Unfortunately cakecentral.com did not make this cake to celebrate this occasion.

I try not to self-indulgently pat myself on the back too often, but damn it I have written 100 of these posts.  It is time for a little self-indulgent tripe.  I wanted to take this opportunity to make some announcements regarding this blog, thank some great people who have helped me along the way, and reflect on some of the posts of the past.  When I started this blog I had no idea where it would lead.  Along the way I have learned a lot about writing a blog and want to share a little bit of that knowledge with other bloggers out there as well.

First off let’s knock out the announcements:

Welcome to the new layout of the blog.  It took a great number of hours of deliberation to decide on this format.  I will miss the familiar blue look, but am excited about some of my new features.  The most exciting part is that at the top of the home page there are now tabs.  This works somewhat like the index did, but categorizes the information more succinctly by categories the reader will enjoy.  I have determined my readership is divided in four ways: servers, managers, foodies, and people who think I am occasionally chuckle worthy.  Now each has a category at the top to find just what they like.

I also have decided to leap into 2006 and start a twitter account.  You can follow my twitter feed at http://twitter.com/tips4tips.  I have to admit I know very little about twitter protocol and such.  I will just send a tweet when the blog is updated to give you a chance to catch up.  This may fail miserably, but it is worth a try.  Also if anyone wants to send me some twitter etiquette tips, feel free.  So go to the twitter page and become a follower if you want.

With this format redesign and some other new features they have introduced, I have decided to stay with wordpress as well.  They run great blogging software and make it very easy to get started.  The lack of ftp access and share options bothered me at first, but since they added them I think I will stick around.  The biggest announcement of all is related to that.  I was hoping to be able to make it today, but alas it is still a couple weeks off.  Stay tuned though, because it will mark a whole new chapter in this blog.

Now that we have that out of the way lets get to the topic at hand.  When I started this blog I made no secret of it.  I know most server bloggers keep their identity top secret.  I knew the story of CJ from Frothy Girlz who worked blocks away.  My decision was based on the idea that I have no problems answering for anything I write on here.  My name is David Hayden and I write this blog.  I keep my employer a secret at their request, but frankly I don’t think I have posted anything they would find too offensive.  I wanted to write a different type of server blog.  I have to say that at first I was a little under whelmed with the response from my coworkers.  Perhaps they thought it was going to be preachy pronouncements from me on how tables should be served.  Over time though I think those that read it have learned to appreciate it for what it is.

There was one point where the response was a bit overwhelming.  When I wrote about why not to date coworkers, plenty of them chimed in.  While I definitely do not want to reignite that debate ever again, I think it serves as a good learning tool to those starting a blog.  You will have to answer to your readers.  You can do so anonymously, but if you decide to be public about your writing you will have to do so in person too.

At the same time I could never have gotten this blog to the point it is without the help of my friends and coworkers.  So I am going to take a break from self indulgence to give some much deserved thank you s.

Thank you to:

Jessica and Michelle for referring the most people to the page at it’s inception.

Lisa, Heather, and Bobbie for sharing the heck out of my stories of facebook.

Becky, Yellowcat, Brenda, Jessi, and House for kicking in with comments and letting me know that someone is reading.

Scott for always keeping the debate lively whether he is on my side in it or not.

Paige for being my designated drinker.

Stefne and Eric for giving me reminders that I should have proofread again.

Pren for giving me countless ideas on how to structure a blog and for a very thoughtful introduction.

Candice and Julie for making me write my way through it.

The Chefs for constantly giving me ideas to write about.

Drew, Maggie, and Roman for kicking through with countless post topics.

Jenn Jones for being Jenn Jones.

The Burtons and The Hollmans for giving me the chance to get away from time to time.

Blitzel for not pointing out that I am still the second best waiter at my address.

Bramble for restaurant knowledge you cannot find online.  This guy is a restaurant genius.

Marcy for being my biggest cheerleader.

Jeff for enduring hundreds of hours of listening to me ramble about the blog and always having insight.

My Mom for being the person who has read every post.

My Dad for believing that this could be as big as I think it could.

And Ali for listening to me ramble about this thing more than anyone.  For being patient with me when I run late to finish a post and not getting mad when I check my stats 40 times a day.

Finally, I want to thank all of you who read this blog.  I cannot begin to express how much I appreciate each and every one of you.  This is the first step in a much larger dream of mine.  Each one of you has helped inspire me to keep at it and helped me to believe I can really achieve this.  From the bottom of my heart I truly do appreciate each and every one of you.

Tomorrow I will wrap up this extravaganza with recap of my first 100 posts.  A list of my 10 most popular posts.  The search engine terms that brought me the most traffic.  A special shout out to all the bloggers and blogs that referred me traffic.  There will probably also be thank yous for all the people I forgot to include on this list.  I know it doesn’t sound that exciting, but I think those of you who are regular readers will find in very interesting.  A special contest in the meantime:  Can you guess the most viewed post of all time on this blog?  Leave your answer in the comments.  The winner will receive a special mention in tomorrows post.