So this isn't a freebie, whatever, but I had a series of stupid, annoying things happen today and then out of the blue my sister sent me this video.

Hahahahaha. Oh man. As you can see, there are multiple apples that didn't fall far from the Goob Family Tree.

Wherever you are, whoever you're with, and whatever y'all are doing, I hope it's lead to a Happy Thanksgiving!

And thank you. I think I say it every year, but HIF wouldn't exist without each and every one of you and I never forget that. So seriously, thank you!

As I head out the door to my first of multiple food comas today, I wanted to stop and wish every Hiffer a Happy Thanksgiving and/or Hanukkah! I hope everyone out there has a fantastic day with friends, family, and football.

EDIT: Over for now! Thanks to everybody who came out, we broke 20 active viewers this time! Next chat will be soon!

These live video chats are about to become a regular thing!

I had such a blast talking with people last week that I want to do it all the time. A lot of people who tuned in said they had fun as well, so it wasn't just me!

The next chat will be this Thursday at 4:00pm EST. Like before, we can talk about whatever. This doesn't have to be a Freebie Chat only because freebies are boring. Though if you have any specific questions pertaining to HIF or freebies, these chats are as good a time as any to ask!

So if you're free, please join us! I'll be hosting it on Justin.tv again, so you can enter the chat room after making a free account, which takes no longer than 15 seconds. You don't even have to verify your email. It's nice and easy.

EDIT: Thanks to everybody who came out and chatted today! We had a blast, I'll definitely host another early next week.

One of the nice perks of working for yourself is not having to screw around with a car or public transportation. You get to roll out of bed and immediately step into your “office.” However the total lack of human interaction can start to mess with you. I get out of my apartment at least once a day, but with the way technology is now there's no reason why I can't hang out with Hiffers!

So today around 5:00 est I'm going to host a live video chat on Justin.tv. You should be able to join the chat room after making a free account, which takes no longer than 15 seconds. You don't even have to verify your email. It's nice and easy.

Who knows, maybe nobody is interested in this and I just sit in a chat room talking to myself. Wouldn't be the first time! 😀 We can talk about whatever though! Freebies, sports, the meaning of life. I don't really care, let's just hang out and chat!

At least I should be. If I'm in any other country than Oman right now, I am seriously lost.

So why am I gone this week? *shoulders shrug* Why not?

I left last Sunday, hence the sparse amount of posts since then. I return this Sunday as well, so things should return to normal before you know it. Oh, I found the cause of HIF's recent slow load time! So having squashed that bug is nice.

Okay, I've run out of information to share. Have a good few days without me! How about y'all talk to each other in the comments? Make a few new friends from fellow Hiffers.

Hey, remember that crappy cancer last summer? I sure do. Thankfully I'm still 100% in remission, but I bring it up because it kind of killed my summer. I spent 95% of it in a hospital chair or hugging a toilet bowl, but I guess it was worth it since, you know, still being alive and whatnot.

Another nugget it provided was an unplanned, though not unpleasant, realization of my own mortality. I'm still in my 20s now, but I won't be able to say that this time next year. Before I know it, we'll be planning for the 2062 Mars Olympics while deciding which Nixon clone to elect president and I'll be lamenting how my 70s are about to end. Ever since that image popped in my head (the 100m dash…in space!), I've been saying yes to a hell of a lot more things and life has been noticeably sweeter.

There have been a few three or four day weekends this year where I haven't posted, be it because the freebies simply aren't there or Life got in the way. During those times, I've noticed an uptick in messages, comments, and emails asking if I was alright or feeling well. The level of concern that some people have for me still stuns me. I don't think I'll ever get over that and I know I'll never stop appreciating it.

I'm almost done with a big move, I've got some personal and family things going on (all good!), and there are the usual summer vacations, trips, weddings, etc. I guess you could say I'm making up for lost time. But I wanted to make clear that I'm totally healthy and any short interruption in freebies this summer isn't an indication otherwise. I don't want to needlessly worry anyone. Trust me, if I was sick again, y'all would quickly know.

Take today for instance. I'm on my way to Bonnaroo, a four-day music festival, so I won't be around to answer questions or comments. I've scheduled a few never-dying freebies to republish over the next few days and I'll be back by Monday, but I'm obviously going to miss any brand new freebies. I hope you don't desperately need that travel-sized shampoo I'm sure Garnier will offer while I'm gone.

Thanks again for all the positive energy flowing my way and here's to a great summer everyone!

I'm bad at remembering things. Dates, things to do, names!, the point of this post. TL;DR I think today was HIF's anniversary.

I registered HeyItsFree.net in May 2005. I was a few months away from graduating with a degree in History and, as Gob Bluth would say, it was clear I'd made a huge mistake. One lazy afternoon while in an Australian computer cafe, I was chatting with a friend back home for ideas for new websites. He pitched the name Hey, It's Free and I liked it. I didn't even know what I wanted to write about, I just liked the name. The .com version was already registered, so I picked up the .net and promptly forgot all about it.

Fast forward to February 2006. My mom was trying to print some photos. I had seen an offer online where she could do it for free, but I didn't have five hours free to walk her through it over the phone. Then I remembered I still had the rights to this domain, so I quickly set up a blog and wrote this:

Similar to Wal Mart, Walgreens has 1 hour photo. To get your 20 free prints, sign up for an account at http://www.walgreens.com.

Click on Photo, and upload your first photo. Once you do that, you will automatically be credited 20 free prints (glossy only for pick up in store). No shipping charges if you choose to pick up in store amd(sic) no credit card info required.

One more thing, you can create more than one user. Then you get print 20 prints for each user, and just pick them up all at the same time.

And thus HIF was born. I followed that up with four more posts that day and by March I was more or less working at the pace I do now. But the above post is the oldest I can find in the archives, which means SIX YEARS AGO TODAY I started this site. That's longer than half my friendships. That's way longer than any of my relationships.

I've been going through the archives a lot recently. Boy were there some crappy offers back then. It took me a month or two to figure out what freebies were legit. It was funny how fast I started getting readers. I remember plateauing around 500 daily readers for the longest time, but it was amazing to see how quickly those 500 found the site. I didn't remember starting the forums (remember those?!) in November 2006. I figured it had been at least a year later. And the jokes! Oh, the jokes, when there were any, were awful. Worse than they are today! Though I have to admit, I hit my stride that summer.

That's what honestly kept me going – the silly jokes. I used to create & flip sites all the time, but I found writing jokes about freebies refreshing in the strangest way. I'd always wanted to “be funny” for a living, but I could never make myself do it. Suddenly I was being forced to come up with something new every day without picking the topic myself. It was like a bizarro version of The Daily Show. Instead of waking up and making fun of the news, I'd be given toothpaste, a granola bar, and a magazine offer. And after the 40th toothpaste offer, it got really interesting to see if I could keep it original and fresh without ever rehashing the same joke. I loved it.

So yeah, it's HIF's birthday. I have no idea what the next six years will bring. More stuff like the Amazon Kindle giveaway from yesterday? Live chat or Q&A sessions? More writers to cover coupons or contests? Who knows but I hope you'll be there to find out with me. Thanks for everything.