And now for the explanation as promised......
All of the clues and hints were strategically placed within this post, you just had to know where to look and what you were looking for....
Absolutely FREE!!! (dog) - I refer to Absolute Dog as AD, hince the clue to the actual problem: A + D + 8 = ? and his moderator color blue, also my post in HIS topic "Johnny"
"8 2 7 8 2 9" - The actual time stamp of the first clue embedded in my posts: August ("8") 27, 8:29 (central time) and where the journey began.
Answer within the hint: month and hour of time stamp "88"
I start reading the news paper from the last page: trying to guide you where to begin searching for the embedded post
"If you look....you will see" : the answer is the question, not a mathematical equation just spoken
And finally, the last clue : "the answer is here, not the winner...just the answer" - link leading to the post number of the answer topic, #88
And so you see, there was a very calculated method to all of this madness. I did try to put quite a bit of thought into it! But sometimes the answer is just in plain sight, lol!!
I would like to thank EVERYONE who participated and especially those that did not give up!!! And I do hope you forgive me for causing so much frustration!
"I do not intend to drive people crazy.....it just comes naturally!!"
-Choot 'em