12 Years And Counting On The Blog...

All the way back on February 16, 2004, I posted the very first blog post here on the blog.  Well...it wasn't *here* then, but it was on what would become this blog.

12 years is a long time.  A lot of writing.  A lot of nonsense.  When I started, I was working for the House Republicans and living in Frankfort with my parents.  Today?  I'm living in my sister's house with my wife and three kids and a dog and working at Edelman.  Still writing nonsense, though.

Over the past 12 years, I've now written published 1932 posts.  Including this one.  Hundreds more on other blogs like the political satire one or our family blog.  But 1932 here.  Some started as "Chris Rhodes", but most as just me.  (Those of you who were around in 2004 will get that "Chris Rhodes" reference!)

Here's a look at a screenshot of the archives totaling up the blog posts across time.

I didn't mark the anniversary every year, but in looking back at the archives, it seems that every once in a while, I paused to mark the occasion (or...just simply remembered to do so!).

Here's the post from 2 years ago celebrating the 10 year mark on the blog.
Here's the post from 3 years ago celebrating the 9 year mark on the blog back in 2013.
Here's the post from 5 years ago celebrating the 7 year mark on the blog back in 2011.

I'm totally willing to admit that not every one of these posts is a gem.  In fact, most of them are not.  But just like exercising your body at the gym, I look at this blog as an exercise for my mind and my storytelling skills.  As Seth Godin said at one point:  Shut up.  Sit down.  And write.   (Well...he said type, but I prefer write.)

If I'm being honest....I don't care if anybody really reads any of these posts.  I'm glad if you do read them and they give you a peek into my world.  But...The goal here has changed over the years and now has shifted into a sort of dairy.  I'm trying to track the things that I'm interested in at a certain point in my life.

Speaking of 'tracking' things, I think it is appropriate to take a screenshot of the blog as it stands here on it's 12th birthday.  Still orange and blue.  But now responsive (so there's no mobile-specific theme anymore) and streamlined a bit.  Still two columns with plenty of gadgets/widgets on the right rail.

If you couldn't tell,  none of these posts are paid for by sponsors.  Gasp!?!  You mean...advertisers aren't interested in a Disney Dad who posts about vintage Christmas junk and gardening and pizza?!?!

So, to make sure that I was being true to the real reasons for the blog, at the end of 2015, I decided to take all the Google AdSense down from the blog.  Both on the sidebar and the mobile version.  It was paying me a bucks everyday, but it also felt a little bit off for me where the blog is today.  So, there's no advertising at all here on the blog.  And that's just fine with me.

So...thanks for hanging out these past 12 years.  Or whatever part of the 12 you've been here.  Here's to 12 more.  Who knows...maybe we'll have a party celebrating 15 years or 20 years.  Or...heck...even 13 years.  What teenager doesn't love a party, amirite?!?