I was deep into a glass of Moscato at the bar at The Cheesecake Factory Monday night when one of those semi-annoying Facebook notifications popped up on my phone saying someone tagged me in a post. I put my glass down and went online to see what was up.
Much to my surprise, I was told that my blog – the very one you’re reading right now – was selected as the “Blog of the Week” back in my hometown. Yep, my musings will be featured this Thursday on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton PA NBC affiliate WBRE, or “Channel 28” as we used to call it way back when.
Even though I moved out of the area quite some time ago, and just recently sold the albatross of a home I owned up there, I was surprised and honored to have my blog selected.
With this news, it was time to order a tequila shot to celebrate!
As the magic elixir began to work its magic I started thinking about the path the blog has taken over the years. I started out blogging back in March of 2009 and since then I’ve written nearly 700 pieces of stuff I often wonder if people really read.
In the beginning my posts were focused on what I knew best – eCommerce. I shared tips, advice and “what worked for me” stories based on my nearly 20 years of experience in owning online stores. In between, I took on the trials of life from crying babies on flights to losing a beloved pet.
I spent a great many hours writing about the corrupt politicians and a broken judicial system in Luzerne County (PA). Politicians who spent time in jail, judges behind bars, other assorted stuff a normal person could not make up, filled the news and made for great blog posts.
One of my most memorable was about a Luzerne County judge who lost his bid for re-election over a photo of him hanging with another judge who is now locked up in a federal prison. The blog post called, “Peter Paul, Mike and Ron,” got picked up and linked to by several national newspapers in articles written about the scandal at the time.
I went on to write a few other followup posts about the situation and realized it was time to switch focus early one morning when I was boarding a plane. As I took my seat, a very tall, familiar looking guy walked on, stared at me dead in the face, then took his seat across the aisle from me.
It was none other than the judge in the infamous photo.
We shared uncomfortable glances, but never a word.
It was a long 90 minute flight to say the least.
As I continued to write about life, minus corrupt politicians, I started interjecting something new to the blog – cruise reviews. As someone who spends several weeks a year on different cruise ships, I thought it would be fun to share my experiences with my readers.
My daily reports from the cruise ships started to take on a life on their own, being picked up by travel blogs, cruise related message boards, and the cruise lines themselves. As they became more frequent, and a big part of the blog, Google gave them lots of love and the cruise lines took notice.
Fast forward to today, where the focus of my blog is on cruising, dining in and around South Florida, and the occasional rant about things that make life somewhat interesting at times such as my great disappointment in pasta that was supposed to look like Mickey Mouse, but didn’t.
I think I’ve shared just about everything I know about eCommerce. I wrote enough about politics and the corruption that is part of the gig. And am now comfortable writing about things that none of us can ever tire of – vacation and food!
Thanks to all my readers and for the folks back home for selecting this piece of Internet real estate as the “Blog of the Week.” I promise to keep the posts coming!