The Curmudgeonly Professor

Happy Fourth Anniversary to the Curmudgeonly Professor Blog

Amazing. I realized a few days ago that the Curmudgeonly Professor Blog is four years old.  And though I was creeping along in old age when I started the blog, I am now four years more advanced in age.  Thus, I thought it was time to congratulate myself for actually starting something, keeping it going, and for trying to make the blog better as the months and years went by.

When I started the blog four years ago, I knew absolutely nothing about blogging.  I read about 10 pages in a  blogging handbook.  I tried Blogger and, indeed, started several family blogs on Blogger.  But Typepad seemed to offer some advantages so I have been with them ever since.  I remember how I posted my first few blog posts with fear and trepidation.  I thought my sisters would look at it, and maybe my wife, but had no expectations of anyone else ever spending time on it.

Here is my four year progress report:

• 123,000 total page views.  Average of 84 per day over 4 years; daily average is now 120-140.
• 4,255 total posts, with many thousand photos.
• 1432 comments.

A wise blogger reminded me when I was whining about low page views that I should remember I am doing the blog primarily for myself.  Following is a summary of what I have learned in my four years of effort:

• I have spent anywhere from 2-5 or more hours per day on the blog, depending on whether I had to edit photos to post, which time can't be charged totally to the blog.
• My photography skills have grown significantly, and my love of photography and everything that is interesting or beautiful has increased exponentially.
• The blog has helped me through some dark days of health issues in my family.
• The beauty of nature captured through photography has provided a calming and inspirational blessing in my life.
• My blog is now read in countries throughout the world.  Had I just kept my photos on my hard drive, maybe two or three people would ever have seen them.  My hope is that people everywhere will have some appreciation for the scenes and places and objects I photograph.
• My sisters have stopped editing my blog although I know I still make blunders.

People who dismiss blogging are missing a wonderful opportunity to expand their own creative abilities and insights, and are foregoing an exceptional opportunity to keep in touch with their loved ones and friends.  

Plans for the future:

• I hope to improve my photography skills.  I may actually read my camera manual, because I want to start posting HD Video, which I can take with my Canon 7d.
• I am going to start writing again, something I have done in only short spurts while I have focused in photos and photo editing.

I extend my warmest best wishes and thanks to all those who have followed my blog and who watch it on a daily basis.  You can always skip the stuff you don't like, since no one can bat 100% on good stuff each day.  I especially thank those in places around the world.  I would like to hear from you and learn your reactions to the photos I post, and to learn your likes and dislikes.  Meanwhile, no one knows the future, especially at my age, but I am planning on another four years.  One month has gone by.

 

My Two Week Vacation is Up and Still Don't Know What to do with my Blog

Two weeks ago I declared a two week respite from spending 2-4 hours a day blogging, not being certain what I would do after that time was up.  I remain uncertain.  Here is a summary of the past two weeks:

1. The number of page views remained constant at 120+ per day more or less anyway, so I thought, why blog any more?  With over 4000 links and dozens of Google listings, I still get people looking at the same old stuff.
2. I had my 79th birthday. Noting that many people my age are already dead, I wondered why an old geezer should be a blogger when primarily blogging is for young mothers with multiple offspring and a plethora of mostly unpleasant stuff to clean up and write about each day.
3. I didn't notice that I had any more time to spare than I had before when I was doing compulsory blogging duties each day.
4. I didn't do any of the things I planned to do, like read a book, study my camera manual, clean up my den, or become more dignified in recognition of my advanced age.  None of these things happened.
5. I went to the eye doctor and found I still have 20-20 vision from cataract surgery a dozen years ago with no signs of glaucoma or macular degeneration.
6. I went to the Ear-Nose-Throat doctor to get my hearing checked since my wife was tired of my saying "what?" a million times a day.  I came out with hearing aids and now I can hear stuff I may not really have wanted to hear before.
7. I watched the GOP cannibalize one another on another legendary "debate."
8. I went to Costco to participate in impulse buying of large quantities of stuff.
9. I went to the farmer's market.
10. I went to see the movie "The Help" which was truly one of the impressive moments of the past two weeks.

This blog post reminds me of the second grade, when every Monday morning we each had to stand in front of the class and recite "what I did over Saturday and Sunday." We lived 12 miles out in the country and there wasn't anything new to do each weekend anyway so I made stuff up.  My teacher did not appreciate this creativity and told me to follow her one day when she took me up the back stairs of East Side Grade School and deposited me in Miss Joneson's 3d grade, now rid of the troublesome and obnoxious brat.  But all this stuff in the above list is 100% true.  And I'm still trying to figure out if my blog is worth keeping.

 

The Curmudgeonly Professor Offers Five Reasons to Start a Blog

Here are five reasons to start a blog:

1. Instead of muttering to  yourself, you begin communicating with people all over the world.
2. You will improve your writing.
3. Your creativity will blossom as you learn how to develop your blog.
4. You can provide information that can entertain, inspire, help, or irritate other people, as your talents dictate.
5. Your photography skills will improve exponentially.

Start by going to Blogger.com.  Even a 10 year old can set up a blog. 

 

 

A Milestone for the Curmudgeonly Professor's Blog: 100,059 lifetime page views

After a bit over three years of blogging on my Curmudgeonly Professor blog, I finally hit the 100,000 mark for total accumulated page views.  When I started the Curmudgeonly Professor over three years ago, I wondered if anyone besides my sisters would ever look at it.  Now I get hits from all over the world.  For the first year, I rarely averaged over 30-40 page views per day; for the second year and into the third year, the average was more like 70-80 page views per day.  Now, my average is somewhere in the 130-150 page view range.  I know these numbers are piddly small compared to people who started their blog and thousands immediately flocked to them.  But the numbers are rewarding enough to continue blogging, at least for the time being.

My main blogging topic is flowers with some scenic photography and other odds and ends thrown in.  I never know what is going to attract viewers.  A photo of flappers from the 1920s and a photo of Lahaina's great Banyan tree still attract viewers every day, for some reason.  My blog is copyrighted, and I just have to trust my viewers that they are not abusing this copyright.  As I continue the blog, I intend to watermark the photos to provide some additional security.

I have no idea whether people really find the photos and comments I post to be of value.  I like to think that pictures of flowers can spread cheer, hope, and even comfort to those in need of hope and comfort.  As I continue on into the future, I've thought I should fine tune my blog and make it more of a niche blog rather than a catchall of whatever strikes me each day as being worth posting.  But I probably won't get around to that since I am comfortable with the blog the way it is.  I do hope I can double the page views again the next year or year and a half to the 300 page view range.  And maybe some day I will just get tired of it and just stop.  But when I just took about 300 more photos of flowers in the past three days, what else am I to do with them?  Just store them on my hard drive?  At least by posting them I can share what I have seen and what has impressed and touched me with the hope you will find a ray of beauty in them yourselves.  So off we go to the 200,000 accumulated page view milestone.  So I wish the Curmudgeonly Professor blog a happy third anniversary and hope the best for it in the futre.