The PhotoLog Celebrates it's 5th Birthday!

Can you believe it's been 5 years since the very first posting of The PhotoLog? Five frickin' years mind you. Man, that's a long time ago. It's seems like only yesterday that we were digging through our memorabilia in search of that special photo in need. Yet, in reality, we're still searching for that special picture while plugging away for a ever-fresh storyline. More importantly, we've had a blast doing so while reconnecting with many old friends in the process. With all things considered, your feedback supports that we've always kept the editorial content enlightening while consistently maintaining the high-road. We've strived to be original while fashioning ourselves somewhere between the humor of Andy Rooney and Dennis Miller. But as a result, we've probably ended-up sounding more like a Rodney Dangerfield. That's not so bad because if the truth be known, it's our belief that positioning yourself somewhere in the mix certainly beats not positioning yourself in the mix at all. Looking back, we confess the building of a blog from scratch while aiming to connect with a global audience has not been without it's challenges. We're under no illusions here. As you have it, they don't give away scholarships or humanitarian awards for such. I mean...bloggers are bloggers. We're like that proverbial army of worker ants determined to build a mountain of information. Surely that outta get you something, right? But if the truth be known, the information highway doesn't offer many perks. By that I mean we haven't received any invitations to tour The White House as of yet. Plus, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame ain't come knocking at our door. I mean, living in Seattle, you'd think someone at least would offer up a free Starbucks or something. Perhaps a Microsoft grant maybe? But nooooo. (Play background music please; "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me.")

Beyond a doubt, we hope that we've created an atmosphere of good spirit. From day one our goal has been to build a blog that is referenced for archive purposes while combining a light-hearted attitude to boot. We call it a 'Cyber-Book.' To be honest, we've had our fair share of those critics who nitpick our flaws. Call it the realities of going public or call it professional jealousies. One such critic responded that the blog's, "Always about you" while his associate claimed, "It's a self-serving blog." Of course, neither of those jocks have blogs. Better still, neither of those guys even have websites. Maybe I should have named the blog, "John Doe's Photolog" instead of using my own name. Perhaps I should'a used their personal photographs instead of including my own. But heck, what do those mudslingers know anyway? Webster's Dictionary calls those people, 'Gutter Snipes.' Those folks careers landed them emceeing Bingo contests down at the casinos. Furthermore, I don't recall those guys being on the road with any music icons or photographing any Rock legends. (Pssssss....Blowing-off steam....Thank you)

Looking back, we are very thankful of our supportive audience. If a blog can gauge it's popularity from the amount of it's visitors who have actually viewed the site, we're proud to say that our global traffic has come from over 135 different countries. At first we were reluctant to go public but that's when we came upon a inspirational article that changed our attitude. Five years ago in a BUSINESS WEEK cover story the magazine touted that, "Blogs Will Change Your Business." In the accompanying article they wrote: "...you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they're going to shake up just about every industry."

That was 5 years ago. Long before the blogging world became a dominate factor. Before the Internet posed a threat to take over any businesses. That was several years before the print media went into a tail-spin. Several years before the Smart Car. Before Facebook. That was 5 long years ago. My oh my, how time slips away. I was so much older then. But I'm younger than that now. Long before Windows Vista tanked. The very same time that MSNBC and CNN started to take a nose dive. That was 5 long years ago. About the same time that CBS's Katie Couric was sucking-up to the Kerry-Edwards ticket. Oh yes, we remember.

Now don't get us wrong. We're not trying to suggest that we invented the blog. No way that we'd attempt to steal that distinction away from Al Gore. We found out early that the formula for a successful blog was adding photographs while sprinkling-in a little satire. During the initial period of trial-and-error we ended-up finding our groove. We were just fortunate enough to be on the launching pad at an early stage. But maybe, just maybe, we helped bring to the forefront the popularity of Pop Culture blogs. We're well aware that we haven't been the best blog or most knowledgeable. Plus we're careful not to take our self's too serious. But this is our moment Man. Now's our anniversary. With that being said, we proudly stick-out our chest and flex our muscles. Guess it's now okay for us to pull a Red Auerbach and fire-up a big fat victory cigar to celebrate. Happy 5th Birthday Photolog. "Keep On Blogging".