His and hers blogging?

When I was doing NaBloPoMo back in November, I added a column to Tweetdeck that searched for the hashtag #NaBloPoMo. I did this because I wondered how many other people out there were participating in some semi-official capacity. I figured, if nothing else, it would be kind of fun to see the other types of blogs out there as finding quality blogs seems to be getting harder and harder these days. But what has really stood out like a sore thumb to me is how nearly all of the blogs that I found in that search were written by women. This led me to ponder - are women more likely to blog than men?

I'm sure this is something that doesn't have an easy answer. I was recently told that blogging is "ancient history" and I'm sure, for most of the upcoming generation, it really is. Why write something with paragraphs when you can abuse the English language in a tweet or post a TMI Facebook status update? I have my own personal reasons for soldiering on, as I'm sure many people that still blog do. As I've said before, as much as I enjoy Twitter and its immediate nature, 140 characters is just not enough for me. But is there something inherent in blogging that would make it more attractive to women than to men? I really don't know.

I would be interested in knowing what the gender distribution amongst active blogs out there is right now. Perhaps the gender disparity isn't as predominant as I'm suspecting it is. Take my blogroll, for instance. I link to 17 different blogs and of those, only 4 of them are written by women. All of these women are women with whom I am acquainted in the so-called "real world" - one of them is my spouse. All of these women write personal blogs with a variety of posts as opposed to being focused on a single topic (politics, music, books, whatever.) The remaining 13 are all written by men, a large number of which are "subject" blogs (mostly music blogs) which are updated rather frequently. The more personal blogs seem to not be updated as often.

With 13 blogs by men and only four by women in my blogroll, my assertion that blogging feels like a more female-oriented activity seems to not hold much water. But when I was following the NaBloPoMo hashtag, it was overwhelming female. And then, just this last week, I got a spam e-mail from the NaBloPoMo web site saying that it will be "slowly merged" with the BlogHer site. BlogHer is what the name implies - a blogging site for women. It just solidifies in my brain that women are more likely to take blogging seriously, although there are certainly exceptions to that rule. For certain, there is no equivalent site for male bloggers.

Perhaps what I'm actually observing is the idea that women are more likely to keep a blog that is a "personal journal" of sorts, whereas men are less inclined to do so. While one of my rules of blogging is "Blogging is blogging and journaling is journaling -- know the difference" I will admit that I probably delve more into personal topics than a lot of other guys that keep blogs out there. Again, there are some notable exceptions to the rule and honestly, those are some of my favorite blogs. I always admire men that aren't afraid to tell stories from their lives - even and especially the ones that might make them mildly vulnerable. I also really enjoy getting to know a person a little bit through their blog. It's as if you're being given little pieces slowly over time vs. being able to go look at all their pictures on a Facebook page. I sometimes feel strange when I refer to someone I know via blogging as a friend beings I chances are good that I haven't met them, but the world is what it is and yeah, I will say that I've made some pretty good friends through blogging, even though I have not actually met upwards of 90% of them.

In the end, it's more idle curiosity that got me to wondering about the gender spread in blogging. I have massive amounts of respect for anyone - male or female - that can write in such a way that keeps me coming back day after day, regardless of how frequently the content is actually updated. The blogosphere is littered with blogs that have been abandoned and that's ok - it's certainly not for everyone. It takes a certain dedication that many people just simply don't have time for. But those that continue to do it, even in the face of decreasing relevance, have my admiration.

The poster below kind of sums up my feelings on blogging - even my own blog.


But that certainly doesn't mean I'll stop. Nor should anyone else if they're enjoying it. Perhaps I need to think about it less and just sit back and enjoy the ride - words that could apply to many many situations.

Best of 2010: 12 Favorite Blog Posts

My blogging pal Brendan did a post in which he highlighted his favorite blog posts of the year. I meant to do this last year, but life got busy and by the time got around to it, the ship had sailed (oddly, that is the case with SO many posts that never see the light of day.)

Inspired by his post, I have spent a good chunk of the morning scanning through the year's posts. There were fewer this year than in any year since 2005. Not sure why that is - I chalk a lot of it up to Facebook. Things that used to get a post now get a sentence and a link there. Some of the posts clearly did not stand the test of time. They seemed brilliant at the time, but not so much 12 months out. Still, as proud as I am of this space, I found 12 (+1) that really stood out for me. Here they are, again, taking a cue from Brendan, in chronological order.

• Give It Up: One of those album posts that come out of nowhere - this time about Wilson Phillips' Shadows & Light. God, I loved that album more than I really should admit anywhere.
• Monolith: Social media is here to stay. It's changed how we interact with people, and not necessarily for the better.
• Easy Bake Pam: A not-so-great day ends with an impromptu baking of chocolate chip cookies in an Easy Bake Oven with Anna while she jams out to a song about a May-December relationship.
• And Now for the Audio Portion of the Program: My friend Jeff and I try our hands at podcasting. This was our first and only attempt and ended with us rambling on for nearly an hour about Madonna - like that should surprise anyone. The podcast is still available to download if you're interested.
• This Sweater is Old and Faded: I actually wore this sweater to work once this winter so far. For being a nearly 10 year old sweater, it's in remarkably good shape and not that out of style.
• A Mere Heart Attack: Misheard lyrics - the subject that launched a thousand blog posts.
• The (Non)appendicitis Was (Not) Rumbling: I'mincluding this post not because it was particularly witty or well-written - it's not. It was kind of a throwaway post. It has become, however, my most visited post of the year (next to the Madonna remixology posts.) Seriously folks, I don't know any more about rumbling appendicitis than Wikipedia. Move along.
• Come Down Here for a Minute: This was one of many Stevie posts I did this year. It was also the one that came the most out of nowhere.
• Get Out of Her Way: Kylie's "Get Outta My Way" video, as I have said before, reduced me to a screaming fanboy in the way that only Kylie can. My favorite song and video of the year.
• Zen and the Art (and Calculus) of Dishwashing: Probably the nerdiest post of the year. And that's saying something. Who knew calculus would EVER apply to the washing of dishes?
• Look Who's Evil Now: An account of my trip to Kansas City to see Evil Dead: The Musical - the bloodiest musical I have ever seen.
• Private Dining: Probably my most personal post of the whole year. I was surprised to get the amount of feedback on it that I did - both in the comments section and privately to me in e-mail. It made me realize that it's not quite as awful to share those kinds of stories as I always think it will be.

And the plus one...

• Last Night a Pharmacist Saved My Life: Because I can't let an opportunity to remind everyone of how awesome I can be when I set my mind to it. ;)

Thank you to EVERYONE who reads this space. The numbers are few, but I am thankful that anyone finds it interesting enough to come back to day after day. That's the best Christmas present I could possibly receive.

Fail

I didn't blog yesterday. I totally meant to, but a combination of many things prevented it from happening. When I went to bed at 12:45AM last night, I admit that I felt a little bit bad about it. How could I bomb out 6 days from the end of November? I was seriously disappointed in myself.

What happened was real life. I kind of have this rule that I try hard to stick to that real life always trumps any internet anything. And yesterday, that's exactly what happened.

I am kind of bummed out that I didn't blog daily in November which was my goal when I started out this month. Ultimately though, I have to recognize it for what it is - an artificial bar for success that I placed for myself that I can just as easily tear down. And in the end, it's just a blog. People are generally not waiting with bated breath for my next random observation, two paragraph post or long diatribe. Just as blogging is mostly about me, the attempt to write for 30 consecutive days is also mostly about me. And I can change what that means with a simple realignment.

If it sounds like I'm making a big deal out of this, I'm really not. I'm over it - but I felt obligated to at least acknowledge the lapse. Last year I did 30 posts in 30 days, so from here to the end of November, I'm resetting the bar to that. All that means is that I have to have one day with two posts. I can do that. It might even happen today depending on how things go.

But now it's time to go off the grid (as much as is possible in this day and age) and celebrate Thanksgiving. We'll be spending it with a part of our family-of-choice and then tomorrow with Heidi's family. My goal for these next two days is to not work my brain too terribly hard. Hopefully, I can manage that.

I would be remiss if I didn't thank the friends and family that read this space. I'm proud of it as it's a pretty accurate reflection of me and the fact that anyone would spend even two minutes reading it makes me happy and very, very thankful.

(photo via)

NaNoWriMoBloPoMo

It's almost November which means only ONE thing around here - we're about to lose Heidi for a month. Monday starts the beginning of National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for short) in which participants attempt to write the first draft of a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. Last year, Heidi wrote Double Blind during NaNoWriMo. This year, I think she's planning on writing the third book in the Special Delivery series so fans of that series, the wait is getting close to being over. There will be write-ins all over central Iowa for the next month and I'm sure I'll be at many of them providing moral support and drinking overpriced coffee.

Me, I'm not that ambitious. But what I AM planning on doing is participating in NaBloPoMo or National Blog Posting Month. I did this unofficially last year but this year, I'm jumping in with both feet and have signed up on the web site. While it was originally developed as a counterpoint to NaNoWriMo, it no longer is just a once yearly event taking place in November. However, in honor of Heidi's attempt (and the attempts of all others in the Central Iowa Authors NaNo group), I'm choosing November and, according to the FAQ on the web site, it's still the most popular month for people to participate.

I can't promise something witty every day, but there will be new material at least once a day in November. Some days, it may be no more than a YouTube link with some sentences to go along with it, but I do hope for some longer posts as well. I know that blogging is ancient history, but my dogged determination to keep this space going is stronger than ever right now.

I have a few posts I've saved for November, but expect me to catch up on my book posts. But if last November is any indication, who knows what I'll get up to.

Seven years on

Due to the busy weekend which saw us traveling across the state to attend my brother-in-law's wedding, the seventh birthday of this blog passed on Friday with relatively little fanfare. It's probably for the best as seven years into this thing, my output has slowed. 2010 is on track to be my least prolific year since 2005. I don't think I'll crack 200 posts this year. Of course, this might all change next week when I'm going to try to do two posts a day (I'm off work for a week.) Then in November I plan on taking part in NaBloPoMo as a show of support while Heidi does NaNoWriMo. I did it unofficially last year and I did do 30 posts in 30 days, even if I didn't technically meet the goal of blogging every day. So that means you have at least 44 more scrumptious posts to look forward to this year. I'm also behind on posting my 25 books, although I've managed to catch up a bit on the actual reading of them.

I keep doing this even though blogging is so 2006 because, as was pointed out to me, it's a good historical record of my life and my interests - even if no one ever reads it but me. I know that readership of blogs in general is down and the tried and true method of knowing who's reading your blog via statistics programs has been stymied by the advent of RSS readers. Whenever I look at my stats, it's so hard to tell who is actually reading vs. arriving via an image search.

Another reason I do this is because I genuinely enjoy writing. Even when the writing's not so good or very short, it still keeps me in practice. The job I have does not lend itself very well to the creative writing so this was and continues to be a good outlet for that. The fact that anyone else chooses to take 5 minutes of their day to read what I write is a huge compliment to me. That I have made friends that have felt me worthy enough to include on a blogroll is amazing to me.

It may not always be interesting and it may not always be earth-shattering, but I am of the firm opinion that it doesn't always have to be. So I'll keep plugging away at this.

Happy 7th birthday blog. You're as much a part of me as I am a part of you.

Waiting for a change of heart

UPDATE: Obviously this blog will go on. I would be lost without it. But bear with me as I work through some conflicting emotions and feelings about what direction I want to take it in.

If there's any one thing that I DESPISE with every fiber of my being, it's bloggers that come on and, in a desperate attention grab, announce that they're quitting or thinking of quitting.

That said, I'm giving some serious thought to being done with this. Or at least taking a break. As other blogger friends of mine have said to me over the years, who doesn't think of hanging it up at least 2 or 3 times a year? But then what would we do with all our time?

The reason I'm even going there at all is that I don't feel like my mindset is very much in line with the tone of the blog right now. I'm having a hard time bringing myself to write the posts about cheesy pop music. It's just not where my brain is these days. This leaves me with topics to write about that I think push up to the edge or what's ok to discuss in a public forum such as this. It's hard to write (and, conversely, not to write) about those things. If something serious is moving me or if I'm feeling something intensely, it's hard to write about Madonna's plastic surgery. But it's also hard to write about the undercurrent because, well, it's just too much exposure for this little introvert.

I suppose one option is to take out all personal stuff and just write about music and TV and books when the spirit moves me. But when I think about doing that and how it basically amounts to neutering the blog, I just can't bear to do that to what really is one of the few things in this world that I've created all on my own. Another option is to take my toys and head over to LiveJournal where I can control who sees my content a little more. Wordpress also offers password protected blogs, but I've been through that before and have decided against it. The thought of making friends and family log in to read stuff kind of turns my stomach, especially since I know a lot of my friends are pretty entrenched in Blogger.

As usual, it comes down to balance and how much do you want to expose of yourself? Whenever I do a post that is even semi-personal, I feel like I've put my heart on my shirt sleeve for the whole world to see. The reality is that it's probably only a sliver, but even after all these years, I'm still uncomfortable with people seeing anything of me that is not explicitly controlled. I'm like Madonna - I need handlers or something! I'll admit that I want pretty much everything on my terms so that I can control it and ultimately exert some control over the outcome, but the truth of the matter is that I control only a very teeny tiny portion of what happens. The sooner I get that through my thick skull, the better off I will be.

So right now, I'm on the fence I guess. I honestly can't see myself going through with it, but I also am seriously at an impasse right now. My gut instinct is to save this in draft form and not publish it because in 2 days I probably won't feel this way, but I think that writing it has been part of processing it. But even that is dangerous because, as a friend of mine once said, isn't blogging about the blog one of the surest signs of its imminent demise?

Time will tell.

30 posts in 30 days

I started out on November 1st with a solemn vow to do a post a day for 30 days. For the most part, I have been successful. There are two days without posts, but there were a couple days with two posts. So there were 30 posts in 30 days and I'm calling that a win.

Heidi posted what she learned from her month long NaNoWriMo experience (remember that Hero is available from Dreamspinner Press on Friday!!) and I'd love to say that I could write a post about what I learned from a month of daily blogging.

Really, I didn't learn that much.

I guess the biggest thing I learned is that I have more to say than I thought I did. Those of you who know me personally know that I am not this talkative under normal circumstances. So in a way, this has been a good thing. It's also allowed me to do some posts that have been ramming around in draft form (i.e. inside my head) for a long time. The ISCABBS post is one of those (update: the lost has been found) as was the Michael W. Smith post. Others were very random, like the neurological closeness post and Ouija board post.

It didn't gain me a ton of new readers despite how bloggers everywhere tout daily posting as the way to get new readers. I got at least one new reader for certain (and a new blog to read) but really, I'm comfortable in my obscurity.

Trust me, I'll still be here in December but I will not be this prolific. So I hope everyone enjoyed it. I know I did. I always refer to this blog as a labor of love, and sometimes the emphasis is on the "labor" part, other times the "love" part.

Placeholder

I had amazingly good intentions of doing a post tonight. One is half written, and the other has been writing itself in my head for part of the day.

Then, I worked from 7AM till 6:30PM and I carried my brain home in my hands and the rest was history.

The reason for the post about why I'm not posting? It's pretty simple actually. I'm doing my own version of NaNoWriMo but instead of trying to write 50,000 words of a novel, I'm trying to do a blog post a day for a month. I wasn't talking about it at all on the blog and I won't make a big deal out of it. I almost didn't mention it at all because were I to fail, I would (as the unnamed narrator in Bright Lights, Big City says) have the shabby nobility of failing all by myself.

Failure averted. It may not be much, but it's more than I thought I would have after nearly 12 hours of work.

Post-podcast update

Well, I made it through my first experience podcasting. I had a great time, the topic was one I could speak about half-way intelligently and I think I actually surprised both Matt and Lance with some of the things I mentioned. So that's a good thing. I'm worried that my relative lack of experience with recording and a microphone may have compromised the quality of the audio - specifically, I have this nagging feeling that I was either too loud or too soft, but I suppose there isn't much to be done about that now and we'll just await the final product which should be posted some time today.

I had fun and I would totally do it again, but it confirmed my suspicion that while podcasting was a thrilling chance at a performance, blogging really is my home and a natural outlet for my creative endeavors. I have a great deal of admiration for Matt and Lance who crank out an episode a week like clockwork. I don't know that I could keep that kind of schedule. Plus I really like the chance to go back and edit my words - a complete impossibility in the podcast format.

Watch this space for the link to the podcast when it is available for the download.

I'm still here

Six years ago today, I opened a Blogger account and made the first post on what would eventually become the 1200+ post blog you see before you today.

I am going to go on record as saying that even after all that time, I still love blogging. It seems increasingly irrelevant in the day and age of Facebook and Twitter. Writing something longer than a 140-character tweet or a 420-character Facebook status update seems so last season. Everybody seems to be on the social networking sites now and going to a blog to read something just seems to be so much less on the cultural radar than it used to be. And over the last few months, I've had more internal blogging drama than you can shake a stick at (most of which I have made a concerted effort to keep OFF the blog).

I tell the story a lot of how a friend of mine, when I said I was starting a blog, predicted that it would last no more than 2 months. And when I started blogging, I wasn't sure what I would write about, so I wondered if they weren't on to something. Although I had journaled a lot in college, I had kind of fallen off the journaling bandwagon by then and I wondered if I would have similar (lack of) follow-through with blogging. But I'm happy to say that much like Barbra Streisand said in 1994 "Good times and bum times/I've seen them all and my dear/I'm still here."

Blogging for me is a funny exercise. It is the most natural extension of me that I know of - I tell people a lot that if you really want to get to know who I am and what I think about, read my blog. When I meet new people and I feel like there's something more than just a casual acquaintance lurking in there, I will frequently give them the link. Oddly enough. as eager as I am to give the link to new and old friends, I am also hesitant, especially now that the blog is so huge and intimidating. I'm also intensely private about it as I have detailed before in previous posts. I don't give the link to just everyone and sometimes I worry that people will read what's written here and say "ok, he's just too strange for words." But I suppose those people probably weren't worth my time anyway.

Many people blog with a purpose - I'm not sure that I do. A good example of "blogging with a purpose" are the large number of music bloggers I have met over the years and whose blogs I read, link to and enjoy. They have features and themes and I am frequently very envious of that. I wish I had that kind of discipline. But I'm really not that kind of blogger. Sure, I write a lot about the music that I'm listening to, but I would find that limiting myself to any one topic would be ultimately unsatisfying. One friend of mine likens reading my blog to reading an online diary, which may be true but is not really intentional. While it may read that way, rest assured that I am aware (perhaps hyperaware) of the difference between journaling and blogging.

So on my blog's birthday, I want to thank everyone who reads. I would continue to write in this space even if no one ever read it, but I will say that knowing that people read this does my heart good. Sure, I get a lot more feedback for shit I post on Facebook, but in the end, this is about me. And how many places in your life can it really and truly be all about you?

Ultimately, I may not know what this blog is about, but I do know that it needs a special locker for the hat.

Balance

I wrote a good-sized post over on Heidi's and my other blog tonight and as I was trying to figure out how to embed a video into a Wordpress blog post, the entire fucking thing vanished into the ether. I swear I saved a draft before I navigated away from the page! I can probably recreate it in some form or another, but that event pretty much sealed the deal for me that I will never move this blog to Wordpress.

Not really related to that, but I imagine it could follow from that, I have been wanting to blog but have found that I have really lacked the will to do it recently. I know it's something that every blogger goes through, for regardless of the number of readers and/or commenters, blogging is essentially a solitary activity. I'm cool with that - I love having complete creative control and not really answering to anyone other than myself.

But that also means that I have to come up with everything I write about and, I'll admit, I have been having a difficult time with the balance on the blog recently. By that, I mean that I feel like the music and picture posts are too frivolous and not really matching my overall mood all that well. Posting things like that doesn't seem like I am being very true to myself (at least the current version). Big long posts that try to articulate thoughts I'm having end up either seeming like too much information or are just not all that interesting. Posting heavy stuff all the time upsets the balance that I strive for on this blog.

It's much like the best relationships I have, which tend to be a delicate balance of the serious and the not-so-much. Too much of either one ultimately annoys me. But fortunately we have Le Chatelier's principle: If a chemical system at equilibrium experiences a change in concentration, temperature, volume, or total pressure, then the equilibrium shifts to counteract the imposed change. Even though it's supposed to apply only to chemistry, it also applies to relationships and blogging and life in general. Oddly enough, most of the fundamentals of thermodynamics also do. There was a guy I knew in college who I always said was a living example of Le Chatelier's principle as his natural equilibrium was depressed and moody and he had an uncanny knack for turning any good things that happened to him into bad, thus restoring his equilibrium.

And since this got a bit heavier than I originally wanted, here's my attempt at balance. It's the only Meat Loaf song I really like, and it's because it's perfectly balanced out by Cher.



(actually, I kind of like that "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" song as well, but really, it's just the "hose me down with holy water" part that I like.)

A word about 25 things

I came across this article on the Huffington Post tonight that is basically a rebuttal to all the people that are decrying the "25 Random Things About Me" meme that has spread across Facebook faster than gonorrhea at an orgy.

I wanted to stand up and applaud when I finished it.

Here's the thing. Lists like that are by their very nature narcissistic and masturbatory. So is blogging for that matter. I mean, seriously, I've been at this for five years and do I really think that even 25 people give a damn about what I think about Madonna or want to hear about the latest thing I did with my daughter? No, I'm no fool. (I've killed the boss. You think they're not going to fire me for a thing like that?) And even most of the people that I am friends with on Facebook are likely not interested in the 25 things that I listed.

But it interests me. And in the end, that's all that matters. And while Facebook is a bit different from blogging because it is much more interactive and social, whereas blogging sometimes feels more like journaling with an audience (however small it might be), the same thing applies there.

A lot of the anti-25 things rhetoric is very much focused on people sharing stuff that they probably shouldn't. And yes, there should be a certain amount of thought put into the stuff you put on the internet, even if it is on Facebook which is semi-private. But what is to stop one of your "friends" from airing your dirty laundry, especially when many of us have work friends on Facebook? People that don't have a certain amount of propriety will almost surely be bitten by it at some point.

The other argument that the anti-25 things folks are griping about is that it is mundane. Well sure it is. But it certainly wasn't to the people that wrote it, although I will admit to liking the ones that are well-written. And they didn't write it for you. Ultimately they wrote it for themselves, whether they realize it or not. The entire 5 year history of this blog could fall into that category: I didn't write it for you. I wrote it for me. And while there are certain posts that were inspired by certain folks or that I wrote hoping to get a rise out this or that person, in the end, it was all for me.

Yes, I'm a selfish bastard. In the end, the truth comes out.

Whither goeth LiveJournal

So have you heard that LiveJournal might go under? Rumors are swiriling, bur really, it's hard telling. It doesn't really matter all that much to me as the LiveJournal account I have is used for one of two things - commenting on other LiveJournals and the rare occasions where I simply must post something that I don't want on the Blogger blog. The only reason I would not post something on the Blogger blog is if it is something I deem too sensitive, too personal, and/or when I am not in the least bit interested in a public explosion of anger and emotion and would prefer to do it in a more controlled environment. That has happened exactly 5 times in the last 2 and a half years.

However, I know a lot of people who are dedicated LJ users, not the least of which is Heidi. But many other people I know use LJ and really like it. Unfortunately, there is no really quick and easy way to back up Live Journal - something that I am finding all too apparent tonight. I have been trying to import Heidi's LJ into a Blogger account and all the tools I have been trying to use have been failing. The LJ2Blogger tool that I was trumpeting on Facebook earlier today is not nearly as functional as I was hoping. An attempt to install an updated version of it failed miserably. So then I went and used the "export blog" function on LJ which allows you to export a month at a time to an XML file. Blogger failed to recognize it when I tried to import the XML file there, but Wordpress did. Only trouble there is that it is not formatted for shit and I will have to go in and do a bunch of highly laborious formatting to make it look nice. And add to that, I'm not sure any of the pictures went across.

I think that the rumors of the death of LJ are very premature, but still, it never hurts to back something up, especially something that you've put 3+ years in to. I know that I have this blog backed up on Wordpress in case the unthinkable happens. It's not like it'd be the end of the world as we know it if the blog up and disappeared, but I would be sad. It is something that I am kind of attached to and even though I sometimes go back and read posts (especially from the early years) and cringe, it is a reflection of me, for better or for worse. And to have it disappear would be like losing a little part of me, silly as that may sound.

So I will continue to endeavor to back up Heidi's LJ. If I have tremendous success, I will let other fellow LJers know.

Be kind to my mistakes

2008 is several hours from being ancient history. It's been a hell of a ride. I have had more ups and downs this year than in any year in recent memory. This is neither good nor bad - rather, it just is. It's been a year full of new faces and old ones reentering my life. It's been concerts and road trips and Guitar Hero and all the other things that made 2008 what it was. It was 275 blog posts (including this one), reaching my 5th year of blogging and my 1000th post within a few weeks of each other. We lost some people this year who shuffled off this mortal coil - my last grandparent, Jeff's mom, and we lost other people due to the continental drift that seems to pervade most relationships.

Robbie over at Chart Rigger did a 2008 highlights post - I have a few of my own as well.

• Sticky & Sweet Tour - Chicago Style
• Dolly in May, and Dolly in November
• Nerdery Week
• New York City, April 2008
• My parents hit the 40th anniversary mark, as Madonna turns the big 5-0.

And those are just the highlights. I am not a fan of New Year's resolutions - mostly they just set you up to fail. But if there's any one thing I want to do in 2009 is to take Kate Bush's advice and be kind to my mistakes. I am perhaps my own worst critic and do not always treat myself very well - at least not with the same sort of kindness that I save for everyone else. But this year, I'm getting some of that if it kills me.

I can't remember a time that was more uncertain than right now. But if we all are just a little bit more forgiving of each and other and be kind to each other's mistakes - as Ike & Tina Turner said, I think it's gonna work out fine.

Happy 2009 everyone!

I'm even more than 4 and a half

My 5th blog birthday was yesterday and I was too bowled over by the Will Young song (and busy with other stuff, like seeing the as-bad-as-we-thought-it-would-be The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) to even notice!

I kind of did a blog retrospective post with my 1000th post, but Heidi encouraged me to mark the 5th birthday of my blog with something. So here's something. Barbra, from My Name Is Barbra, singing "I'm Five/Sweet Zoo." Anna loves this shit.

(Don't be put off by the bad opening, wait till she gets outside.)

M

This is the blog's 1000th post. I can hardly believe it.


I like to look at this spot on the internet as "the little blog that could." I started out rather without an agenda, and I carry on without one, writing about whatever the hell I feel like writing about. I will never be a big star from blogging or writing, but it gives me great pleasure to come here several times a week and gush about whatever I feel like. And it still is amazing to me that people read it. Not many, mind you, but I really don't care.

Now that I have posted the 1000th post, I can stop wondering what I will do for the 1000th post and move on!

EDIT: Adding up the numbers in the archives on the side of the blog gives only 997. I'm pretty sure this is because I have deleted exactly 3 posts in the nearly 5 year history of this blog. They count, even though they no longer remain. And anyway, it's what the Blogger home page told me. It's not like I counted!

Not dead yet

August is on track toward being my least prolific blogging month in the nearly 5 year history of this blog! This week has not been what I would characterize as one of my best, but I have a couple posts in draft form, so hopefully I'll publish them soon.

I know, you're all waiting breathlessly for me to blog something. Believe me, I don't have those kinds of delusions of grandeur.

More soon. I promise.

The jump

Tonight I found myself having my 2-3 time per year debate about switching to Wordpress. What made this time different was that I actually imported this blog into Wordpress. I was nervous that it would wipe out the blog from its original site, so I created a backup of it just in case. It seemed to transfer all posts and comments to Wordpress without a hitch. Well, save one. There were some embedded YouTube videos that didn't import. Which is not really a big deal because half of them have probably been removed for terms of use violations.

So now that I've done all this, what am I going to do? *sigh* I really don't know. I like Wordpress because it's all fancy, but Blogger has really added some good features over the last year, and really, it feels a bit like cheating. Blogger and I have been together for nearly 5 years now, and to jump ship for the sexiness of Wordpress just makes me feel like a cad. Never mind the fact that there are some very real issues with Wordpress that I don't like. I have yet to figure out how to add a counter so that I know who's visiting. Then there's the matter of all the people who have linked to the Blogger blog. Surely, they won't all go back and update the link to reflect the Wordpress blog. That would be too much to ask, naturally.

So I'm not sure. I think in the end, I'll probably stick with Blogger, because I always do. But sometimes, even when you're married, it's still fun to flirt.

Pajama pants...and blogging does the body good!

Have I mentioned lately how cool my wife is? Look at my cool new pajama pants!

(yes, I took that photo while they were on my body which is only slightly less weird than my friend who tried to iron his shorts while they were on his body. Burns ensued.)

She made these for me today! Actually, it was Anna that picked out the fabric, so partial credit goes to her as well. They are flannel and super comfy and I changed into them almost immediately upon arrival home from work at 11:05PM tonight.

Earlier today, I came across (quite randomly) a study on blogging and social health. I found it to be quite interesting. Basically, what they were trying to say in the article was that those people who blogged felt more connected to a community and had more satisfaction with both internet and face-to-face friendships. While the sample size was small and limited to MySpace (yuck), I think that there is probably at least a kernel of truth in what they were trying to study.

I can only speak for my own experience as a blogger, but I will say that the community that I have built and that has built itself around me as a result of my blogging and other things is a very satisfying thing for me. It is not my be all and end all, but I enjoy it a lot and have had the chance to get to know some great people who would have otherwise not crossed my path. Much is made in this day and age about the decline of community. Neighbors really don't know each other, fellowships and clubs are really a thing of the past. Someone even bothered to write a whole book on it. It's easy for something like an online community like a listserv or a message board or even a group of bloggers to function in a similar fashion, providing a way for people with a common interest to come together and get to know each other. In this day and age, distance really isn't an issue.

Heidi and I were talking about this earlier today and she had a really good point. She's someone who's been part of online communities for a long time, and while they are good to have, they really can't take the place of real flesh and blood people in your life. I think what she said was "you shouldn't be having the relationships in an online setting to the exclusion of having them in the real world." (correct me if I'm wrong, hon.) I think this is valid. As fond as I am of all the people that I know only through email and their blogs, I cannot call them up when my car is stuck in the driveway and I need someone to help me push. You can't put someone who lives in Timbuktu, Internetville as an emergency contact for your child when filling out school paperwork.

In a perfect world, everything supplements everything and it all blends together well. Of course, it's not a perfect world. But I, for one, have really been fed by blogging in so many ways. It helps me to put more of myself out there when my natural tendency is to hold back. It has helped me to become much more authentically me, whether people like it or not, which has caused me to step outside my comfort zone with people I see daily or weekly or whatever.

It's all about perspective, and as long as you keep things in it, you're good. Not always easy, but hey, we're all just learning.

You've come a long way baby

Four years ago today, I lost my blog virginity.

Today is the 4th birthday for this blog. So a big old YAY! is in order. What a wild ride it has been. I have come a long way from my initial posts where I was originally going to refer to everyone in my life by their middle names, was never going to post a picture of myself or anyone on the blog, and was only going to talk about the most mundane and non-controversial of things. I have pretty much broken all those rules at some point in time in the last 4 years.

All in all, it has been equal parts fun, liberating, scary, and intriguing. I have made a lot of good blog friends with whom I have had some great conversations about the state of pop music to things a bit more deep than that. There have been only two posts in the history of this blog that I have deleted, and I have been fortunate enough to never have to delete any comments - both situations are apparently quite rare from what I've been told.

I have been tempted to stop blogging on several occasions, but I have persevered and I am glad for it.

And so here we are 4 years later. Dare I say - 4 more years?