Welcome To My Blog
Welcome everyone! Please come in and take a seat. It’s a bit crowded in here but we’ve sent someone out for a few more chairs. Help yourself to punch and cookies from the table in the back, and say “Hello” to my wife, who would be happy to sell you a copy of my book.
Great. Everyone settled? First some announcements: This is a non-smoking facility, so if you find yourself beginning to smoulder, please go outside. The fire exits are located at the side and front of the room. Please turn off your cell phones and other mobile devices.
Okay, let’s get started. Websters, meet the Bloglodytes. If this is your first visit to the Blogsphere, you may find it a bit odd, but you’ll get used to it. Don’t be shy; make sure to mingle and chat with the Bloggers after the meeting. Now for the Bloggers, please make the Websters feel at home; we may be in your town, but they have been with me a lot longer than you have, and you may find they have some interesting stories to tell about what the Internet was like before they built this shiny, new Blogsphere. So make friends; we’re all here for the same reason.
Ahem. I started my first weblog in 1995. Back then, you staked your claim with an Internet hosting site such as Geocities, Xoom or Tripod. That worked until they discovered that ads made money, and more ads made more money. Soon, any content you uploaded was covered in so many ads that your carefully crafted site looked as tasteful as the homepage for The Carphone Warehouse.
When I bought Lindenwald.com in November 1999, it was like buying my first house. Here was a permanent residence where I could do anything I wanted and no one could post anything I didn’t want them to. We built web pages using HTML in those days, Sparky, and we liked it that way, so I spent many a weekend and late night (this was between marriages) constructing one website theme after another.
Does anyone here remember what Lindenwald.com used to be before it was “Postcards From Across the Pond”? Ah, a few of you. Was it the Cigar Pages, or the Irish Dance Diary? Cracks of Time!! Well, you certainly take the prize for longevity; pick up a free book on the way out. You deserve it.
So, yeah, I bought Lindenwald to cope with my habit of switching hobbies every few years; I felt www.cigarman.com would be too restrictive, whereas Lindenwald would allow me to reinvent myself periodically. (Also, MichaelHarling.com was taken.)
It wasn’t until 2001 that I came up with Postcards From Across the Pond, but it has stayed with me longer than any other theme. Without meaning to, I built up a following, and you, my loyal followers, encouraged me, nay, enabled me, to write my book. So this book is yours as much as it is mine, and I want to thank you – free books for everyone! No, wait! My wife is shaking her head. Sorry, I got a bit carried away there.
To get back to my story: then came the blogs. I did try them. I didn’t like them. It was like renting a flat in the city when I already had a four-bedroom house with a full basement in the suburbs. Websites were for craftsmen; blogs were the territory of tyros. Websites were a beacon shining in the night; blogs were a disposable lighter. Websites . . . okay, you get the picture.
But as things evolved, blogs became more than a temporary dumping ground for the angst-ridden verbal meanderings of earnest fifteen-year-olds. They matured, they expanded, they became…attractive. Blogs are simple (though I used to see that as a disadvantage, I now regard it as a selling point), and blogs allow other bloggers to see what you are blogging about without having to put your URL in their Favorites list.
So now I don’t feel as if I’m renting a flat, it’s more like I’ve built a clubhouse and invited all the cool kids to be members, and they have invited me to be a member of their clubs, and so on. And I’m a sucker for clubhouses—they make great places to sneak off to with a nicked bottle of your dad’s Dandelion wine and Sarah Jane Pomeroy, who told her parents she was on a sleep-over at Mary Liddell’s house.
So, welcome; rest assured you are all ‘the cool kids’ and I am honoured to be in your company. And if one of you happens to be Sarah Jane Pomeroy, I want to say I’m sorry I spoiled the mood by throwing up in your hair; it must have been the wine.
17 Comments
Ladybird World Mother
oh wow, am I a cool kid?? Loved the cookies and punch… your wife is so nice and offered me a chair and your book. What a welcome! You have been doing this a long time. I am in awe. I am Blog Newcomer. Been in the Land since October. And have enjoyed it enormously. Sarah Jane Pomeroy, eh?? Great name.
steveg
Nice one Mike – Not sure if I qualify as a cool kid though, I never have before – I was always one of those last to be picked for the teams in the playground – all the same I\’m happy to be one of the loyal followers, and hopefully long to be soSeasonal felicitations to you, youe wife and all others hereSteve
Anonymous
You\’re still drunk from the other day, aren\’t you?
Anonymous
Welcome Mike! I like the blogosphere because it feels more like a close knit neighborhood compared to the vastness of the world wide web. I think the ability to follow blogs so easily, thanks to the blogger feature, is key to making that happen.
Pam
I am relatively new to your blog but love it so I\’m glad you enjoy writing. Blogging seems so easy to do and it\’s nice to interact with people a bit more than a Facebook poke!
MikeH
Yes, Ladybird and Steveg, you\’re now among \’the cool kids\’ – nice, isn\’t it? Beats being among the last two kids to be picked for the team, and the other kid is picked first even though he\’s a bed-wetter. I think Steveg feels my pain, but I hope you weren\’t that uncool in school, Ladybird
MikeH
Melissa, as I have menitoned, it was the gadgets that got me. Posting really isn\’t much easier, but the ability to interact is amazing.
MikeH
Pam, yes, a blog is so much better than Facebook. Have you ever \’Poked\’ anyone? What\’s it like?
MikeH
Anonymous, shhhhh! You\’re giving away my secret!
® ♫ The Brit ♪ ®
Hi Mike,I agree, blogs have come a long way! a few years ago I wouldn\’t have dreamed of starting a blog, even a year ago… I always thought \”Who\’s going to want to read my craziness?! and do I want to publish all my secrets on the world wide web?!\” but after a year of having my blog I can say that it is so addictive, so wonderful and so great to be a member of my little online supportive community!Thanks for the punch! and the cookies were just fantastic! It\’s great that I put a few in my pocket before I left to eat at home… but don\’t tell the wife!Hope the book is selling well!All the very best! (my that\’s a lot of exclamation marks!)
Stinking Billy
mike, what a great post. You\’ve been around the block a couple of times and must be an asset within anybody\’s blogging circle. So, welcome to you, too!
Expat mum
I definitely think I\’m under-utilizing the blog stuff. I was going to say you\’ll have to give me private lessons, but that would have come out all wrong and started a lot of rumo(u)rs!!!
MikeH
Brit, you\’re welcome. Glad to hear you enjoyed the little get together, and my wife is honored that you liked her cookies well enough to nick a few.
MikeH
Billy, yeah, I\’m an old timer. In Internet years, I must be up there with Methuselah.
MikeH
EPM, oooh, I love being the subject of rumors–it adds to my allure 😉
Kat
I get to be a cool kid? Sweet! This time I know I will get it right, wear the right clothes, have the right hair style, have the latest pop music on my walkman…what they don\’t have walkmans anymore? Damn!
Anonymous
Just found you via ExpatMum, seriously there\’s quite the US/UK exchange series of blogs out here in the \’osphere now! Shall have to check out the book, read ExpatMum\’s and enjoyed.