Break

Hello, everyone!

You may have noticed a bit of a decline in the amount of new posts around here. Sorry about that!

I just wanted to “officially” say that this blog is going to take a little break.  I hope that you’re a subscriber so that you can pick right up with me when I resume posting here.

Nothing’s the matter, it’s just that this is a peak “busy-ness” time for me and something had to give.

So that’s why you haven’t seen anything much here lately.

In the meantime, you can keep watching for new pingbacks on the St. Francis Project.  Folks are writing some great stuff about that.

I hope things are going well for all of you and I look forward to resuming blogging here soon.

Thanks to my community

I’d just like to take a moment to thank everyone who contributed to this blog in the month of January. I always love reading your comments, and I hope you feel appreciated!  The sense of community is what I like most about blogging. So thank you for your participation and I hope to hear fromall of you again soon.

Links below the fold!

A Worthwhile Project

I came across a very worthy project that I wanted to share:

Life is beautiful!

The author, Ingmar Weber, is trying to learn the phrase “life is beautiful” in as many languages as possible.  He is sharing the results of his project with us on his blog.  He’s also collecting recordings in different languages and dialects.

I wonder if Missouri Bootheel counts as a valid dialect?

Frigorific

Did you know that “frigorific” means “chilling?”

If so, you might be able to outscore me at freerice.com.   I’m throwing down a challenge to all my readers:

• Don’t look at the comments yet! (I’ll put my best level in the comments section.)
• Go and play until you’ve donated at least 500 grains.
• Come back and post your top “level” and see if you can beat me.

Remember, it’s for a good cause.

The Saint Francis Project

I’ve been missing the collaboration with other bloggers that came as a result of The Desiderata Project. So, I’ve decided to try to organize another project for February, The Saint Francis Project. I’m looking for other bloggers who would be willing to write four posts during the month of February that interpret, reflect on, or apply The Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi. We’ll break the prayer down into four sections, which should allow bloggers leeway to find a phrase that appeals to them. Bloggers will of course have complete freedom to personalize and write whatever they choose.

Bloggers will post their material on their own blogs. This blog will simply serve as a “hub” for the project. Throughout the month of February I will be linking to bloggers partcipating in the project, and will encourage participants to link one another to enhance the collaborative spirit of the project.

Please indicate by commenting that you intend to participate in the project. Feel free to link to this post on your blog to help get the word out.

I look forward to reading everyone’s thoughts and reflections on this beautiful work.

Week One: February 1-9
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;

Week Two: Februrary 10-16
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.


Week Three: February 17-23
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

Week Four: February 24-March 1
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

Aw, shucks!

If a blog could blush, this would one would be! Recently, two of my favorite bloggers were kind enough to pass along some cool awards to me. This was quite a surprise and a pleasant random act of blogging kindness.

First, my long time blog buddy Sam presented me with the “Thinking Blogger Award.” Here it is, in all of its awardness:

Sam even had some nice things to say:

My first reaction to some of the blog’s positivity is “No. You’re wrong. (Insert argument here.)” But I can’t say that. Because even if I’m right — as my ego tells me I so often am — I would be wrong to say so. Hmph. It’s a catch-22! And since I can’t express my initial thoughts, I ended up thinking about it, until, sometimes, I concede that I might not have been completely right, anyway.

I’m happy to know that the things written here provoke some thought. And again, I don’t want everyone to get the idea that I’m trying to present my life as perfect or that my attitude is always as it should be. I choose to emphasize the positive here, because it helps remind me that I have much to be thankful for.

I would like to pass this award on to Fun Spirit. I triple-dog dare ya to read that blog and not smile.

I was also pleased to receive another award, this one given by my friend Danielle from The Bipolar Diaries. This is the “Bloggers Who Build Community Award.” I am particularly pleased to receive this award from Danielle, since I think that she does an excellent job of building community over at her place. Danielle is one of those ideal bloggers who will send you personal emails when you comment on her entries, comes back to comment regularly at your blog, and even occasionally just writes a post devoted to thanking all of her readers. Yep, she’s the kind of blogger that we all want to be more like. So thank you, Danielle. I appreciate it very much.

Thanks, also, for the nice things you had to say:

It’s always been such a heartwarming experience to visit his place. He remains positive and encouraging with each post and I am always inspired to write a response to one of his many thought provoking prompts.

At the risk of seeming a bit circular, I’ve got to pass this award on to Sam. All you have to do is hang around Sam’s place a little bit and you will see that she takes good care of her readers. As far as I can see, she responds to every comment left on her entries. She also frequently links to her readers and posts about stuff that she knows her readers will like. It’s no wonder that those of us who read her blog are fairly devoted.

Sharing the Link Love

It’s always a bit like Christmas morning when I load up Technorati to find out who’s linking to my blog.  I love reading posts inspired by what’s written here. It’s a gift that never gets old.

I just want to thank all of you who read this blog, participate by commenting, and especially those who link back in posts of your own. You certainly make blogging even more fun.

Here’s a little sampler of some people who’ve linked in lately:

Talking Toys by Rob of 2Dolphins

The Internet Exploded by Vali

Your Greatest Teachers over at Brighter Days For You And Me (which you should be subscribed to if you aren’t already!)

Monday Meme, part of Stuff Jen Says

Here, Take This Meme by Nicki from They’re All Our Children!

My Turn by Tim of Outnumbered

Thanks again! That’s just a sampler, but I definitely wanted to return some link love.

State of the Blog

Well, it’s time for me to answer my own questions!  Thanks to everyone who participated this week. I really appreciate it.

1. What motivated or inspired you to start blogging and how long have you been doing it?

My wife and I started blogging because it seemed like a better option than sending out mass emails every so often to folks that we thought might want to know what was new in our lives.  The family blog was intended to keep family and friends up to date.  Our first blog post was May 31, 2005.

2. What are your goals, purposes, or reasons for blogging?

I started this blog because I realized that blogging was becoming my main hobby.  I enjoyed the process, the interaction, meeting new people, and I love writing.  I decided to launch my own blog, and even bought a domain and everything.  everyeveryminute.com  lasted for a couple of weeks before I lost the battle with “pro” WordPress. I was spending more time trying to “fix” the blog than I was blogging.  I switched back over to free WordPress as my platform.

When I started this blog, my main purpose was just to be positive.  I wanted to focus on the good aspects of life, celebrate the “little things,” and share good news.

3. In your opinion, is your blog “successful?”

I enjoy the interactions that I’ve had on this blog, and I really loved what people wrote for the Desiderata Project.  That was a fun way to spend a month in the early life of this blog.  I love the exchange of ideas with other bloggers.  I enjoy going off to visit the blogs of commenters.  If the purpose of this blog is to be a fun hobby for me, then I’d have to say it’s a success.

4. If you pay attention to your blog statistics, rankings, number of comments, number of visitors, etc., share some of your significant numbers.

I do check my stats daily.  During October I was averaging about 100 hits per day.  Now it seems to have dropped down to about half that.  I also check my Technorati Authority, mostly to see if anyone’s linked in.  But I have to say I do enjoy seeing that “score” my blog has over there.

Essentially, I’m very happy that you are reading this blog and hope you’ll stick around.  Thanks for giving me an audience!

Glitches and Outages

I apologize to those of you who tried to access the blog yesterday, and couldn’t.  Temporarily, my account was suspended by WordPress.com.  Apparently, there were quite a few blogs around the net yesterday impacted by this.  To their credit, support at WordPress was very quick in responding to my email when I discovered what had happened.  They apologized for the “technical glitch” and got the blog back online.

I’d like to thank those of you who emailed me to ask what was up.  I appreciate your concern.  It seems like everything is back to normal now.

In other news, I haven’t received today’s Desiderata post yet.  I’ll post it as soon as it’s available.

Glad to be back!

Giving Away the Giveaway

Congratulations to Laura of Laura Williams’ Musings. She is the winner of the My Favorite Things Giveway.  A lil’ box o’ goodness will be on its way to her as soon as she sends me her address.

Thanks to Laura and Sam for playing.  And hey, Sam was kind of a winner, too.