This just in:

I can add the Very Inspiring Blogger Award to my virtual mantel.

My old friend Judy Berman nominated me today. I call Judy that not because of any age-related number. No. It’s because I actually know her in real life, where we were in the same newspaper-centric crowd in Syracuse, N.Y., before she and her husband, Dave, moved to Florida, smart folk that they are.

Thank you Judy. You are a true-blue Earth Rider. You should discover what I mean for yourself by clicking her link below.

http://earth-rider.com

Here’s the badge:

I wondered at what point in this WordPress Award process that I would be moved to bend, reconfigure, reshape … OK, break said rules and regulations.

The point is reached. I’m giving myself the wiggle room of shortcut and abbreviation.

I start with:

Rules and Regulations:

Click below. It's the link for littlelilly, the blogger who nominated Judy.

http://littlelilly0302.wordpress.com/2013/12/07/very-inspiring-blogger-award/

I will go the full route on this next one.

Here are seven things about myself:

1. I am sitting in front of an electric heater right now as a crew replaces my furnace. I blogged about the old one groaning and clanking a couple weeks ago.

2. I spent more than three decades working as a daily newspaper journalist. I was laid off at the beginning of this year, and started this blog shortly thereafter. I blogged about this in my first post, Yeah, I’ve got a blog …

3. I am now the film blogger for the Syracuse New Times, writing an advance and review every week. I tease these posts right here.

4. I co-wrote a book with basketball writer Mike Waters, “The Syracuse Fan’s Survival Guide to the ACC.” I’ve blogged about that enough to, perhaps, sway one or two of my regular readers to buy it online.

5. Every time I mention her in my blog, it is, appropriately, “my dear wife Karen.” Because she is.

6. My dear wife Karen and I own a rescue mutt, always called here Ellie B, aka Dogamous Pyle.

7. I love sports. I love music. I love life. Three very populated blog categories here are Life, Sports and Music.

Now, on to making up the Inspiring Blogger Award rules as I go along:

My nominations:

I have listed dozens of you as nominations for Blog of the Year, Versatile Blogger and Inventive Blogger.

I would not have nominated you for any of those if your work did not inspire me.

In fact, everybody who’s taken the leap in faith to share their work with the world by blogging inspires me.

If you’d like to grab the badge and proudly proclaim the award on your blog, as I have, it’s all yours, baby. You deserve it.