One Year Old ~ And Still Growing

And what a year it has been. In the spring of 2004 I was reading daily a couple of blogs. Roger L. Simon, Instapundit, Michael J. Totten, NRO-The Corner and a few others. I read the on-line versions of several newspapers (still do in fact) including the Washington Post, the Washington Times, and the Op-Ed pages of the New York Times.

One afternoon, reading Michael Totten's blog, I found a mention of a "new" blogger by the name of Marc Cooper with a hint that this was a "progressive blogger" worth reading. So I sauntered on over there (as much as one can "saunter" on a keyboard) and hid in the weeds for a few weeks before commenting. Before I knew it, I was a fairly regular commenter from the right, engaging the silliness of the left on occasion, but also having an occasional e-mail exchange with Marc Cooper. In September or October of '04, I began to think "I could do this, I can maybe start blogging."

I looked at a lengthy number of blogs over the next few months, in between reading up on the views of the left and right over the then upcoming election. Knowing that I didn't know a lot about platforms, blogging costs if any or other such minute I asked Marc about it. Now, one of the things I've found about the blogosphere is that while bloggers may be furious enemies politically, they can be quite helpful to newbies. So it was with Marc. Right after the election I picked blogger (mostly because it was free and I could fit that into my budget with little problem) and played with it a few days before my first post on November 9, 2004. I let Marc know I had "started" and he was gracious enough to be one of my first commenters: "GM... Nice blog... Put on ur seat belt!" Michael Totten chimed in with "Welcome to the blogosphere,George. What took ya so long?" And I was off and running.

I moved to my current Moveable Type platform in January and I'm glad I made the move, much more control over the mechanics of blogging. Today, a few stats are in order On my old platform, I posted 62 posts; unfortunately comments and such weren't saved so I have no idea how many there were, there weren't many I do know that. I had some 1603 visitors during that two and two thirds months on blogger. Since moving to my current platform, I've done considerably better. I brought Woody onboard in June to help post while I was on vacation, and we've had a total of 636 entries, 2,516 comments and 187 trackbacks from other bloggers. Both Woody and I remember getting our first 10,000 visitors, then 20,000 and now, according to Site Meter, over 60,000 visitors. But that isn't the whole story. The statcounter on my website hosts server (which counts each request for information) lists 79,816 unique visitors and 167,048 visits since the end of January. I've had three or four "Instalanches" courtesy of Glen Reynolds. I entered the "King of the Blogs" contest and won three times in a row, establishing a "dynasty." That was fun.

I've made so many friends on this journey that it isn't funny, Tad Curtis and Howard Benjamen, are two especially good friends. One a fellow teacher locally, the other through the first who is now a blogger himself. I've asked for suggestions and help from others and have never been turned down, I've passed that on whenever I could and someone would ask me for advice on blogging.

I've learned from others to numerous to mention, I've joined a couple of groups including The Wide Awakes and South Park Republicans, one serious right wing stuff, the other a parody site, new and so far quite interesting. I've become a "MilBlogs" member celebrating the brave men and women of our Armed Services. I've had a ball.

But no remembrance would be complete without a special thanks to Woody, my blogging partner. I met Woody via Marc Cooper where he had no problem jousting with some of the more left wing commenters over there. When I asked him in late May if he would be willing, he stepped up and said that he would help "while I was gone." After a brief but steep learning curve, I took off and left my blog in his hands. Woody was more than capable and did a Yeoman's Job of it. In fact, he did so well that I asked him to stay on and he graciously accepted. Woody didn't contribute much to this particular entry, because yesterday was his 30th wedding anniversary. Congratulations Woody, I'm amazed that your bride has put up with you so long. ;-)

Blogs of note, and bloggers that I have made personal friends with are far too numerous to mention and include all of the Wide Awakes and South Park Republicans, each of you is special, each of you has made my life better. I've made friends with fellow bloggers who are in my line of work (mental health) including my friend Pat Santy, M.D. who writes at Dr. Sanity who has graciously nominated me for the Watchers Council weekly "contest".

One other thank you needs to go out, and that is to you, my readers. The 150,000 plus visitors have left an indelible mark on my heart and on my mind. I have had comments from friends and political foes, I've seen commenters come and go, but none ever go without leaving something of themselves to share with everyone else. I've had visitors from America, France, Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Spain, Portugal, The Ivory Coast in Africa, South Africa, China, The Republic of Korea, Japan, the Phillipines, Australia, New Guinea, Argintina, Brazil, Bolivia, Panama, Mexico, Canada, Hawaii, Alaska, and even from the Peoples Republic of Mass. from Taiwan, and one visitor from Left Field, but I banned him and he knows why.

Marc Cooper was right, this has been an incredible ride and I can't help but wonder what the next year will bring.

Cheers, and Thanks to all.

GM and Woody

Linked at Cao's Blog at Don Surber at Conservative Cat The Political Teen