Musings

I’ve Heard The First 1,000 Blog Posts Are The Hardest

Somehow I got myself into the world of the interwebz five and a half years ago and now I have reached the milestone of this being my one thousandth blog post (WordPress keeps count, I do not).  Much has changed in the intervening years as the web site/blog grow ever closer into conformity with my original vision for the vehicle.

A rough estimate for my total blogging output is around 400,000 words and 7,000 images posted, about half the word length of The Bible but with way more pictures.

The followers of the blog are a stubbornly loyal lot, with almost 400 faithful readers; my current level of readership was reached in October 2013 and has remained unchanged in the aggregate ever since.  They/you are a fine source of encouragement and validation, and on several occasions provided topics to explore on the blog.  For example, I will post this week on a topic of re-inventing an ancient technology based on an inquiry I received via a query submitted to the Contact function on the site a couple months ago.

I’ve established a routine for blogging, posting almost every weekday morning and Saturday night unless I am occupied with someone, something, or some place else.  I tend to keep several thread arcs running simultaneously since I get distracted easily.  Revisions to the site shell or the Store are left in the capable hands of webmeister Tim.  I am of an age and experience that I still think flames might shoot out of the screen if I do something wrong.

Over the past year the entire web site has been migrated from a far-obsolete software platform and crotchety server to new ones capable of fulfilling my expansive vision for using donsbarn.com not only as a blogging platform but also a venue for both vending and a more intense didactic resource, including  full-length professional broadcast-quality and “shop tip/techniques” type videos.  To that end I am learning some simple video editing skills to make the latter possible.  Still, even baby steps into new technologies are not always smooth.

I’ve even started posting the Calendar of events at The Barn.

One of my delights is that the Comments feature is back on-line, and that the trash filter on that section is becoming more efficient over time.  I really do not need to review several daily “comments” referencing the need to wear my seat belt in order to avoid being drenched in my own urine.  Huh?  Really.  No, I do not know why, nor do I understand how novel length “comments” in Russian, Polish, Arabic, or Chinese are expected to provoke me to respond meaningfully.  Or buy fake watches, sneakers, or anything else.  One of the genres of Comment I find amusing are the daily fulsome praises for the site and my blogging prowess, presumably the messages or their links open me up to some sort of hacking or other fraud.  I literally chuckle when I get the frequent notes offering to create article$ on my behalf since I “do not update the blog content very often.”  I find that I must still take a few seconds every few days to breeze through the trash pile just in case something useful got there by mistake, which does happen.

On the vending front The Store is now operational with new products in the pipeline for the near future, and others a little further down the line.

Other imminent improvements include reviving The Shellac Archive, with several hundred offerings being readied for posting on (I hope) a near-weekly basis, and revitalizing my article archive with another few dozen of them.  I’m even thinking about serializing some of my mystery fiction if the spirit moves me.  I also know I need to update and expand some of the foundational documents and maybe add a Gallery of my projects.  At this point the only limits to the web site are my time and interest.  Well, that and money in the case of broadcast-quality videos.

For those of you who follow and are amused or informed by my recitations on the journey of life at The Barn on White Run, thanks for tagging along.  If you like what you see, tell your friends.  If you dislike what you see, tell your enemies.

I’ll emote some more tomorrow.  Gotta get going on the second thousand blog posts.

Stay tuned.