It’s last call, dekeItarians. Yes, it’s time to have one more for the road before we shut down the dekeLounge. In honor of our final show, Deke and I thought we’d reflect on what we’ve learned over the last two years of trying to do a weekly audio-only podcast while consuming the requisite amount of martinis. There are lessons here that extend way beyond podcasting, into everyday life, in fact. One of which is go out with an enormously huge graphic:

Here is what we learned in 101 episodes of Martini Hour:

13. Listen to your co-host.

12. Lure your guests with cocktails (and know their drink orders in advance). And you never know what Bryan O’Neil Hughes is going to need. Could be cranberry juice, could be an entire bottle of champagne.

11. Take your shoes off. (It’s a symbolic gesture for being relaxed and in the moment.)

10. Don’t jostle the microphone. (Even if you’re pretending there aren’t any microphones.)

9. Turn off your phone. (Be present. Vibrate doesn’t count.)

8.  Drink slowly. (Also known as the Honorary Jeez That Tom Hogarty is a Consummate Professional, Even in the Face of the (male) Host’s Drunkenness Rule.) Also, learn from your mistakes.

7.  Be yourself and curse freely. (Especially if you have a guest like Jay Maisel, Sunni Brown, or The Polite Canadian who broke the f-word barrier, Karen Gautier.)

6. Find a Serbian. (They can say your curse words before you’re ready to and make threats if you need them.)

5. Create very elaborate graphics. (With all the implicit pressure of being a Photoshop expert.) By the way, this item contains the only Photoshop tip in the entire Last Call show, but you wouldn’t want Deke to leave the ‘lounge without a geeky Photoshop technique.

4. Show up on time. (And I used to stress about this, until I realized that, once I embraced it, Deke’s propensity for being late gave me a half hour more of prep time.)

3. Know your metrics. (We have no idea.) Unless it’s a labor of love, then who gives a shit? And spit takes and other wonderful anecdotes from listeners (like JeremyV) beat metrics any day.

2. Hire a great band and obey your bandleader. (The Pimm’s quartet rules, Buddy keeps us honest, and we think you should have the option to have soothing jazz with your tech talk.) If you need help, find Buddy Saleman at Potrero Post.

And the most important advice we have for creating an audio-only, martini-infused, tech podcast taped in a cocktail lounge…

1. Work with your best friend. (Someone who will have your back, let you experiment, and put up with your shit.)

And our final toast was very easy (if long): Cheers to our crew, our sound mixologists (Dragan and Maggie), our intrepid bandleader/director/chief psychologist (Buddy), and our beloved taskmistress who manages to stay beloved whilst kicking our respective asses (Toby Malina).

Plus our Adobe peeps who let us be irreverent and still showed up to talk to us: Tom Hogarty, Russell Brown, Jeff Tranberry, and especially Bryan O’Neil Hughes and John Nack—who came back time after time and acted like it was a privilege. And Ginny from Eldeman who often drove various Adobe folk up to San Francisco despite her better judgment.

Our O’Reilly peeps, who once included Martini Hour on my annual review (as a positive accomplishment). Plus wonderful O’Reilly authors who stopped by to chat: Sunni Brown, Mikkel Aaaland, and Peter Krogh.

The awesome folks who are part of our lynda.com family: Michael Ninness, Garrick Chow, Mordy Golding, Chris Orwig, David Blanter, Anne-Marie Concepcion, and James Williamson.

The Fotolia crew who provided our graphic fodder as well as providing Patrick Lor live (live-ish) from London.

Guests extraordinaire who came back more than once, proving either their loyalty or insanity, including Chris Breen, Ben Long, and the incomparable Photoshop Diva Katrin Eismann.

The people who dared to sit with us in front of a live audience: Scott Kelby, Terry White, Jay Maisel, Ben Wilmore, Jack Davis, Dave Cross, Matt Kosklowski, Corey Barker, and John Paul Caponigro.

Our international contingent, including Jason Levine (who is out of country enough days of the year to qualify), Serge Jespers, Bob Van Duuren, and Wouter Vermeulen (aka Sinterklass.)

The wizard who immortalized us in his latest artwork, Bert Monroy.

The Design Mastermind himself, David Futato.

And friends who came through for us: Rebecca Peizer, Dave Naves, Mark Brokering, Stu Maschwitz, and Terri Stone.

And mostly, our wonderful listeners who let us do something we’d never done before a supported us the with the best feedback, friendship, and encouragement. Cheers beyond cheers, my friends.

Please sit and have a drink with us one last time. Here’s the regular-quality audio file. You can stream, or for best results, right-click and choose Download or Save. Here’s the high-res version; you’ll want to download rather than stream. And don’t forget our usual plea to subscribe via iTunes.

Au revoir, mes amis. Thanks for letting us do something fun, wacky, and yet meaningful (to us at least). And thanks to my best friend Deke for the laughter, tears (never on air), and lively conversation. ‘Night, Deke.