As a relative newcomer to this whole blogging thing (although I find it hard to believe I’ve been at it for over a year now), I am always on the lookout for other blogs that interest me. Lately I have found myself making frequent trips to the following blogs. I share them here in the spirit of blogging camaraderie and sharing (it’s always good to share right?). You may find something here that interests you…you might not…but it never hurts to try something new once in a while. Note that I am not including blogs on this list from people I know personally…it’s nothing personal (pun intended), but I’m trying to expand my horizons too (you can check out all the blogs I read on the sidebar links)…

dBlogIt

Author: Dustin Boston
Tag-line: A Christian Blog about Manhood & Masculinity for Christian Men
My Thoughts:I absolutely love the theme, content, and writing that Dustin does on this blog. It’s written from a Christian perspective, but it’s not all “uppity spiritual” (I know, that’s not a word). This is Christian manhood at it’s best…real, authentic, and practical. I especially liked his blogs on the manliest cars and making the switch to a push mower. Dustin does some great writing and the topics are right up my alley. You won’t be disappointed.

Grow Some Onions! 

Author: G. Scott (a.k.a: “Big Daddy”)
Tag-line: Because the World Needs REAL Men
My Thoughts: First, i absolutely love the blog name, logo, and tag line! I continue to be amazed at how creative other people are. Again, this is a blog geared toward Christian men and I like the topics and posts I’ve read so far. It too is “down to earth”…Big Daddy keeps it real (if not edgy) and speaks to practical issues and topics. Check it out.

I AM (not)

Author: Natalie Witcher
Tag-line: He’s God. I’m Not. It Works.
My Thoughts:Natalie’s blog is certainly in contrast to the two above, but having a balance is always good. She writes from a female perspective, of course, but is still comes from a Biblical perspective. Her writing style is smooth and easy to read and I love her sense of humor! The blog design is out of this world and she keeps you coming back for more. Check out this “softer side” of the Christian blogging community.

There ya go…like I’ve said (too many times)…check these blogs out and let me (and them) know what you think. And if you’ve got a blog or two that you recommend, please share…you’ll make your mom so proud!

I saw this comic in last weekend’s newspaper (yes,I’m that far behind) and couldn’t resist sharing. I’m not saying this is me…but…

My beautiful bride has taken the plunge into cyberspace and the world of blogging with her very own blog site! You can find her at (also linked on my sidebar):

A Girl Needs Accessories

I highly recommend you check it out…she will be sharing funny stories from hers/our life as well as her passions. I must admit that she is much wittier and funnier than I am…it’s a blog sure to be a hit! Stop by and drop her a comment or two (she already is making my jealous for the comments on her first blog).

I find it hard to believe myself, but Journeyman Journal officially turned one year old yesterday. So this post will be a little bit of a retrospective on the last year with some “interesting” facts and a few of my favorite posts from the last 12 months.

First, let’s start with my first post ever where I laid out my goals and intentions for my own personal blog. Here’s a quick excerpt from the post that states what my intentions were, and still are, for this blog:

My intent is for the Journeyman Journal to be a repository of random thoughts and ideas—a place for me to share what God is doing in my life and have a place to sharpen the often wild and crazy ideas the Spirit lays on me. I don’t pretend to have the answers…but I do know The Answer and am getting to know Him more and more every day. He’s got me on a grand journey and I’m along for the ride wherever that takes us.

In December of this year God gave me a Theme Verse for Journeyman Journal (you can read the full blog on December 27th). Here’s the theme verse:

Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.
Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is.
For I am your guest—a traveler passing through, as my ancestors were before me.
Psalm 39:4, 12b

Here are a few Journeyman Journal statistics over the past 365 days:

1. There have been 180 posts over this year (an average of one every other day).
2. There have been 142 comments to go along with them (not bad!)
3. There have been 1,892 visitors from 19 different countries: USA, Jamaica, Australia, Costa Rica, United Arab Emirates, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, India, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, France, Czech Republic, American Samoa, Trinidad & Tobago, Iran, Canada, and Russia.

Here are the Top 3 Most Popular Posts (by visits):

1. Wordpress Upgrade Day: I think this is largely due to the “Google Factor”. People searching for Wordpress upgrade help have found there way to this post. I wish I had been more detailed in the post…next time.
2. The Taser: This one is also my favorite post of all time (see the list below). This post if flat out hilarious! If you haven’t read it…what are you waiting for?
3. Football Is Coming!: I think the comments drove the visits to this post…certainly wasn’t the post itself since all I was saying was that I couldn’t wait for football season to start. Nothing spectacular, but it struck a nerve somewhere.

My Favorite Posts (in date order):
   Note that I did a similar list on my 100th Blog…of course it’s hard to narrow the list down out of 180 posts, but these are just 12 of my most favorite (I’m sure I’ve missed a few as I tried to spread out the topics)…

1. Sages - June 8th
        *The people who have shaped my life.
2. The Lighter Side- July 4th
        *Used underwear?? What?
3. The Great Sand Dunes- July 16th
        *Be sure you watch the video on this post…it’s priceless.
4. Practical Atheism- September 16th
        *My favorite more serious post
5. Pennies Should be Outlawed- September 19th
        *My personal pet-peeve and quest
6. The Taser - October 22nd
        *Be FAR the funniest post. I challenge you NOT to laugh!
7. Don’t Judge By the Cover - December 4th
        *The surprise video of the year!
8. The Wrong Question - January 21st
        *A more serious post about Genesis, prompted by a sermon at church
9. Drive Thru Blues- March 7th
        *A Little Self-Deprecation never hurt anyone
10. Some British Humor - May 5th
         *Some good, old fashioned British bathroom humor (in video form even)
11. My Favorite Chuck Norris Facts - May 15th
         *If you haven’t shared your own favorite, what are you waiting for?
12. I’m a What?- May 30th
         *Found out I’m not a Republican! Find out what I am and take the test yourself (you might be surprised!)

I have absolutely loved the interaction with everyone who reads the blog!! Thanks for taking the time and sharing your own thoughts and comments. If you enjoy it, please pass it along to others. Want to see something (or which I’d stop doing something)? Drop me a comment and let me know.

Here’s to another year ahead as we share the Journey of God together. He never disappoints…it’s always fun! Thanks again!!

That’s how I spent this past weekend: A Ring, A Play, and a Plane.

First: A Ring. Friday night I took Anita out for a special night at Del Frisco’s Steakhouse. To make a long story short (ask me, or better yet Anita, for the details if you want them) I surprised my beautiful bride with a new, long awaited wedding ring (remember, we got married at 19 and 20 years old). She deserves it and for once in my life I was able to genuinely surprise her! Score one for the good guys!

Second: A Play. Saturday was B-U-S-Y with school work and preparation for teaching on Sunday morning…lots of computer work! But the evening was capped off by watching my fabulous daughter perform in her school’s production of The Wizard of Oz. She played the part of a lead chorus singer and munchkin. She had a lot of fun on the production and it’s always fun watching her perform.

Finally: A Plane. Sunday afternoon I jetted off to San Francisco, CA to attend a conference for work. As I type this that’s where I am. There are worse places to be, but I also hate being away from home and the family! I hate leaving Anita to deal with everything on here own. I get back Thursday night and I can’t wait.

You know, now that I’m done typing all of this I realized that probably two other people on the entire planet actually care. C’est la vie! On a more practical note, I will probably be a little more lax on my posting this week. Don’t worry…I’ll be back! Stay tuned…

Anita got an email this week from a friend of hers with a list of 50 odd questions and answers. It’s one of those things you’re supposed to answer and then forward to all your friends…who are then supposed to answer and send them back to you (makes my head hurt). Anyway, the list had some fun questions and I’ve been looking for a way to “spice up” my About Me page so I took 32 of the questions and added them there.

I won’t copy the entire list here…but check out the About Me page and take a look. Feeling adventurous? Copy the list and answer them yourself…kind of fun.

UPDATE: CSS Naked Day is over…the post makes less sense now. On to more productive things!

Why does the Journeyman Journal look so bad today?
Because today is the Annual CSS Naked Day.
Ugly isn’t it?

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets and it’s the technology behind most website design nowadays (including mine). For one day, this (and many other) websites worldwide will go “naked” (removing all CSS) to promote Web Standards (I know…geeky).

To learn more visit the Annual CSS Naked Day website for more information.

The site will be back to normal tomorrow…until then, I’m naked! 

This particular post has one goal…to encourage more interaction on Journeyman Journal. I’m calling for more comments. Now I must confess that I will continue to blog even if nobody reads or cares because it’s therapeutic, but having interaction on the site makes the whole experience richer for everyone.

I recognize that there may be several reasons that I don’t get many comments on the site. I can think of three main reasons off the top of my head (if I missed any, please comment on it):

1. You don’t know how to leave a comment.This one I can solve for you since it is a very simple process. There are two ways to navigate to leave a comment: a. Click on the post title above (in this case, “Calling All Comments…” or b) Click on the “X Comments” link at the end of the post. Either will pull up the individual post and there is a place at the bottom to leave your comment. It’s that simple.
2. You’re too shy to leave a comment. I’ve actually heard this one from a few people who think they don’t have anything to say or add…or are just plain afraid to give it a shot. I promise it’s painless and I will usually respond to your comments…that’s kinda the point…I want to hear what others think about what I think. Agree. Disagree. Call me an idiot. You name it…I’ll take it. 
3. Nobody is reading the blog.  I surely hope this isn’t the case…I hope my thoughts aren’t just going into cyberspace. I truly value your thoughts and opinions. This isn’t intended to be a one-person show.

Need a few ideas? Let me know how you like the new site design. Politics? Broncos? Your insights on God’s Word. Examples and stories from your own life. Basically…anything is fair game.

So am I begging? Maybe. I am on a journey and I’m hoping there are a few others along with me. God is speaking into my life and I love sharing what He’s doing. Feel free to comment on my journey and add stuff from your journey too. And don’t worry, I don’t bite…hard.

Today was the day I took the plunge on upgrading my blog. I did two major upgrades:

1. Upgraded to WordPress 2.5 (just released this weekend). For those of you who don’t blog this might not mean much. WordPress is the software that makes this website possible. This latest upgrade has been in the works for awhile and so far I love it!! I was surprised how easy it was to complete the upgrade. I did it manually in under an hour and most of that time was deleting and uploading files. If you’re curious about this please let me know…would be happy to help anyone out looking to do the same.
2. Upgrade my blog theme. This one you can see for yourself and it took much longer than the software upgrade. I was going to wait until Journeyman Journal was a year old (coming up), but I just couldn’t wait. Let me know what you think of the new look. I still have plenty of tweaking to do, but so far I am pleased with this change as well.

I’m sure this is only the start…again, let me know what you think!