haha- y'all are great! sorry for my slow response- it's been ridiculously busy. Trying to run 2 companies has me scrambling, especially when both by themselves are enough to keep me busy all day! Been averaging a boat closing every 10 days this year which is not bad at all if I do say so myself! Between that and my commercial real estate company roaring back to life in a big way AND my son playing football this fall...well...I've been swamped. Football has been a blast this year- as luck would have it, he is the biggest kid on his entire team (just turned 10 years old, 5' tall, 100 lbs). and hits like a mak truck so I am a proud papa watching him sack the quarterback 3-4 times each game and usually causing 2-3 fumbles each game and generally destroying the other team's offense up there on the defensive line and sometimes linebacker. He plays the offensive line as well but neither he nor I enjoy that as much as he only gets to pancake people and not sack the quarterback.
And then add to that my son is getting all into learning how to hunt so I have been taking him deer hunting a good bit which I had given up due to my boating addiction but he wants to do it and I am 110% about spending as much time with him as i can- I figure in 3 years or so he may not think I am all that cool til he is in his 20's.
But back to the topic at hand.....
Yes, Alfton clearly won last year. We are checking into the rules and regulations within this prestigious award to see if someone can win it twice in a row b/c that is still one heck of a cool avatar!
Mind you though, Flyright has really come in strong and given Alfton a run for the money with his "I love my Bayliner" avatar except for one minor detail- it isn't actually being utilized as an avatar. This technicality may kick him out of the running unless it is quickly remedied and made into said avatar. Janet's submittal does have a certain, um, classic allure to it but again, the rules clearly state it must be an avatar to be properly considered.
dwhatty- the Mrs. Doubtfire image is bound to be disqualified not only for the same reason stated above but more so due to the simple disturbing nature of that image.
So friends, yes, I believe it is time for the 2012 Avatar Award (ok, the whole "memorial" thing kind of makes it sound like I have already met my demise!) but we must insist you all go back and read the rule book that was handed out at the first of the year regarding this year's contest which clearly states in rule #1 that the image under consideration MUST be an avatar.