As you can see I wouldn't have many viewers if it wasn't for the Accretionary Wedge and for that I want to thank the people that thought up AW and have kept it going. I have enjoyed participating in it.
Here's the most viewed items.
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I also need to thank Lockwood over at Outside the Interzone. We used to be friends and I found him again through facebook back in Aug 2009. From his facebook page I discovered his blog. Through his blog I discovered the geoblogshpere. Through the geoblogsphere I found the Accretionary Wedge.
Up until then I had never been much on the computer, I always had too many other things going on. But once I discovered the geoblogsphere I got hooked on viewing the various blogs. I have a tendency to stick to the blogs that are active in the Accretionary Wedge. Over the last couple of years I feel like these blogs authors have become my friends. I love to read about all the wonderful things they are studying/ viewing/ thinking about -- I liked being able to be connected to geology again. Geology has always been a love of mine and I had gotten away from it for various reasons. It was nice to find other people who like geology as much as I do.
I also need to thank Silver Fox - she was the one who finally convinced me that I needed to have a blog. At first I didn't think I would want to post anything but then, I started to get into it and found out I did like doing it.
I know I'm not the best writer. I tell my kids you have to practice if you ever want to get good at something and writing post does give me some practice. It also makes me realize how much I've not used over that last 30 years since I've been out of college. Now a days I have very little reason to write, but feel like it is an important skill to have. This blog does help me with that.
And I know my geology is very rusty since I've been out of the field for close to 20 years and have forgotten a lot. Its amazing how when you don't work with something a lot how quickly you do forget stuff. Yet at the same time I am amazed that I do recall some of the stuff I do. I like being able to go back and look at that stuff again. But that's why I thing the geoblogsphere is so great. I can refresh my memory and get update with what others are writing about. I like the way it lets me explore so many different areas - areas that I may not have been able to study in great detail before.
I think it is so marvelous the way we can share images like we now can do. I remembered when I got into the geology there were very few photographic images. Most of the the things were hand drawn and written about. Sometime you think you understand what is being discussed but then when you would see it in person it would make more sense to you. With the images that are now shared it is another step along that line of helping you understand things better. Although I must admit, to me, nothing beats going out to the outcrop itself and seeing the material first hand.
I decided to do this blog because my kids wanted me to get into the 21st century and become computer literate. I thought if I could figure out how a blog works that would be a step along that line. Like how to import links and images. The funny thing about computers is that I used to be really into them back when I had more time to work with them. I had a Commodore 64 (that 64 was for 64 Kilobytes of memory) in the early 1980's. Then in the 90's I had a PC, and then a PC 286 and a PC 486 and a finally a pentium laptop. After a while I got tired of always having to learn how a new system worked. I got tired having to deal with adobe reader problems and not working with other things. I got tired of dealing with viruses and other computer glitches. I didn't have the time to relearn all this stuff and got to the point I just settled with what I had. Unfortunately what I had didn't have internet capability and thus that is how I got so out of date. This blog was to get me into it again and it did do that job.
I like having a blog because it let me keep other blogs that I like to follow in one spot. It makes it easy to check up on them because I can see when new post are out. At first I tried to connect with email feeds but I don't like that because of all the stuff that goes there and then having to plow through it all when I just want to find out what my meetings and such are. By having that feature I can go to them when I have time to really look at them and enjoy them.
I also like the fact that I could keep my trips and such in one spot too. I do have some post that I have not published - like my Ohio U reunion in Athens, Oh; a trip to Fort Smith, Jackson Ms, and Toledo Oh, that I may publish or may not but its nice to have them in one spot so if I want to post them I can ..
One of the main reasons I wanted to get involved is because I wanted to connect to other people. I wanted to meet people that liked Geology too. I am a little disappointed I just had two followers for the year - Dan and Meg. I want to thank you two for making that connection, I really did appreciate that. Because my followers were so few and it was discouraging to me to see it I decided to go ahead and remove that feature from my blog.
The good thing is I do know there are some people that follow me regularly through the All-Geo website and will look at my stuff that way. I should also thank the people at the All-Geo website that do pass on my post to others.
And finally I feel like I have made a friend through Dana Hunter @ En Tequila Es Verde. I just love the way she writes - she has so much enthusiasm about it. I'm glad she's channeled her talents to describing geologic items. She gives me inspiration as to how I can improve my writing.
I know this blog isn't as popular as some of the other blogs out there. I sometimes wonder why I bother with it. But to me its my stuff and Dana has encouraged me to keep after it if I'm only doing it for myself. Who knows maybe someday it may uplift or give someone some pleasure when they wanted something to take there minds off of their own troubles. I know the geoblogsphere was there for me when I really needed it the most to help deal with my brothers death. There were many a night I would escape into those blogs and got so much comfort from them when I was try to get over my grief of my loss. I loved the way they got me thinking about other things that had nothing to do with my life. I'm just grateful I now have a place I can escape to when I need to get a break from things.
I enjoyed your blog. I have been out of the field myself for a while. Its hard to find geology jobs these days. Its not like it use to be.
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