Hello IRgC! I wanted to take a moment and say a fond 'farewell' to all of you. After more than a decade of working on Gene's various websites, and building the Internet Rug Camp from the ground up, by the end of 2018 it was clear that the time had come for me to say goodbye to this part of my life. What many of you don't know about me is that, in addition to running a website business for a long time, I was also building a career as a drummer... yes, that's right, I'm a professional drummer! In fact, I met Gene and Marsha when I was on tour in Southern California about 15 years ago! Thankfully, my musical career has continued to grow year over year, but because of that, I no longer had time to spend keeping up with the rapidly changing pace of website design technology. In 2018 alone I composed and played the music for the Los Angeles Dodgers, two film scores, multiple drum clinics, multiple drum camps, 50 television shows and.... the list goes on. In the event that you're interested, check out my own personal website at www.buddygibbons.com.
More than anything else, this post is meant as a huge "thank you" to Gene and Marsha. He and I learned a great deal about building and maintaining a website this big... and believe me when I tell you, this site is HUGE... it takes a massive effort just to keep things online, let alone to keep every tiny detail working correctly. We didn't have completely smooth sailing through the years, but all in all I'm proud of what we accomplished here, and I am honored to know Gene and his family so well. This site is unique in the rug hooking community because the content is ever-expanding, and the quality never falls away. That's a testament to the incredible dedication by Gene to keep blogging, keep photographing, keep hooking, keep teaching... Thank you, Gene, for allowing me to be part of this.
Now on to the future. I know by now you've all 'met' Bill Ray. Bill and I began working on this transition a little over a year ago, with an eye to making things as smooth as possible for you, the users, as well as for Gene. I know you've already seen the site updates and upgrades, so I know that you're aware of just how much better Bill is with the new web technology than I am! The site is going to continue to grow, under his watchful eye, for the foreseeable future. I'm sure you're excited about the things he and Gene are already cooking up... I know I am! (btw, Bill is ALSO a professional drummer... and he's great!)
And with that, I'm signing off, Hookers. Thank you again for everything. It's been a pleasure.
Buddy