In 1993, for the end of my senior year in high school and the beginning of my freshman year in college, I kept an open journal in a blank datebook from 1954. I found it in a used bookstore in Stratford, Ontario, in 1991, and realized that the days of the week would correctly match up with the dates in 1993 — so I held onto it for more than a year before writing in it. It became one of my most treasured objects, not only as a peek into my experiences during that awful and wonderful transition period from high school to college, but also for its glimpses into the lives and thoughts of so many friends, acquaintances and strangers. Whenever I’ve come across it in the past 17 years, it’s been impossible to resist looking up what happened on that day, what I or somebody else was writing about or experiencing.

That magical alignment of dates and days of the week occurs again this year, so I’ve begun a yearlong project of posting scans of the book on the web and writing about each day. Reflections, explanations, the rest of the story… you’ll find them in 1954.

Brad passed away this past weekend, too young at 41. He is memorialized, among other places, here.

If it weren’t 3 in the morning, I’d probably be more eloquent, but I can’t sleep, so I’m just going to write.

Brad Graham was among the first bloggers I got to know online — which makes sense, since he was one of the first bloggers, period. The guy gave the blogosphere its name, for godsakes. Through his blog, comments on mine and other blogs, and frequent postings on MetaFilter, I became acquaintances with Brad, and met him for the first time at a blogger meetup of some sort. But it wasn’t until 2004 that he became a friend.

My first trip to SXSW Interactive (“summer camp for web nerds, it’s been described) was in 2004. Alison and I were in search of the evening’s events after she picked me up from the airport, and came across Brad and Nikolai in the Omni Hotel lobby. As the four of us talked and then headed to The Paradise to meet up with others, Brad and I hit it off famously as he told stories and shared advice about attending the conference. I saw a lot of him over the next few days, including hearing him tell one of his amazing stories at Fray Cafe, about picking up a bulk order of condoms (for a theatre production) at an STD clinic. Brad was one of the people I most looked forward to seeing when SXSWi 2005 rolled around. And it was at Break Bread with Brad that following year that I knew I was back among friends. “TheBrad” was once again being his funny old self, introducing people to their new closest friends and making sure nobody felt left out.

We developed a playful undercurrent of flirtation and innuendo (then again, everything was an innuendo with Brad) over the years; he’d casually hit on me, and I’d play the tease right back. Even Cinnamon got in the act.

You could always count on Brad for a joke or a story, but I also cherished the quiet moments talking with him in the hallways at South-By, and the few times we got to hang out back in Chicago on one of his visits up from St. Louis. I once spent several hours at SideTracks on Musical Night just to hang out with him — that’s how great a guy he was.

I’ve always held storytellers in the highest regard, and Brad was one of the best I’ve ever known, able to reel you in and deliver the punchline — whether funny or poignant — with perfect timing. I’ll never forget his story of taking George Clooney to a gay bar, and so many other bon mots over the years.

When we were down in St. Louis the weekend before Christmas to visit with Naz and Jen, I considered getting in touch to see if we could meet up, but we were only there for a short while, and besides, I’d see him in March, right? I’m kicking myself now for not calling him, although if he was sick he probably wouldn’t have come out. It would have been nice to have talked to him one last time, though. I feel like I barely saw him at SXSWi 2009, and now I wont have another chance.

It’s going to be weird not seeing him at SXSWi this year. Plans are afoot to organize a Break Bread for Brad to memorialize him; I hope to be a part of it in some way. If he were able to attend himself, he’d be telling us not to be sad, so I hope that whatever comes to pass has more in common with an Irish wake than an Italian one, and friends come together to tell stories and celebrate his life.

I’ll miss you, Brad. I feel lucky to have been counted as your friend.

Following the lead of Mr. Kottke once again, here is a list of cities, towns and other destinations I spent a significant amount of time in during 2009. By “significant amount of time,” I mean I either stayed the night or spent more than a couple hours.

Near Home:
Chicago, IL•
Cary, IL*
Barrington, IL
Roselle, IL*
Oak Park, IL

Abroad:
Austin, TX
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
San Francisco, CA*
Yosemite National Park, CA
Bridgeport, CA
Bishop, CA
Park City, UT
North Platte, NE
New York, NY
Sausalito, CA
Salt Fork State Park, OH
Dover, OH*
New Orleans, LA
Columbus, OH*
St. Louis, MO
Scottsdale, AZ

• Home
* Multiple visits

I’m extremely honored to be a member of this year’s Crain’s Chicago Business’ 40 Under 40. You can read their profile of me and see a short video here.

We weren’t allowed to talk about it ahead of time, of course — they keep it a secret till the big announcement; I don’t even know who else is on the list. And it’s a great list, filled with people doing some very good work in a wide range of industries. Chicago continues to look good.

While I’m truly honored to have received recognition on the 40 Under 40 list, the award belongs to the rest of the Gapers Block staff, too — I could never have made GB by myself, and without the 200-plus people who have contributed to the site over the years, Crain’s probably wouldn’t have a clue who I was. I especially owe heartfelt thanks to my long-time partner in crime, Naz Hamid, and to my wife, Cinnamon Cooper. Without Naz’s collaboration, Cinnamon’s support, and both of their help and encouragement, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

I do want to make a small clarification:

The rest of his income comes from blogging professionally for New York-based digital agency Electric Artists.

Electric Artists isn’t the entire rest of my income besides GB — although they’re a valued client. I also work with other clients on blogs, websites and other projects, and do freelance journalism as well — I had a front-of-book story in the June Chicago magazine about EveryBlock, for instance. I’m also not currently writing for American Express — they’re a past client.

Sadly, me3dia.com is going through a fallow period once again. It’s due for a makeover into something a bit more suitable to my needs, which I’ll hopefully have time to work on in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, my tumblr, also called me3dia, is a good spot to watch the detritus of my web wanderings go by.