Tag: metablogging

NaBloPoMo & Me

So Elisabeth, my old friend Silas’ wonderful new bride, recently posted about NaBloPoMo – a blogger’s answer to NaNoWriMo, for those of us less inclined to writing novels and more interested in filling our websites with drivel and nonsense. Or maybe that’s just me, not really sure. Anyway, the long and short of it is that you pledge to update every day in November, the idea being to “force” you to write. I think I’m going to give it a shot, though if there’s anything my track record here shows, it’s that I am inconsistent at best.  The timing will either work really well or really poorly, as I’m starting a new job (yay!) on November 2.

In the meantime, I’ll just let everyone know that I’ve been spending hours and hours this week listening to Mark Driscoll’s sermons at MarsHillChurch.org – and it’s really feeding a need I’ve had for a while to digest some good, solid teaching. I recommend these sermons wholeheartedly, as I have yet to find anything I fundamentally disagree with in any of his teachings. One thing you will quickly find that may turn you off is that he’s a “complementarian” – which is a fancy word used to mean that he believes that men and women have different roles in the family and the church. In other words, he believes what the Bible actually says. Some people don’t like that, I suppose, but it kind of comes with the territory. Maybe that can turn into a November blog post.

Until then, readers…

Edit: Holy crap! Jennifer Knapp is back! YAY! Thanks to reader sami for pointing it out.

Brief Update

Sorry it’s been so long since I have posted here. Among other things keeping me busy, I was informed Sunday that I am unemployed and am currently seeking a new job. I appreciate the prayers and well-wishes of many of you who’ve spoken with me already, and I hope I won’t be away long. In the meantime, let me just say GO SUNS! Hoping for our 6th straight tonight. :)

In support of Patterico

Patterico is doing a “pledge drive” of sorts over at his blog, asking people to send links instead of money, specifically to his brilliant Los Angeles Times Dog Trainer year in review post as a starting point.  I’m more than happy to do so, and let me add that Patterico is in general a great read, and one of a few blogs that I will check routinely throughout the day for updates. You could do much worse with your time than perusing his archives.

In addition, I think it’s great that he’s asking people to send links instead of money. I wish more bloggers would do this, for three reasons. First, it’s sustainable – the same principle as “give a man a fish” versus “teach a man to fish.” As a blog making money off advertising, the more (consistent) visitors he gets, the more impressions and clicks he gets, which will in the long run likely be more profitable than a one-time donation – especially links in high-traffic places.

Second, it’s educational – many people do not realize the importance of the link trading that blogs do in regard to the health and growth of the blogosphere at large. Trading and spreading links does not just make more advertising money, it also creates a greater base of influence for the blogs that are linked – without links from other websites, you may as well not exist on the modern web. In addition, Google (which is, for all intents and purposes, the search engine) weighs links from other sites heavily in its algorithm used to place you on its search results page.

Third, it’s easy – how easy is it to drop a link in an email, or a Facebook post, or a blog entry? It takes 30 seconds of time and shows a little support for someone who provides you with a useful resource – or just plain ol’ entertainment – while costing you nothing. By asking for links instead of cash, Patterico is offering a sincere, meaningful way to support him without breaking open your wallet. Now this isn’t to say that money donations aren’t helpful – they are. But links to his site give him a boost to his traffic, which in turn provides him with more ad profits, more mindshare, and greater incentive to keep writing.

So go take a look, and browse around for a while. And if you like what you see, pass it along.

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of this blog. Today I posted my 100th post here.  In that year, I’ve gotten 15,803 hits (11,000 in one day from Insty, but still) and 148 comments.

Not bad at all for some guy posting his scatterbrained thoughts to the world, eh?

So here’s a chance for those of you still reading this to feedback to me: are there any things you’d like to see change around here? Anything you’d like to see me post more about (or less)?