365 Days and Counting...

In five days, we will witness the first milestone -- the first anniversary of mcfro.blogspot.com. I figured this would be the ideal opportunity to reflect on the past year, it's successes, and what may come in the future.

As you can see from the attached image, this site had some very humble beginnings. Even though I wrote like mad last May, I received next to no traffic. Things began to improve by August when I began to notice an increase in traffic. The two dips in November and February can be clearly related to my involvement in Grease, and my kidney stone attack, respectively. This month, however, I have seen a dramatic increase in traffic to my little website. Your guess is a good as mine as for the reason why my traffic has effectively doubled. Perhaps in the coming year there will be subsequent increases in my daily readership.

What I have noticed in many of the blogs that I visit daily, is that they have a gimmick that keeps people returning to their site. In many cases that gimmick is as simple as good, entertaining writing, such as Tony Pierce. GorrilaMask.net has the Daily Spank Bank, pictures of beautiful models, all scantily clad (if they are even clothed at all). I think keeping an archive of near-pornographic material on my site is juvenile; sure it will generate a lot of traffic from horny pubescent males, but that's not the kind of site I wish to have. What would be more reflective of my personality is to have a thoughtful, informative site that everyone can enjoy. Tony warns against this. In his "How to Blog" entry, he suggests that you should speak about religion and politics, that you should curse like a sailor, among many other refinements. He has a point, but I am going to be weary about his advice. The web would be a terrible place if there were 100 million "busblogs" out there. As much as I have raved about him in recent months, I don't want to be a Tony Pierce clone; I want to make my own statement.

Gorilla Mask also has another ingenious gimmick that generates scores of traffic. It's the annual Death Pool, a demented game where participants list their top choices on which celebrities (showbusiness, political or otherwise) will leave this mortal coil within the next 12 months. I am not even sure what kind of prizes are involved, if any, but it is definitely sick enough to grab my interest. I am considering the possibility of implementing such a gimmick, though I have yet to conjure up a completely original idea. And no, it will likely not be as demented as the Death Pool.

As stated in this prior post, I discussed the possibility of increased frequency of images on this website. This has already begun, though the images are not necessarily directly from my life. I am sure you are all interested in images of my recent experiences. A digital camera would be an asset for such, but it may be some time before I break down and purchase one. Tony Pierce was successful in begging for cash so he could buy an iPod, in fact he was so successful, he is currently begging for donations so he can buy a car. Hey Tony: do you have to claim these kinds of "donations" as income when you file your tax return? I have issues with accepting donations that don't go directly to charity. I suppose that's the moral socialist in me talking.

Directly related to images, is the banner situated at the top of the page. I am researching the feasibility of creating a number of banners, and having them load randomly with each site visit. I have found a script that will accomplish what I want it to, but the problem resides with the proper file hosting solution, which at this point, must be low zero-cost.

I also would like to see a little more discussion in this blog. In the entire year, there have been a total of two comments from outside sources. A few of you have opted to contact me via email, whom I personally thank. I want to know what you think. What would you like to see? What issues are bothering you? Am I right? Am I completely off my rocker? I will accept criticism if it is constructive. Comments like "MC Fro, you suck." will be deleted as there is no argumentive measures. Sadly, it was comments like this that eventually led Matt Good to remove not only the commenting features on his site, but he also removed the link to his email address.

Last summer, when I wrote my entry regarding Video Games, Bullying and Columbine, I was disappointed to see that it didn't generate much response. I was quite proud of that entry -- and I spent the better part of a week writing and revising my post so I could communicate my arguments as clearly as I could. Since Columbine and bullying are subjects that many people have strong feelings about, I figured I was destined to get some nasty email.

Surprisingly enough, that very page is now ranked second with respect to entry pages of my blog (the first is of course, the main page).

I have been wrestling with the idea of providing direct links to my favorite entries in the sidebar. This is specifically meant for the newcomers to read what I consider to be my best work. That may be quite an ambitious project, as I will have to go back and re-read everything I have written in the past year. That revision to the website may have to wait until summer, when I am a little less preoccupied with my music career.

I have thoroughly enjoyed writing for all of you this past year. This little side-project of mine has become a creative passion, and I fully expect to keep writing. I am looking forward to seeing all of you, and many more on the second anniversary of mcfro.blogspot.com.

New Beginnings

By now you have undoubtedly seen the new graphic at the top of the page. I have had components of that graphic sitting on my hard drive for a few months now, but I didn't have quite everything I needed to complete its' design. I was looking for a specific font, and I needed a scanner so I could choose the appropriate photos. I wanted them to be respective of the last ten years of my life.

The design of the graphic and embedding of it into the web's took considerably longer than I expected. I won't go into the boring details though, but it took the better part of an afternoon and part of the evening to finally have everything the way I had envisioned.

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable New Years' Eve. I ended up having my own little party with some close friends. There was far more alcohol than what we could consume. I expect that I won't have to make a trip to the liquor store until after Easter. Three of us pulled out guitars and we had a little jam session. We ended up teaching a few things to each other, played a few rock standards, and overall had a great time doing so. The session reaffirmed myself that I have to spend more of my time making music.

The party died shortly after 12:00. Some of us were falling asleep before midnight, and others had to work early the next morning. I had been up since 6:30 that morning, so my second wind had already came and gone by midnight. I was well-behaved that evening and was quite happy that I escaped the dreaded New Years' Day Hangover.

I didn't really make any New Year's resolutions, and I probably should have. If I resolved anything, it is to take my musical career in some new directions, and make more money at it. I am still entertaining the idea of my little recording studio (see previous post), and I think that could make me a few bucks a year (even if it just paid for my gear, it would be worth it).

I know that I cannot be truly happy if I am stuck in some job that's making somebody else rich. I have always been a person who wanted to do his own thing. If I choose to make that plunge, I surely am damning myself to lifetime of poverty.

It's kind of like the yin and the yang. I have to have the crappy day job in order to pursue the fun night job. My expenses are far too high for me to live on one salary alone.

By the way, the best Christmas present I got this year was from my insurance broker. My vehicle insurance premiums have dropped more than two thousand dollars per year. It all has to do with that nasty car accident that I was involved in three years ago. It's finally off my record. Now I can afford to pay off my car, and lower my expenses further. Then I have to start tackling those dreaded student loans.