Gary Sheffield beat me to the punch this month, hitting number 500 on April 17. But while not all of my 500 blog entries have been home runs, at least I didn't need steroids to produce them! In any case, I wanted to take this opportunity to look back on what I've accomplished with this blog, as well as thank all of you for coming along for the ride.

I launched my blog on Sept. 5, 2006. My goal, as I stated in my first of 500 postings, was to build on the following I had generated with my weekly column in National Underwriter magazine. The most obvious advantage was being able to opine not just once a week, within an assigned word count, but whenever news broke and the mood struck me, free from space and time limitations.

Most importantly, however, I saw a blog as an opportunity to develop a genuine conversation withreaders, which has not only come to fruition, butturned out to be one of the most satisfying developments in my 27-plus-year career here at NU. I've received2,200 comments about my musings–split about evenly, I believe, between those who agree with my views, and those who think I ought to have my head examined.