Happy Anniversary to Me!!

WordPress informed me on July 4th that it was my second anniversary with them. That means I have now been blogging for more than two years.

I am not sure what would have made me decide on the 4th in 2013 to start a blog, but I’m sure glad I did. I went back and looked to see and it was a Thursday.  I know that Thursdays used to be my day off so maybe I was sitting home alone with nothing else to do and happened across someone else’s blog. I do remember seeing the “create a free blog at wordpress” slogan as what made me click and start, just not sure where I saw it.

Since that first post on Okay, What if? about Facebook being created by aliens as a test I have spent a lot of time entrenched in this blogging world. The post was actually published on July 6th so today is my official anniversary as a published blogger. I guess it took me a couple days to decide if I really wanted to attempt it.

Now I look back and think wow. I’ve posted dozens, maybe hundreds of short stories. I’ve dabbled in flash fiction, poems and had a lot of random thoughts. If I didn’t have this blog what would have happened to all these? Would they still be stuck in my head just screaming for me to let them out?

I also think of the entertainment others have brought my way through the blogs. I’ve read at least as many enjoyable stories as I’ve written. I’ve learned things I would have never known without this world. The comments people share are always a joy to read and respond to.

In addition to the blog but also because of the blog I now have a comic I add to every week and the start of a children’s book series with my first published work How I Met My Pet Dragon.

All in all it’s been an exciting journey and a fun two years. Thank you wordpress for allowing me the opportunity and thank you to those of you who have helped me, showed your support or just give me something I could enjoy when I wasn’t working on my own projects.

This ride is far from over. My ticket says I have a lifetime pass and I plan to use it until I am not able to do so, hopefully many, many years from now. Stay tuned. The Notorious JED is in the blog and hasn’t left the building just yet.

Photo newism.

I haven’t done a wordpress photo challenge in a while but thought the photo here fit this week’s criteria about as well as a photo could. This was taken early morning as the sun was rising on not only a new day, but a new year.

I spent the New Year’s with some friends at Myrtle Beach, SC and my wife took this from an eighth floor balcony of the hotel we were staying at just a few hours into January 1st, 2015.

The start of this year was a little less stressful than last which is a wonderful thing. With everything that was going on in my family during the last few months of 2013 and first few of 2014 I wouldn’t have even thought about leaving town.

2015 was a different story and when invited, it sounded like a perfect idea.

New year, new hopes and new possibilities.  Photo newism at it’s finest!

2014 – The Stinky Stats Post

So 2014 is officially gone. I believe the New Year has found its way into every corner of the world by now. Seems like a perfect time to reflect back on what is gone and we can no longer do anything about. Namely the Stinky Stats!

Right here at your very friendly neighborhood playhouse, people visited, people commented and people liked what they saw. I know this based on the fact the like button was pressed an impressive -whole bunch- of times!

I started blogging just over a year ago and 2014 was my first official full year as a full fledged blogger. I have been amazed, astonished and extremely pleased knowing the time and effort I have put into being a blogger have been rewarded by me now having a -whole bunch- of followers!

In that year plus worth of time I have probably had more insightful and amusing discussions online than I’ve had in my real life. Okay maybe not, but it’s close and there have been many here I’ve enjoyed!  Some of the conversations have taken place here, some at Okay, What if and several at other blogs I enjoy visiting and reading. All in all there have been an amazing number of people sharing their thoughts leading to an abundant -whole bunch- of comments!

If you haven’t figured it out by now I’m not really sharing any stats at all. It’s not because they are less impressive than many others. It’s not because I feel like a tiny ion in a huge universe when I see them. It’s also not because they don’t have any meaning to me. It’s because I think a lot of the stats, when looked at as a whole, equal out to a stinking pile of…..

Sorry, but that is just how I feel. I know who my friends are in this little space and who I enjoy visiting. Who cares if 20000 people come and go if none of them make you feel better about what you wrote than you did before? Who cares is 1000 people followed your blog last month if none of them will ever come back and read something you published?

If google sent a million people my way based on search results but none stayed around and read more than the home page would I be a success? Couldn’t I just spend a lot of money and do that without any good content?

I don’t want anyone to take this the wrong way. My face lights up every time I hear my phone ring with a notification someone just liked a post I published. I smile when I see someone followed my blog. I can’t wait to respond to an insightful comment left behind by a visitor to one of my silly stories.

Would I love to have quadruple the followers? Yes

Would I love to see my stats light up with the biggest day of visitors ever? Yes

Would I turn down the chance to see a post I made excite the WordPress Gods enough to call it Freshly Pressed? Heck No

Bu what about….

Will I stop blogging because none of this happens? Of course not

Will I stop responding to my current visitors because there just aren’t enough of them? Of course not

Will I be here blogging tomorrow, the next day, the day after that even when my stats don’t compare to some? Sure, Why not

And anyway….

If I wanted to let the spam bots leave their comments on my blog I could have thousands, maybe millions more comments this week alone. A lot of them talk about how great my knowledge on the subject I wrote about is and tell me they will be back to read more so they can’t be bad right?

I just enjoy it more when real people say things I can respond to and don’t try to tell me how great I am. I already know that and don’t need to be reminded of it constantly.

So my stats are kinda stinky, but not as stinky as stinky stats could be. The fun however is not stat measured and is anything but stinky. My enjoyment of writing out my thoughts, however silly they may be, is immeasurable. Therefore my followers, my friends, my visitors and those that like what they read are beyond a number I can give you. With that in mind I think -whole bunch- works very well.

If you have made it this far you can consider yourself a part of my bunch. Congratulations!

Now, can I borrow some money?

Happy Halloween

I’m a little bit late with my wishes (long workday) but I wanted to tell all my wonderful wordpress and blogging friends a very Happy Halloween. I hope the candy and treats are flowing for you tonight as much as your amazing words do everyday.

I’ve had so much fun posting my Halloween inspired short stories and poems this week I hate to see the day come and go, but everything must come to an end.

A little advice, keep your eyes opened and your wits about you. You never know what lurks in the shadows, especially on this night. You don’t want to become the treat!

Happy Halloween everybody!!

Vacation’s over, time to blog again

I think I’m ready to get into the blogging of my random, weird, strange, unusual thoughts again. My vacation was wonderful, enjoyable and way too short. Me and the wife made the trek halfway across the country visiting family and having fun before heading back refreshed and ready to take on anything. Then the next day happened and I was ready to yank my hair out! Ain’t life great?

Vacation’s over! Welcome back to everyday life!

We spent the time away traveling the roads around Texas, made it to Rangers stadium and toured the ballpark. Did you know there is an entire other world underneath the ballpark. All the locker rooms, equipment storage, press rooms and practice areas are under the stands and away from the field. It was really cool and we even witnessed Yu Darvish working out for his comeback off the disabled list.

We also visited Ripley’s Odditorium and Louis Toussand’s House of Wax. My first ever visit to a wax museum and it was pretty awesome. Some of the wax figures were amazing and some were a bit scary looking. The unusual things in Ripley’s were amazingly unusual and odd. I guess the name really fits the place.

A toilet paper wedding dress

I took a fair share of some memorable, amazing pictures. These are just a couple I thought turned out great.

Wax Wizard of Oz

We visited the largest Flea Market I have ever been to and I’ve been to quite a few. The place was way too big to walk entirely in one day. There was an actual Subway restaurant in the middle of it and they charged you to park. You could purchase tickets for the small amusement park inside with a miniature roller coaster and one of those tower rides that lifted you up in the air then dropped you.

We left the place with a couple new purses for the wife, a dvd for me and a new pet. Yepp, I said a new pet. Despite my protests (which were not very convincing) we added a new member to the family. After losing our cat Charlotte last year we had talked about getting another kitten, but I wasn’t expecting to have a cross country traveling companion. She was on her best behavior during the trip back and has instantly made herself at home with us. Please say hi to our new little one Gipsy…

Hi everyone!

We made it home and life returned to normal, well sort of normal and then scary. We arrived home at about five in the morning and went to bed after driving the twenty hour trip. Only a few hours after waking I got a call my mom had passed out, fell and was being ambulanced to the hospital. I spent the first night back at the emergency room with her and some of my other family, then had to get up the following morning and head back to work.

Long, worrisome story short, her medicine had caused some problems and she spent four days in the hospital before coming home. She is doing well now but still recuperating.  Meanwhile I had to deal with a desk full of notes and need to do items upon my arrival back at work which was expected. What wasn’t expected was having to do it while dealing with the high up bosses being around almost the entire week. Always fun when they show up and scare everyone into running around the office in desperation mode.

The bosses are coming! The bosses are coming!

I have finally caught back up to my life and even broke down and purchased a new laptop. I am ready to get started back with my blogging routine, I just hope the blogging world is ready to accept my craziness again. The Notorious J.E.D. is back and full of ideas, opinions and stories. Thank you for having me.