... we've decided to pull the plug on ourselves rather than watch another month go by without new posts.

It was fun getting to know our readers online and in person. It was fun making t-shirts and having several of our t-shirts stolen. It was fun crafting inappropriate photo illustrations. But now it's time to stop having fun. Let us pay tribute to what was:

Kelly: "Poor GritCity. I'll be sad to see it go. All I can say is, I'll carry you all in the fannypack of my heart."

Laura: "Blogging about Tacoma almost made me want to move to Tacoma."

Cole: "I’ll miss all the virtual friends and virtual money we made."

Niki: "I don’t even work here anymore."

In other words, thanks and happy Thanksgiving (almost). Feel free to share your remembrances or just delete us from your RSS feeds.

Oh, also, you should follow thenewstribune.com on Twitter. I happen to know the user name and password and occasionally sneak some fake stories humor in when the bosses aren't looking.

R.R. Anderson's comment on the post below inspired me. I had to go looking for a new blog mascot. Something gritty, but charming. Something with joy in its heart and impaired movement in its paws.

I think I found him.

Blueberry the Great Dane.

I've been a fan of FOUND magazine and its Web site for years. I used to think I would go around finding weird, funny stuff to send in to them, but I never did. I always keep an eye out though, and indeed, my compulsion with picking up things I find on the ground generally worries my loved ones.

The best thing I've found in Tacoma have been a tiny plastic zebra, which now lives in my truck air vent, and a stenciled blue unicorn on the sidewalk outside Blackwater Cafe.

Today I stumbled on a new site, passiveaggressivenotes.com.

I couldn't help but notice that two of the notes on the first page are from people in Seattle and Tacoma. I'd print them, but they're naughty. You'll have to go read for yourself.

I am stealing this Post-It from FOUND, though. For illustrative purposes.

So a gnome IM'd me the other day.

How does a gnome end up on IM anyway? I imagined him tossing the unicorn some extra alfalfa, popping a Diet Coke, then hopping on Facebook to see if anyone hot on his friends list has been dumped recently.

Maybe that's just me.

The gnome in this case was our very own Tacoma Gnome, who I understand has just participated in the 72-Hour Film Fest.

Our chat went thusly:

=> Read more!

Kelly's post on Monday started an interesting discussion about how everyone ended up living in Tacoma. (Apparently, we all moved here from from the Midwest via Syracuse, N.Y.)

Now that we've solved that, I have a slightly different question: I want to know how you ended up here at GritCity the blog.

Because a look at the terms people Googled that led them to this site reveals many of you are probably quite disappointed once you get here. I realized something was up when a post from a year ago titled "If you like men dressed as women as much as I do" kept turning up in our Top 10 posts for each week.

If you want some insight into your fellow readers, take a look at how Web surfers washed ashore at GritCity this month ...

Top 11 most frequent terms being sought this month that led to a past GritCity post:
• men dressed as women
• emoticon kitty
• fuzzy wuzzy puppies
• let me hear you say hey oh!
• Miss Washington
• numb fingers
• DB Cooper
• dave's meat and produce
• black nail polish
• Hot Chick-a-Latte
• derrieres

=> Read more!

We're on Facebook! Won't you be our fan? So far we only have nine. Well, five, not counting us.

Also, if you still refuse to give up on MySpace, we're on there too.

A regular reader alerted me to this gem in the Seattle Weekly.

Apparently some neighbors in Magnolia have started a blog to share details on suspicious behavior after some break-ins in the area.

Now, I wouldn't make light of any crimes or victims of crime. But I can't help giggling over these blog excerpts, as reported in the Weekly.

• On 1/22, 8:30pm, we had a young white male with a green hooded sweatshirt knock on our door and ask if we would like to sign up for evironmental action support. He walks with a noticeable limp. It seemed really suspicious...I reported this to 911....

• I saw the same guy around 8:15 yesterday (1/22) on 24th as I was coming home. He was walking away from the neighbor's house after she told him to go away. He didn't come over to us, though I called 911 to report his description and location, and then promptly set my alarm as well.

• We had a young black female come to our house tonight at 8:30 asking us to sign up for some enviromental support group too! I thought it was an odd time to be ringing door bells and we were in the middle of eating pizza and watching American Idol, so I said "no thank you" and shut the door quickly. My 10 year old proceeded to turn on our alarm immediately!

• Last night 1/22/08 around 8:15 pm someone knocked on our door while we were watching American Idol. We weren't expecting anyone and didn't want to be disturbed so we didn't answer and they went away. I thought it was odd to have someone knock on our door at night time. I did not see the person. Today I get to work and my co-worker tells me about all the breakins in Magnolia....What do you think they are jotting down after the rest of you have opened up the door? Clues on how to break in?

I'm imagining what would happen if any of these folks visited our fair city for a day, what with its hoodie-wearing, reality TV-interrupting masses. I mean, there are hoodies at Starbucks, hoodies at Metro Mart, hoodies pushing baby strollers – and that's just between me, Cole and Niki.

(I'm also thinking about the 3.2 offers a day I turn down from legitimately skeezy dudes walking past my apartment building who all want "rides to the bus station.")

But I'll tell you one thing, Tacoma, if wearing a hoodie is wrong, I don't want to be right.

I leave any and all "American Idol" chatter to Laura. Laura, take it away.

As for you, my darlings, why don't you post your favorite hoodie-wearing gritty Tacomans in the comments field.

UPDATE: Cole's been looking for an excuse to share this pic of what he looks like after deadline. Rainier Beer, represent.

I do.

Let's hang out.

Moreover, let's hang out, earn some red-wine mustaches, and learn the routine to this fine bit o' footwork brought to us by T-town's own Claude François Dance Troupe. (Tollefson Square would seem a fine venue.)

You didn't know we had a dance troupe devoted to a deceased French disco star, did you?

Voila le wiki:

Ambitious, Claude François moved to Paris, where there were many more opportunities to pursue his career. At the time, American Rock and Roll was taking hold in France and he took a job as part of a singing group in order to make a living. … In 1962 he recorded a cover version in French of an Everly Brothers song, "Made to Love" (aka Girls Girls Girls). Written by Phil Everly, it had been only a minor hit in America, but Claude François' rendition titled "Belles Belles Belles" rocked to the top of the French charts, selling close to two million copies and making him an overnight star.

In an e-mail to GritCity, the dancers wrote:

We are a group of Tacoma natives on a mission – a mission to spread joy, dancing and a love of the late French disco star Claude François throughout Tacoma and the world! Although we are scattered across the world (from London to Iowa), we reunite once a year in Tacoma to continue this important work. In order to further our mission, we are embarking on an online outreach campaign around our latest video in which we perform the funky dance moves from Claude François international hit "Cette année-là".

My favorite part is when a car drives through the routine and it gives me a little frisson of electricity – will the driver coast by, head bobbing, or even stop, leap into the back row and join the dance?

Oh là là. You will just have to watch.

p.s. Here's a croissant I ate once in Paris. It was good, damned good, as Hemingway is alleged to have said in relation to something French.

This has nothing to do with anything, but you should all be witness to it.

I like to think all of us who live here are tough and feisty like this little truck. Does our city get any royalties from letting Toyota use our name so much?

It's been years since I subscribed to Seventeen magazine, so it comes as a surprise to me that it partnered with MySpace to launch the Freshman 15, which tracks 15 women as they experience their first year of college (And here I always thought that term referred to the inescapable weight gain – wonder if they'll track that).
One of the lucky participants, Kathryn Robinson, just happens to be from Tacoma.

Here's part of the story from the AP:

NEW YORK – Kathryn Robinson had The Talk with her boyfriend this week.

A breakup was inevitable: They are separated by thousands of miles. Robinson, who hails from Tacoma, Wash., has just started her freshman year at a liberal arts college outside of New York City; her high school sweetheart remains on the West Coast.

"I don't want to be committed to anything," Robinson said Thursday in a phone interview. "It just doesn't make any sense when you're in college and you're just meeting so many new people."

And in Robinson's case, she's "meeting" far more new people than the average freshman.

The aspiring music journalist/actress/obstetrician is documenting her first year at the State University of New York, Purchase College, for the new Web reality series, "Freshman 15." The program, launched this week by Seventeen magazine and MySpace.com, follows 15 girls as they experience the first taste of university life and its various pressures, from studies to long-distance relationships.

It seems like just a few short years ago that I was an aspring journalist/actress/obstetrician. Well, one out of three isn't bad: Call me if you need an obstetrician.

And if you happen to be Kathryn Robinson's ex-boyfriend, you have to post a comment and let us know all the details about The Talk.