One Month of Blogging

  My first month on this blog is over, and it's been interesting. Over 3,000 views (whatever that means), 140 plus posts (some more ambitious than others), and a comment section that doesn't seem to operate up to snuff (I'm truly flummoxed on how to fix it. Hang with me, please. I'm hoping to figure something out...)
 
   As I explained to one faithful reader who posts under "Anonymous" (as most of my readers do),
"I intend this blog to be informative, entertaining, thought-provoking, provocative, controversial, and CLEAR. If clarity suffers, the whole thing goes to shit."

   I'm not sure I've been very true to that aspiration, but I'm trying. Honestly, I appreciate and need feedback. Don't be shy.

  I've kept up a rather frenetic pace. At least for me. I'll be posting at my own pace, as things occur to me, as time allows. I doubt I can keep up this pace, and I'm not sure there's enough material to keep me interested enough to post, or for you to read. I'm going to have to find work, there's a wedding coming up in New Orleans, there's going to be excuses to let this slide.

  On the "up" side, we're not far from the beginning of the mid-term congressional election season. At least that should be great fun and fodder for more material.

  I'm having fun writing this. I'm still intrigued if I can keep this going, and keep it growing in readership. I fear that I may get a bit pushy, or "spammish", linking this thing to as many pertinent spots as I can find, or think of. I want to be diplomatic. I hate pushy people. But I want to grow the dialogue. "Netiquette" is not my strong suit, and feedback on that would probably be helpful, as well.

  I tend to be kind of a drive-by writer.  The ideas I try to deal with are so much more detailed in my head, and I get frustrated trying to get them on paper (well, not paper, you know what I mean...). I'm lazy, as I explained earlier, and easily distrac...("Oh! Look! Something shiny!). I try to keep checking back, editing, and updating older posts. I tend to hit "publish" before ideas are really finished. You may want check back on posts that interested you. They may have changed a bit, more or less.

   Anyway, I try to defer to more scholarly, detailed, talented, and disciplined people that I run across on the web, and liberally (and criminally?) link to their stuff more often than not. I highly advise my readers to follow those links. It's the stuff that I find intriguing on the web, and it helps to flesh out (and clarify, CLARITY, DAMNIT!) whatever meager points I'm trying to make. And I'm a fan of a lot of very good writers and thinkers around this internet thingy. I would hope a lot of my readers would become so as well.

  I'm trying to learn some of the technical aspects of what is possible in this format with not a lot of success. I think it will improve, but as I keep repeating, I make no promises.

  Thanks, Bryan Jones for getting me started. Chris Buxton, for surprising me with support and kind words. Raybar, and the FACTS folk. My atheist buds. My F&B people. My FaceBook "friends". (The quotes aren't meant to demean, but to denote the cyber-relationships we all have come to understand....) All the people I've linked. All the people whoever and wherever you are who've inspired a post here and there, either through brilliance or nastiness, insanity, and anger.

  Thanks to Suziema for all the support, patience and love (and for falling apart physically which provided grist for a large part of my posts and readership. Get better...)

   Thanks mostly to you, the people that took the time to check this out. As  I've said before, it's just public masturbation without you. I hope I can keep your interest enough to have you keep coming back.

   That's about it. If you like what you see, please feel free to tell someone.

Thanks again,
Alex "Gander" McDowell