03 September 2013

Two Hundred

I officially started putting real content on this blog back in 2009, hopeful, at the time, that it would become "a place for me to write, to practice writing," in order to keep my pencil sharp, so to speak.  

Prior to the founding of this website, through no fault of my own, I'd lost every single one of my regular, recurring writing gigs, those that paid and those that didn't.  Thus left otherwise without options, my choices were simple: either I was going to stop writing, or I would need to find a new place to be published.  And thus: I signed up for a blog: rockychrysler.blogspot.com. "A place to practice, a place to just write.  For lack of any other venue, like millions of other writers, by default This Blog will be the place."

And, I'm happy to say, it has been.

 This post is the 200th post I've published to rockychrysler.com, which I think, officially, makes me some kind of a Real Blogger. To be sure, I haven't made anywhere near 200 awesome posts, much less 200 ground-breaking or memorable or noteworthy posts.  In fact, many have probably been quite forgettable.   

Nevertheless, I think this blog has achieved the primary goal that I set for it, way back in the beginning.  And, frankly, I'm grateful for the opportunity I've had, via this simple, digital medium, to "just write" and, in doing so, to keep a kind of record of my life and times as a 40-something off-road cyclist, snow skier, happy husband, proud dad.

I've never written anything here to in order achieve any sort of notoriety, or any measure of fame.  Absolutely not.  But still, it pleases me to know that my blog gets read from time to time and somewhat more widely than solely by my mom, my grandmother, and my wife.  


The readership stats at rockychrysler.com aren't at all earth-shattering or even especially notable when put on the scale of the vast majority of the world's other blogs.  But I'm proud of its trend-lines over the past four-and-a-half years; these days it's fair to say (not counting referer spam) the blog is averaging just over 2000+ pageviews a month for the past several months in a row.  I think that's pretty good, for a totally random, entirely free-form, thoroughly personal, non-monetized blog-of-limited-significance.

I'm similarly pleased with the fact that a few of the posts that I've published here have gained what would appear to be some sort of SEO-traction out there on the 'net.  For reasons I can't really explain, a few of the things that I've written here seem to garner regular attention, to the tune of several dozen to several hundred hits each month.  As I said, I know not why.  Nonetheless, here's a short list of the top 10 posts of all-time at rockychrysler.com along with their publication dates:

Most popular posts, 2009 to present:
1. Just about a bike [Retrotec #64] -- July 2010
2. Life Cycles -- Feb. 2011
3. Review: Incase Range Backpack -- June 2012
4. Just about a bike [Surly Pugsley] -- June 2013
5. Just about a bike [Specialized Stumpjumper Pro] -- Mar. 2013
6. Chilled Near Zero -- Mar. 2013
7. Just about a bike [Specialized Deja Tu Tandem] -- May 2013
8. Poster Girl -- Sept. 2011
9. The New Age: Post-Conversationalism -- Dec. 2010
10. Maladroit Is Not Manly -- Feb. 2010

A much more difficult distinction to make are those posts which I would identify as my own personal favorites.  But, at the moment, having recently reviewed all 199 of the posts written here to-date (present post excluded, natch), these are the ones I like best, numbering more than 10 in all, ordered only by publication date, and otherwise submitted to you, Dear Reader, without ranking; as always, of course, your mileage may vary:

My favorite posts, 2009-present:
Thanks for reading my blog, friend.  It's nice to know someone's out there, willing to spend a moment or two reading my words.  

I hope you'll stop by again soon.

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May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. -- Ed Abbey