, to renew these connections with personal conversations. Be not satisfied with the consumption of one-way communication provided for by push-button e-publishing. Endeavor to create lasting physical relationships. Hear, touch, smell - experience - other human beings.

The internet is amazing. Our children will have no concept of what life was like without it. It is a wonderful vehicle for pornography and anonymously ridiculing the lifework or passionate interests of other people. But it cannot totally replace the importance of real life connections. Do not let Facebook replace face time.

That being said, do not leave your blog to rot until the next BufBloPoFo. It is still a useful means of keeping others in the loop of your life. Regardless of how lonely and forgotten you feel, someone is interested in what you are doing. Keep posting on a regular basis. We know how difficult it is to write daily, but try to write at least weekly. If for no other reason, write so that there exists some lasting record of humanity. What if your blog were the only remaining evidence of our society? (The Mayans left no blogs. All we know about them is that their skulls were made of crystal and that they are going to end the world in 2o12.) Don't let future generations think we all died out in late March, 2009.

To the rare few of you who have satisfactorily completed two Buffalo Blog Post Fortnights - congratulations. I'm sure Mike will be whipping up a fancy "Two-time Completer" jpeg for our pages. We should all have a drink - if not together, at some pre-appointed time when all around the world Completers can celebrate the completion of that which is completed. At least for 50 weeks - until BufBloPoFo2KTen.