Table of contents for Blogiversary
- 9th Blogiversary!
- Happy 8th Birthday, Blog!
- 7th Blogiversary Cake!
- 6-Year Blogiversary
- Happy 5th Birthday, Blog!
- First Post!
Today marks five years of writing online. FIVE YEARS!
2002 – 105 posts
2003 – 226 posts
2004 – 344 posts
2005 – 431 posts
2006 – 624 posts
2007 – 324 posts as of today
My first post didn’t exactly set the internet on fire; I was babbling on about being a university student and not getting enough sleep and incurable procrastination. In fact, I set up a blog to continue a fine tradition of procrastination and work avoidance. It’s still there, for posterity.
When Claude from Blogging in Paris wrote about her third blogiversary last month, she posted pictures of all the people she’d met through Flickr and her blog. When I got a chance to comment on that post, I thought it was hilarious that I was sitting in Claude’s living room on my computer while she was on hers, typing out the comment and talking to her at the same time! What a couple of geeks we are!
By the way, meeting Claude was an absolute riot — if there was ever a reason to have a personal website, meeting fellow bloggers like Claude is definitely one of them. And only in 2007 could retirement mean shooting 20,000 photos, posting them online, and sharing technical information with a Canadian girl “just passing through Paris on her way back from Iceland”, then writing about it practically in realtime.
This website will always be a work in progress. Earlier today I was fixing old posts, uploading old photos to Flickr to replace Blogger-hosted ones, reformatting text, filing posts in categories, etc. I didn’t get far, maybe only a month of posts. It sounds like a lot of work for something that doesn’t pay the rent, but it’s a personal project that I take pride in and it’s brought me a lot of joy over the years. Sometimes I get lost in the archives, reminiscing when my nieces and nephew were babies and toddlers, the adventures I’ve had while travelling, people I’ve met, photos and video I’ve taken of special events, and reading funny comments people have written. Sometimes when I can’t remember details from a certain time, I return to this website and use it as reference.
So much has happened to me since I started writing here (from Blogger), I can scarcely believe it. Even when I was working on fixing posts from July 2004, just three years ago, I noticed that the subject matter was completely different: writing about taking a ferry to go to work, griping about whether or not to go to my friend’s wedding alone or find a date to drag along, and experiencing an earthquake. As I work my way through the archives, I’m marking my favourite posts — also a work in progress as there are currently 2,054 including this one.
I can see my writing and photography evolving over the years, too.
The #1 draw to this website these days via search engines is aviation-related, mostly people researching Piper Tri-Pacers. I love that people stop to read David’s four-part story of how he bought Zero-Two-Papa and flew it up from Tennessee. Not only is it an interesting story, it’s a way for me to share a bit of David with people around the globe who also love to fly like he did — the old-fashioned way, with wires and fabric-covered wings.
As much as I write online, it will never be a substitute for the real thing, though: communicating with people in person. I can feel myself becoming much more sociable again, compared to 2006. I’m meeting more people, engaging in more activities, settling into a comfortable familiarity with Toronto, and making plans.
It’s been a roller-coaster of a ride, the last five years. I don’t know how long you’ve been reading, but thanks for checking in!
Possibly related posts:
- Why Do I Blog? I just finished Darren Barefoot’s blogging survey for his talk at Northern Voice in Vancouver next month: Why do you...
- David’s Weekend in Vancouver: Happy Birthday George! Well, it’s only taken me a week to post this, but life has a way of getting in the way...
- Happy Birthday Alvin! I don’t think my brother reads my website, but seeing as I live practically on the other side of the...
- Happy Birthday Taku! Happy Birthday… urgh! by Smaku I met Taku at my very first Toronto Flickr meet back in February, which coincided...
- Happy 5th Birthday, Maddy! I would be remiss if I closed out today before wishing my niece Madeleine a happy princess fifth birthday… which...
- Happy Birthday Breigh! No excuse to forget, when there’s a rather subtle reminder right there on the site — very handy! Share this:...
- Happy Birthday, Honeybun May 30, 2006 Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome Scattering David’s ashes over Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome from Stanley Segalla’s Piper Cub. Our last...
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It cheers me to hear the joy in your ‘voice’ again. Happy Blogiversary!
Wow, joyeuse anniversaire!
Yes, but are you still writing that paper for school (procrastination humour)? 2,054? That’s incredible! I just passed 100. You’re truly a blogging inspiration, as well as quite the social one, too! So many friends and places: How do you keep up? Cheerio.:)
I’m sure glad you started blogging so I could find you again
We may not write back and forth to each other the way we did all those years ago, but at least I can keep up on you through your blog. I should be more faithful with mine, I’ve been slacking lately.
Thanks all!
Hey hey! Happy 5th anniversary, Gail!
I too had a great time while you were visiting! Too short! If you had stayed longer, I would have pumped your CSS knowledge. Am currently fighting with the K2 template adapted for wordpress.com on my French blog and wish I knew how to widen the main page and be able to use an arrow or some other graphic, in an unordered list. None of the stuff I’m successfully using on my other blog is working
Well, at least, thanks to you, my teeth are clean (private joke)
Hope you and your site are starting for another five years!
What I love about your blog is that you don’t mind sharing so much, and because of it, I’ve really gotten to know you. Of course we met and exchanged many silly comments in Orkut, so I knew you were funny and geeky and Fly (always the Fly Chick!), but this blog showed me your other fantastic dimensions. So thanks for opening up, it’s been fantastic getting to know you one story at a time.
Congrats Gail!
Wow, 5 years! That’s like 25 in Blog Years. Congrats, and don’t sell the old posts short, they’ll be priceless reading in another 5.
HEY! Happy bday to the blog.
I hope you took it out to a nice dinner…