monoblogue turns three

Yes, today begins the fourth year of my website. I’ve had a lot of fun putting this website together the first three years and instead of my normal retrospective and goals post, I decided to make it a little bit more hyperbolic and tongue-in-cheek this time around. So I hope you enjoy this look at…

Great Moments In monoblogue History

December 1, 2005 – The first public post I made. It wasn’t a political post but instead I talked about getting a shirt I waited 38 years for. 1,254 posts later I’m still trying to perfect my writing skills.

April 6, 2006 – I begin the Shorebird of the Week series of posts with the selection of pitcher Josh Potter. Through 2008, I had honored 63 Shorebird players with the distinction, which has become a Thursday night tradition during the season. In 2009 I hope to establish the SotW Hall of Fame page, and this became a step closer when the Orioles recently added four former SotW players to their 40-man roster.

April 7, 2006 – I begin tracking my readership with the Site Meter program. First full week’s readership: 229. I’ve grown and lost numerous times since.

April 25, 2006 – This was the first of my semi-annual “market basket” series, which compares local grocery store prices. Originally it was intended to track the impact of recently-passed state laws but still serves as a case study of the effects of inflation and other supply factors on our food bill.

May 8, 2006 – The Ten Questions interview series is introduced. While its original intent was to question political candidates about what they would do if elected, the series has more recently branched out to nationally-known political figures.

June 11, 2006 – The date I was accepted into the Maryland Bloggers Alliance as their seventh member and first on the Eastern Shore. There’s now nearly fifty members in the MBA.

October 23, 2006 – My first national recognition. Check out the sidebar of this msnbc.com article about Michael Steele’s Senate bid. (The link still works, too.) It’s interesting to note that most of these sites are still around, but some have faded away since that time just two years ago. I had my own reaction to that news as well.

November 11, 2006 – The day the music lived, at least on my site. The first of what’s become a regular feature (under the revised title, “Weekend of Local Rock”), it showed two bands of the three who played at the local watering hole The Monkey Barrel – Project Sideways and Back Before Dawn. Compared to my subsequent efforts this was fairly rudimentary but it began one feature which makes this site unique.

January 15, 2007 – In an effort to make the commentary here more concept-based and original, I debut my 50 year plan series. The concept extends into the Presidential and Congressional candidate selections for endorsement I undertake later in 2007.

January 28, 2007 – I branch out and create a Myspace site for monoblogue, to show my more personal side.

May 20, 2007 – My first time hosting the Carnival of Maryland with edition number 7. The reason I wanted that particular issue was because I was the seventh member of the Maryland Bloggers Alliance, so it was symbolic in that respect. Since then, I’ve been the host for editions 17, 27, 37, and yesterday 47. (Sense a theme here?)

July 15, 2007 – monoblogue achieves a #1 ranking on the BlogNetNews political influence ratings for the first time. Counting one time I was tied for the top spot I’ve managed to rate #1 eight times in Maryland and twice on Delmarva. As of about a month ago, I’m now the sole blog in Maryland to be ranked in the top 20 each and every week this ranking has been in place.

September 14, 2007 – My very first opportunity at crossposting, as I accepted an invitation to contribute to the Red Maryland website. That day’s post “From retirement to campaign” was my very first contribution to that site. Since then I’ve accepted invitations to crosspost at Pro-Maryland Gazette and That’s Elbert With An E as well, along with another unique opportunity (see September 24, 2008 below.)

September 26, 2007 – I still say this guy would have been a great President. But this was the date I participated in my very first blogger conference call, with other supporters of then-candidate Congressman Duncan Hunter of California. Since then I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited to many others – most recently I participated in one with bloggers who questioned the head of the American Petroleum Institute.

October 5, 2007 – Two words: the Rushalanche.

July 7, 2008 – Picking up the baton of the former Maryland Accountability Project, I introduce the monoblogue Accountability Project, which rates all 188 members of the Maryland General Assembly on their voting records from my conservative point of view. This covers the 2007 regular and special sessions along with the 2008 session. It culminated about 2 months’ worth of research and compilation.

September 24, 2008 – After being invited to do so by the editor, I become the local editor for a new site affiliated with the Red County website. Called Red County Wicomico, this gives me a chance to place my items on a rapidly growing national site. It’s an exciting new horizon for me to take things to the next level.

November 28, 2008 – While the seeds of discord may still be forming, it’s apparent that I’ve now spawned my first anti-monoblogue site; sort of like the Federalists and Anti-Federalists of colonial days. Determined, I press on nonetheless into a fourth year of blogging, where I pledge to place quality of writing over quantity of posting.

You know I had a lot of fun traveling down memory lane to compile this and probably could have brought up a whole lot of other moments. But this is a pretty good primer on what I’ve accomplished in terms of making an impact in the blogging world.

If you’re sharp-eyed you’ll notice that I set this post to the exact same time that my original post made it to the blogosphere. While I’m proud of what I’ve done here so far, I always strive to improve and it’s become apparent to me that what I’ve done in the past at once means a lot yet means nothing at all. I’ve built this up fairly well but I have a long way to go to achieve the goals I’ve set for myself with this site – perhaps I’ll never quite make the pinnacle I seek but why set expectations too low?

People have told me I’m a fairly talented writer (even if backhandedly); however there always seems to be a “but…” attached to it. To make a pun out of events in my personal life, over the last three years I’ve gotten rid of a lot of my butt so this year I want to eliminate that last “but” from the description of my writing. It’s not necessarily going to happen in this forum but here is where I work to become a more perfect writer, so my aim is to achieve many of these desired results by the end of year number four.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.

6 thoughts on “monoblogue turns three”

  1. I was hoping the first posting from Final Frontier would make your highlight list! Seriously, congrats on sticking it out for 3 years. We rarely agree politically, but you never censor my comments and always have a thoughtful reponse even if you are wrong, which is most of the time 🙂

    Good job, Michael!

    FF

  2. big daddy:

    I added PMG with the general description of the first cross-posting.

    FF:

    Me? Wrong? Maybe factually once in awhile, but the opinions are RIGHT. Someone way back when was pretty smart (I think it was in the British House of Commons) when they sat on the right side, because that’s where the geography of political thought came from as I recall. So being right-wing I’m always right.

    jcinsby:

    Thanks, and you’re welcome.

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