Blogging

B&P Turns 17

Today, March 31, marks the 17th anniversary of the start of Bits & Pieces.  It was on this date in 2002 that I started B&P over on Blogger.  After a short while, we moved to a self-hosted WordPress blog.

It has been a major part of my life these last 17 years.  And I’m sure I wouldn’t still be doing it if it weren’t for the wonderful people that have come together as contributors, readers and especially commenters to make Bits & Pieces what I like to call our little worldwide neighborhood.  

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Meeting me – Meeting you

I had the pleasure of meeting Paul in Fort Lauderdale for lunch today.  

Fort to Fort – Paul made the two-hour drive from Fort Lauderdale to Fort Myers where we had lunch.  Paul is a very personable and down to earth guy and it was an interesting conversation about several topics including Uber, that Paul drives for. A very nice lunch conversation not to mention some nice scenery at Twin Peaks.

 

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Meeting me – Meeting you

We met with two of my Port Charlotte friends, Fungus and Lunchbox at the Broad Streed Bar & Grill.  Two quick witted fun guys entertained us and bought our drinks. A finer pair of guys would be hard to find.  From left to right: Fungus (Dave), Jonco (me), Lunchbox (Mike) and my brother Paul.  We had a great time.  Thanks, gentlemen.  Photo by the ever resourceful Google expert, Haley. 

 

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B&P Turns 15

Today, March 31, marks the 15th anniversary of the start of Bits & Pieces.  It was on this date in 2002 that I started B&P over on Blogger.  After a short while, I moved to a self-hosted WordPress blog.  

It has been a major part of my life these last 15 years.  And I’m sure I wouldn’t still be doing it if it weren’t for the wonderful people that have come together as contributors, readers and especially commenters to make Bits & Pieces what I like to call our little worldwide neighborhood.  

The number of daily visitors is down significantly from our heyday back in 2009-2010, but we still managed to get more than 3.3 million page views last year.  I don’t know if the lower numbers indicate just a general blogging trend or if I’m not keeping up with the times in one sense or another.  With the lower page views and with Amazon abandoning their affiliate program in Missouri the income produced here has also taken a dive.  It still covers expenses of running the site which continue to be on the rise but doesn’t leave a  whole lot extra. Having to pay for hosting and purchase more security utilities to keep the site safe from hackers takes a toll on any advertising profits.

I still enjoy working on the site and interacting with the B&P community (for the most part, anyway) but I also sometimes think about scaling back the time spent on here every now and then.  I don’t think I’ll ever stop having a web presence like this but it would be nice to be able to step away every now and then and not feel guilty about doing so.

As I said earlier, you, the person reading this, is the reason this website exists and has existed for so long.  15 years is more than a lifetime, maybe more than a couple of lifetimes, for many blogs.  I’m proud of what we have here and of the people who visit.  I’ve met many of you in person and have enjoyed doing so.  I’ve communicated with many, many more and almost all of those communications have been friendly, productive and satisfying.

Thanks to all who send me post suggestions whether it’s regularly or just every now and then to those who just stop by and read, whether occasionally or every day and most importantly those who have left comments and become true neighbors and friends in our little worldwide neighborhood.  I’m humbled by your kindness.

 

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Blogging Oops!

I have a separaoopste tab in my browser where I compose Link Dumps.  As the day or days go by I add links to that post in that tab.  Sometimes I use things that people have sent me.  After I add a link to the post I usually delete their email so I don’t increase my current number of emails in my inbox which stands at 22,120. Yeah, I know, I need to thin the herd a bit.  Anyway, when I feel I have enough posts I’ll set it to Publish.  I had the Link Dump all ready to post last night and decided I’d do it first thing this morning.  Overnight my computer rebooted to install some update I guess, and I lost about half of the items in the Link Dump.  I couldn’t remember what they were, but surely they were the best links ever and now they’re lost forever.  

Overnight my computer rebooted to install some update I guess, and I lost about half of the items in the Link Dump.  I couldn’t remember what they were, but surely they were the best links ever and now they’re lost forever.  So, if you sent me something that was the best thing ever and don’t see it posted, that’s why.

Life goes on.  

 

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