Can’t…stop…blogging

Writing a newspaper column for nearly 12 years was an arduous task. It seems I whined about it regularly during my newspaper days. “So,” the average person would ask, “why would you continue to do this to yourself…for free?”
First of all, it was kind of for free when I was an editor. I got paid the same every week whether I wrote a column or not.
In the weeks after I was run out of the business, however, I had many gracious former readers who told me they missed my ramblings. This was normally immediately after I told these people that—no, I would NOT be starting a new newspaper, no matter HOW much they begged me.
Been there…done that.
Of course these days there are tens of thousands of bloggers out there on the Internet. The very few who have a large readership attract enough advertising to make some nice money, but most of us do not. I read someplace on the Internet that the average blogger is “a 14-year-old girl blogging about her cat.” I, of course, am a 51-year-old who…well…occasionally blogs about his cat.
Most bloggers, they say, do it mostly for themselves. It gives people a creative outlet, of sorts. The average blogger gets fewer than 10 hits per day.
My blog gets an average of 22 “unique” hits per day. That is, 22 different computers are recognized as opening the page at least once. I get an average of 35 “page views” per day. That means that 22 computers have opened the page 35 times during a 24-hour period. That could be the same person going in multiple times from the same computer in that day, or maybe two or three family members going in to read it from the same computer on the same day. For the sake of argument, though, we’ll just leave it at 22, meaning over the past 2-1/2 months I’ve been doing this, I’ve averaged around 154 readers per week. Far short of attracting advertisers, but enough so I know somebody out there is interested in my ramblings. Add in another handful who do not have Internet in their homes, and I know are reading printouts of the blog who don’t get counted, and maybe we hit 160.
These 160 people comment from time to time about what they’ve read. Most are complimentary. As long as I don’t let any politics creep into my blog, all are complimentary. It seems the “other side” doesn’t really feel a need to keep their comments civ…oops, there I go again.
Of course it is hard to tell how many even get to the end of the blog before they move on to something else. I would guess if I’m writing about the Minnesota sports scene, more than a few “X” out after the first paragraph. Fortunately for me, they are still counted as a “unique” hit.
We’ll see how many can fight off the urge to click out next week when I review next Monday’s colonoscopy.
Some people respond immediately with comments on the blog site, on facebook or by email. After last week’s column, for instance, I had several who were offering their services to help me protect my $50 million. So far I have a security guard, house cleaner, pet sitter and landscaper hired.
My sister Darla was offended that I’m not taking calls from siblings after my windfall. Fortunately she forgave me long enough to allow Kathy and me to visit her in Cloquet over the weekend, however. (I got to see FOUR movies during our stay. Maybe I’ll share some of my fortune with her after all!)
Then there is Albert Jaspersen in Tyler, who regularly sends word that he misses the newspaper days when I regularly dished up the dirt on my wife and kid, as well as my sister-in-law, Cruella.
I might point out that dishing up dirt on my wife when I’m working 70 hours per week and dishing up dirt on my wife when I’m working 40 hours per week is a big difference. We have enough uncomfortable silence in our house without me stoking the fire.
Cruella of Mankato, however, is a different story. After last week’s blog, I was reminded of the time she slipped me the fake lottery scratch-off card at Christmas. For about 120 seconds, I thought I had won $20,000. She even videotaped my astonished celebration. It wasn’t long after I received everything documented on a tape entitled, “Hook, Line and Sinker.”
This event went a long ways towards earning her current title.
If I can figure out the technology, I’ll upload the video to this site in the next couple of days. Those of you who don’t have Internet might have to pay a visit to your neighbors and have them type in http://markwilmes.blogspot.com.
Bottom line…thanks to those of you who read this stuff every week. Please pass it on to someone you think might be interested. Maybe someday I’ll hit that magical 200 per week level and leave those teenage kitty bloggers in the dust.