Happy 22nd birthday, blog!

Twenty-two years ago today I used Blogger to add a blogging section to my website*. The first post was truly profound. When I exported from Blogger, multiple posts on one day came over alphabetically instead of chronologically so even though this site now says that first post was the second post, it was the first one. Trust me, I wrote it from a self-assembled Sauder desk in my first apartment in Voorhees, NJ.

It’s a mostly beautiful, sometimes ugly account of my mostly charmed, sometimes messy life. Every now and then I absolutely cringe at the self-centeredness of it all. I consider pulling the plug on it. I’d download the content, delete WordPress, and disappear without a peep.

But I haven’t. And I probably won’t. I still have it in my head that someday this blog could be seen as a primary source of what it was like living in the 2000s. Long after Substack has fallen out of favor, this blog will be here and the content will still be mine and not tethered to someone else’s software platform.

I have three blog goals for 2025.

My first goal is to grow the readership a bit because it’s been flat year to year. I don’t want to be famous, but I’d like to be better. What makes it difficult is that many, many bloggers have closed shop and moved to Substack, sending the message that blogging is dead. Maybe the term blogging is dead, but blogging is merely journaling and journaling will last forever.

Part of achieving that growth goal is understanding more about Google Analytics, which went from a simple way to track stats to a really complicated suite that keeps changing definitions and report locations. Or maybe starting fresh with another analytics suite that’s easier to use. I think that’s the first step: seeing if there’s an easier alternative to Google Analytics. If not, then I’ll pivot to (siiiiiiiiiiiiigh) going through Google’s online analytics academy or whatever they’re calling it.

The second goal, which will likely happen first because it needs to happen before I’m billed at the end of January, is to move the weekly email from Mailerlite to another service that will actually work. Mailerlite changed last year as well and I’ve had to fix the settings of my very simply set up newsletter multiple times over the last year. Le sigh. I only have 22 subscribers, so this shouldn’t be difficult. First step: find three inexpensive newsletter services.

The third goal, which will happen second, is to grow that mail subscriber number. I’m going to put the number 45 out there and see if we hit it.

Whether you’ve been here from the ’00s or found me this year, thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings. I appreciate you all! Have a slice of virtual birthday cake!

* Sweet merciful crap! I’ve had a website for 30 years.