It was Thursday night, the time was 9:40 PM EST, and I was feelin' great! I was in a cozy Hamtramck Bar, the Atlas (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendi...), drinking a Schlitz, which was on special for $1 US, and I decided to start calling HOBOs.

My first call was to Gregas, who unfortunately was not available so I had to leave a voice bomb. The second call was to a HOBO who will remain nameless. This HOBO did infact take the call but rebuffed me so that he could eat his macaroni and cheese. That is right, there is a HOBO amongst us who did not fullfill his or her duties as a HOBO, a HOBO who values his mac and cheese more than helping a fellow HOBO out. Now I know that mac and cheese is tough competition, there is no doubt about that, but eat and talk at the same time, I don't think HOBOs are above this.

I must say, I was disappointed. In an effort to enhance my buzz I called this man hoping he could provide some witty banter, but instead he decided to watch Grey's Anatomy and eat his mac and cheese. I will not publicly reveal this HOBO, as I don't want to tarnish his reputation, he knows who he is. But I do however want this HOBO to humor the next HOBO that drunk dials him and be courteous by trying his hardest to help enhance the other HOBO's buzz.

I will say though, not all was lost Thursday night. Gregas came through. Gregas called back shortly after I got off the phone with the nameless HOBO, and came through like a champ, humoring me in my babble. I am sure we had an interesting discussion, fortunately I was a wee bit too drunk to remember all of it, I do however remember promising to start a blog on this subject. Thank you Gregas!

Anyway, sorry to bother everyone with my complaint, I just thought something should be said so that this doesn't happen to any of you.

Don't change HOBOs (except the nameless one),
Giant

The 4th of July is right around the corner. To make this all happen we need everyone's help. There are a few things that are needed for our events, especially the HOBOlympics. Gregas and I were talking and said we have a few things covered but we need all the HOBOs and Friends of HOBO to help us out.

I've put a list up on the HOBOpedia of things we'll need. If you can help out and bring these things just edit the page and place your name in parentheses next to the item. If you can think of other things that we're going to need feel free to add those to the end of the list. Also remember to invite anyone along to join in as a spectator for our events.

I decided that in time for the 4th of July, HOBO needed to debut a website. As of now it's still a work in progress but it's coming along. I'm learning the Drupal software as I go (content management software that powers this site). More things will probably be added in the future but first I'll go over a few of the features as of now.

* BLOGS - All HOBOs will have a user profile and blog set up for them. I would like every HOBO to participate in this at least somewhat. Don't feel pressured to write posts all the time, just leave something when you have news. You will each have your own Blog page and all blog posts will go to the front page.

* EVENTS - As you can see there is an events tab and "Upcoming Events" in the sidebar. Here we can post all HOBO events. All HOBOs will be able to post events. To try it out, post your birthday so we know when each HOBOs birthday is.

* FORUMS - I've created a new forum here for us to discuss our HOBO matters. I will be keeping my other forum at showstoppa.org open, but I'd like to get all HOBO discussions over here from now on.

* MAP - I've created a Frappr map for us. This is just a Google Map where you enter the city in which you live. With this we will be able to see where all HOBOs and Friends of HOBO currently are living. Everyone please post yourself up on there, put up a picture, and leave a comment.

* STORE - HOBO Merchandise! I created a few things in a Cafepress store with the words "HOBOS = KEY" on them. I'll try to work on some more things. If anyone has any ideas please leave a comment on this post. Also, $1 from each purchase goes to the HOBO Fund. This will take care of all the costs of being a HOBO. I'm not making any other money off of the merchandise.

* HOBOPEDIA - This is an Encyclopedia about HOBO. Here you will eventually find everything you have ever wanted to know about HOBO, and probably some things you'd rather not know. This is editable by all users and I encourage all HOBOs to participate. Help build a written history of HOBO. More information is found when yo visit the HOBOpedia.

* PHOTOS - I've created a Flickr group dedicated to HOBO. My suggestion is for everyone to start a Flickr accoung (they're great and free, I love mine), upload any pictures you have, and join and add all of your pictures to the HOBOS=KEY group.

* POLLS - Vote in our current poll and tell me what you think of the site so far. All HOBOs will be able to create a poll and anyone visiting the site will be able to vote in it. The latest poll that is created will appear on the front page. Older polls can be found on the "poll" link in the sidebar menu. Be courteous and let other people's polls run on the front page for awhile before you put yours up.

* ADS - I put up some Google Adsense ads to see if I can make some more money for the HOBO Fund. If anyone seriously objects to this, speak up and I can remove them.

Friends of HOBO can also join the site and create a profile and comment, post in the forum, etc. I'm keeping some parts HOBO member only, such as blog posts. Feel free to try things out. Don't worry if you think you messed something up, just contact me and I will be able to fix it. Enjoy the new HOBO Website and be sure you sign up for an account and fill out your profile.