ModestGeniusXL

Death of the Blogs

Don't let the name fool you.  It doesn't mean Life in the Mind of a Modest Genius is finished.  As long as I can continually find usefulness in this site, it will always be around.  Sure, my readership looks like it's down to around 100 hits a day.  However, that's still pretty good considering I'm not even posting daily anymore.  Just think what it would be if I got back to being consistent again.

What I was referring to is that I've noticed that it looks like personal blogs in general have been falling off.  I first noticed it when my friend Sue discontinued hers.  I didn't think much of it at the time since she had just recently had a shortie.  Then I noticed the connection:  as the Facebook usefulness increased, the blogs decreased.  Facebook had become the blog killer.

It was today that it finally struck me how much blog activity had fallen off.  I had about a dozen fellow bloggers that I monitored on a consistent basis.  All of them had been updating pretty regularly at about at least a few times a week.  I hadn't been checking on them in months though.  I had a rare moment of spare time and decided to see what they were all up to.  Only a few of them are still doing it.  Blogging just isn't what it used to be.

I think for many folks Facebook had replaced that functionality that the blog provides.  The whole purpose of doing these entries is to share your thoughts with other people.  Well know you can do that on The Book  to a wider audience.  Although I still contend that some folks need to be blogging instead of writing those 3+ paragraph updates.

As for me, it really came down to XL-Images becoming the new passion.  There's just not enough time for me to maintain a daily blog entry while still working a day job and continuing my efforts to get XL-Images going.  But I will never forget that the passion for XL-Images stemmed from here so the blog will live on.  It may be on life support, but it will continue to live on.

Blogging Against the Machine

Not that long ago, I had mentioned in one of my Randomness posts that I was thinking about trimming down the Blogroll.  Well I went ahead and did it.  Then it occurred to me that some folks probably had no idea what I was even talking about.  I wonder how many people actually look at the sidebar items when they come here?  I know I'm guilty of hardly doing it when I visit my favorite blogs.  That's why I decided to offer more insight into the whole purpose of the blogroll and how I utilize it.

Blogging Against the Machine is the heading where I keep my blogroll on my sidebar.  I try to limit it to just those folks who are either personal friends of mine or those that I've encountered over the blogosphere whose blogs really interested me.  Over time, some of those became one in the same.  However, over time, some of those also started becoming obsolete for one reason or another.

For instance, Mike is  a very good friend of mine from high school.  You've heard me mention him from time to time in various posts.  He had his own blog over on Yahoo 360 so I had him on my blogroll.  Then one day, he just stopped posting.  Can't say that I blame him though.  I mean he does live in sunny LA with his family and a year-round pass to Disneyland so blogging was probably an after thought.  I deleted his blog from the blogroll just recently.  If he ever gets back in the game, I'll gladly put him back on the map.

His sister Sue was pretty close to getting edited out as well.  I keep checking her blog and there's been nothing new since December 2008.  She's in Minnesota so I can't use the same excuse for her blogging inactivity.  However, she is also the one who hipped me to the whole Typepad thing.  For that, I am eternally grateful.  That alone will keep her on the Blogroll regardless if she never updates that site ever again.  Now if she ups and deletes it, that's another story.

My man E was even teetering on the brink of extinction for a minute there.  He had just posted this NICE mini-series type thing about this food contest he entered.  One of the best video entries I had ever seen.  Then he just disappeared.  He was still on Twitter regularly, but the blog entries ceased.  Then of course there is still that annoying thing about the music that auto-plays when you go there.  But regardless of what it was, I'm not deleting my boy!  Come on now...that's just not going to happen.

There was this other blogger who I think I may have inadvertently upset.  Still don't know what and/or how it happened.  I was on their blogroll and even inadvertently hipped them to my fellow blogger Brian in China.  Then one day I noticed no more comments from them and I was removed from their blogroll.  Well the kid wasn't having that.  I abruptly removed them from mine too.  Yes, I know it's petty.  I will admit that I still occasionally visit their site to see what's going on.  I just don't comment on it anymore. 

The biggest change to the rollcall was the addition of my son.  Elijah started running his own little website not too long ago.  He doesn't like the word "cute", but it really is.  I noticed he started getting more active with his website when he got up here and saw how I was updating mine.  So much so that he'll be switching to Wordpress soon so he can do more of a blog format.  A chip off the old block, I tell ya.

These days I don't do as much random blog-searching as I used to.  Even though that is how I found some of the good folks like Andy, Brian and Monnie or even the informational ones like Field.  I just got a little comfortable and started sticking with the blogs I'm familiar with.  I will eventually venture out again and maybe the blogroll will increase a little more.  Maybe some of you reading this will have one (if you don't already and I just don't know about it) that will pique my interest enough to get added.  We'll just have to see what the future may hold.

Who's That Lurking At My Window?

I tried this before over a year ago and received a whopping 4 responses.  I'm hoping this time I get a better turnout so please help a brotha out...

When I check my stat counter to see who all has stopped by, there are several IP addresses that immediately ring a bell.  I can recognize a lot of frequent visitors.  However, many of them I don't.  I often wonder, who all is stopping by and what their thoughts are. 

Today is the day to step into the light and reveal yourselves!  Please holla at me with the following:

 1.  Your screen name

2.  Location?

3.  How you found my blog?

4.  Male or female?

5.  Age?

6.  What keeps you coming back?

Thank all of you advance for your assistance and I look forward to hearing from you very soon!

The Double Grand

Looks like I just hit another milestone on this site and I once again overlooked it.  About five or six posts ago, I officially logged by 2,000th post! 

I know what some of you are thinking out there:  "Doesn't he just about post that many in one day!?"  Hush yo mouth!  I have been doing this since February 2006 so if you do the math, it averages out to jus to just a little over two posts a day.  It just turns out to be more than that on some days if I happen to have more to say.

As I journey around the blogosphere, I do see there are some folks that post ALOT more frequently than I do. It's almost as if their blog is their own Twitter.  There will be a new post about every hour.  So if you think I'm obsessive about mine, you haven't seen anything.  Although truthfully, if I had the time and means, I could easily see posting that frequent on mine as well.  Maybe that will be one of my goals when I retire.  That will probably be when I'm about 80 or so.

The good thing is I FINALLY think I have found the format and a look that works for me.  I've got the meat on one side and the potatoes on the tiny sidebar to the left.  Yes, I do occasionally alter the potatoes column over there by adding and removing things.  Sometimes even changing the order.  But it's all secondary to the writing which is supposed to be the highlight anyway.  Then there is also the banner a top which took me a minute to get just right.  It showcases the Des Moines skyline and purposely doesn't have that one particular company in the picture.  Gotta love that.

Thanks to all of you who continue to follow my ramblings and put up with my very opinionated style.  I estimate that contrary to what my stat counter shows, I probably have close to a dozen dedicated readers.  Out of that number, probably about half of you have been around since day one.  Regardless, I appreciate all the support whether it be new, current or future. 

Here's to 2,000 more and beyond!

30,000 Hits!!!

    Yes, there are sites out there that average this many hits in the course of one day.  Good for them. 

Yes, several of those 30,000 hits may have been myself checking my site frequently.  So what. 

It's still 30,000 hits and I'll take it.  Here's to 30,000 more to come!   

Out of Commission

Having some SERIOUS lappy issues. Posting will be curtailed for a minute...

Happy Anniversary 2 Me!

Two years in the game now.  Two years ago today, I began this endeavor and here I am now still going strong.  No signs of letting up.  One could probably guess that already though by the mere fact that I have blogged at least once non-stop since I started.  Every.  Single.  Day.

So what do I have to show for my efforts?  Well let's compare and contrast how far I have come since then.  For starters, there is it's face value.  A while back I found this link where you could see how much your blog is worth.  A year ago, it stood at $3,951.78.   So where is it today?  Yeah...still $3,951.78.

I did some research on the type of formula this site uses to calculate these figures.  It uses your site's Technorati ranking and stats from the Weblogs Inc./AOL deal to estimate how much your blog would be worth if you sold it.  Still not sure how scientific that is .  Especially since another feature of my blog has vastly improved since its origin...

For the longest time, I had a page rank of 0.  Page rank is basically determined by links directly to your site.  It is a combination of quality and quantity as far as measuring your page rank.  Since the highest rank you can get is 10, there's not a lot a room for advancement.  The better your page rank, the more you can get involved in promotional opportunities (as in potentially money-earning) on the net.  As of the writing of this post, I am up to a whopping 2/10 page rank.  Woo-hoo!  And it only took me two years to get there.  The bad thing is your site can also lose rank too so if I let up, I could regress instead of moving forward.  Can't very well have that.

The last piece that demonstrates this site's evolution is the hits.  It just happened to be chance that on the very day that is the second anniversary, I pulled in my 20,000th hit.  Again, I know some blogs/sites average thousands of hits in one day.  I could probably average that if I didn't have a full-time job and had more time invested in this project.  As if I don't spend enough time on it already.  20,000 hits in two years is just fine.  Even if 7,500 or so of those were probably just me going back to check my stats.

Two years down and several more to go.  Stay with me y'all because there's no place to go but up!

(p.s., of course the shorties have nothing at all to do with this entry.  I just felt like randomly putting up another pic of the young'ns in remembrance of their recent departure)

 

Who's That Lurking at My Window?

When I check my stat counter to see who all has stopped by, there are several IP addresses that immediately ring a bell.  I can recognize a lot of frequent visitors.  However, many of them I don't.  I often wonder, who all is stopping by and what their thoughts are.  Then I crossed Creole's place and caught another great idea...

Today is the day to step into the light and reveal yourselves!  Please holla at me with the following:

1.  Your screen name

2.  Location?

3.  How you found my blog?

4.  Male or female?

5.  Age?

6.  What keeps you coming back?

Thank all of you advance for your assistance and I look forward to hearing from you very soon!

My Review Results

A while back, our good friend Blonde Chick hipped me to this site called "Ask and Ye Shall Receive" where they review your blog.  You submit your site to them and then open yourself to ridicule.  I was prepared for the worst yet still interested to see what type of judgment they would pass on my online journal.

Surprisingly, I didn't get hit too bad.  You can click here to view the entire review.  I caution you now that if you are easily offended by foul language, consider yourself warned.  They don't hold their tongues at all.  In fact, I think they sometimes go out of their way to drop some colorful metaphors to make full use of internet freedom of speech.

I expected going in that I was going to get slammed for my template.  I was toying with the idea of going to a two column format even before they mentioned it.  It does have a less cluttered look so maybe that will be on the agenda for this weekend.

The funniest part about the whole review (after you sit thru his ten minute rant about Carey Hart for some reason?) is the fact that he likes my content because I remind him of his grandfather!  Now if that don't make a brotha feel old.  I'm still cracking up over that one.

The rating?

"I give it for some totally righteous content."

I can live with that.  I'm going to act like I didn't see the "short bus" rating that followed.  Only because I knew I had it coming.

I Think, Therefore I Am

I have had the fortunate pleasure of being blessed with the Thinking Blogger Award thanks to my fellow blogger and frequent visitor Blonde Chick.  It's always good to get recognized by your peers.

So I guess the way the thing works is I get to pass this award on to five other bloggers that I feel are also worthy.  Well I'm not sure if it's against the rules to reciprocate to the one who bestowed it upon me so I'll omit BC's site for the time being.  Four of mine are pretty obvious and the other one you'd probably never guess.  Here they are in no particular order...

1.  Ramblings of a Passionate Fisherman in a Fallen World

This is the official name of E's site.  For some reason, he hasn't been updating it on a regular basis like he used to.  I find out more from him in e-mails and IMs than I do on his actual site and it used to be the other way around.  Maybe this will give him some inspiration to get those posts out on a more regular basis.

2.  B's Blog

Normally, you would think it would be redundant reading two separate blogs from a husband and wife.  Normally.  However, B has been doing a much better job of keeping her posts current.  Her recounting this past week of all the raccoon escapades had me ROLLIN' (even if she doesn't want to give a brotha credit for coming up with the name first).  If she would change her settings to allow for comments, it would be even better.

3.  Minnesota "Nice", Down and Dirty

To this day, I still don't know how Sue came up with the name of her blog.  She's started another blog now dedicated to her upcoming little one so this main one has been suffering a bit lately.  When she does scribe on it, she gives little nuggets that sometimes provide more insight into her psyche than one would want to know.  But that's what makes it fun to read.

4.  Mike's 360 Degree Page

E posts WAY too much in comparison to Mike's frequency.  Since Mike lives in sunny LA, we're lucky to get an entry a month out of him.  Once he does decide to disperse some entries, they normally end up being very eloquent.  He would probably be the closest to rival my writing expertise if he applied himself.  Maybe.

5.  Rantings of a Creole Princess

I stumbled upon this blog thanks to her commenting on mine quite a while ago.  I'm still fascinated with how she's able to be so involved with all the different activities she writes about yet still finds the time to post so often.  I even found out some news items by checking out her site as opposed to CNN sometimes.  One of these days, I'll get up to the level her and BC have achieved in blogdom.