I first met Barry of Inn of the Last Home back in 1994 when I started working for a small shareware distribution company. He was in charge of technical support, and I took care of disc duplication. We worked together for more than two years until Barry left for bigger and better things. We reconnected just two years ago through our blogs. Inn of the Last Home has since become a regular read of mine, and Barry and I have forged a wonderful friendship.

Barry is a web designer in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is married to a lovely woman named Laura and has two children, “Brainy Boy” and “Tink”. Inn of the Last Home is Barry’s home away from home – a place where he can relax and blog about his many interests – family, science fiction, television, sports, news, theatre, and music.

The Inn’s archives go back to January 2003. In his first post, Barry explained his motivation for starting the blog. “I figured the blogiverse needs someone to reach that middle-ground, family-in-the-suburbs, church-going, theatre-loving, liberal, sci-fi watching, politically naive demographic. That’s me.”

Though I don’t exactly fit into the demographic that Barry initially targeted, Inn of the Last Home has a permanent spot in my RSS feed reader. The content varies greatly from day to day. There are posts that make me laugh, posts that make me cry, and posts that inspire me. I’d like to highlight some of my favorite posts.

A few months ago, Barry visited the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, a free-roaming animal safari in Texas. He posted some great photos, including one of a seriously pissed off zebra.

For a few months last year, Barry participated in a community art project, Self Portrait Challenge. One of the many themes was “Enclosed Spaces”. His first portrait for that particular theme showed him confined to a small shower. That scandalous post made him quite popular with the ladies, but it didn’t go over so well with his wife. In fact, Barry’s next post was made from the dog house!

With the sixth anniversary of September 11th having recently passed, I am reminded of Barry’s contribution to the 2,996 Project last year. Thousands of bloggers united to honor the victims of 9/11. Each participant was randomly assigned a victim to honor on the 5th anniversary of the tragedy. In his usual fashion, Barry took the assignment one step further. He honored fellow music lover Rebecca Lee Koborie in a series of posts leading up to fifth anniversary of her death. On September 11, 2006, he posted A Requiem for Rebecca, a touching tribute to the woman he now felt as if he knew, yet would never have the opportunity to meet. My eyes welled with tears as I read Barry’s words. “I miss her. And I never met her. But I’ll think about her from time to time when I hear a piano.” And Barry has thought of Rebecca. He reposted his tribute this year.

Barry is ready to welcome you to Inn of the Last Home. I’m certain that you’ll find something of interest there, and with any luck, you’ll make a new friend. Please take a moment to stop by and say hello. You can also find more information on the man behind the blog at 10 Questions with Barry of Inn of the Last Home.

Categories: Personal, Reviews