. . . And A Hap-py New Year

It is just now dawning on me that we are late in the process of closing out the year of 2024. These things have a way of sneaking up. And this means (as it does every year) that we are preparing to start everything all over again for 2025. This is just as true in blogging as it is in every other facet of life.

So today, I will draw back the curtain on this little enterprise to share what 2024 has looked like from my side of the screen.

For the big picture, it has been a great year for J P’s Blog. I started this venture in July of 2015, and I wondered if I would ever hit 10k page views in a year. It happened in 2017, and with a sole exception, each year has brought more page views and visitors than the year before. 2024 has, however, reached a new level with a boffo jump from just shy of 29k views last year to a figure that will either hit 48k by the 31st or will be just a few short. Visitor count is up too, to just over 25,000 – almost doubling last year’s number. I always wonder about posting numbers like these – some bloggers can only dream of these stats (like me a couple of years ago) while other bloggers command figures that are far, far higher. But the numbers are what they are and while I don’t chase page-view stats, I would be lying if I said I didn’t like to see them going up.

How these new readers are finding this little space is also interesting. There are steady referrals from WP Reader and from over at my other online home, CurbsideClassic.com. But the lion’s share of referrals comes from good old Uncle Google. Back when I had been active on the Book of Faces, that had been my main source, and I wondered what would happen when I went almost completely inactive there. I have toyed with the idea of a limited re-engaging on that platform – mainly because no other forum is as good at keeping in touch with people I seldom get to see. But until that happens, I have no complaints with traffic here.

What have been my most visited posts during 2024? Here are the top 10:

10) Some filmed performances of singer Peggy Lee with her then-husband, guitarist Dave Barbour (2023)

9) My irrefutable proof that Circus Peanuts are the worst candy ever (2021)

8) My nostalgic take on the short-lived snack, Space Food Sticks (2021)

7) An examination of which of two cookies is really a Vanilla Wafer (2023)

6) My all-time favorite geek-out into the history of Technicolor in the movies (2020)

5) A look at Bugles (the snack food, not the military brass instrument) (2023)

4) Another snack-aisle used-to-be, Screaming Yellow Zonkers (2024)

3) Three vintage jazz records wherein the girls give their no-good guys the what-for (2021)

2) A look back at rock-faced block as an early use of concrete as a building material (2023)

1) Everyone’s favorite nostalgic product that nobody needed: Shake-A-Puddin’ (2021)

It looks like I need to up my game, because only one of those was written in 2024. But then again, much of what is featured here is stuff that retains relevancy for a long time (probably because it doesn’t have much relevancy to begin with). And even though they did not make 2024’s greatest hits, two really old-timers are still placing on the all-time faves list: A 2015 look at Dominicans and Franciscans, two well-established Catholic religious orders (No. 12 for the year and No. 3 all time) and a piece on my very favorite candy snack – French Burnt Peanuts (2015) that still holds the No. 1 spot (but down to No. 17 for 2024).

It is hard to believe that this blog will have its 10th birthday at the beginning of July, but here we all are. I write here because I enjoy doing it, and I want to thank each of you who have devoted a few minutes now and then to read some of the content here. I especially want to thank those of you who take the time to comment. These personal interactions (I try to respond to all of you) are my very favorite thing about this exercise. And I got a special treat in the comments this year. Following the post about Screaming Yellow Zonkers, a comment came in from Alan Katz, the man who had been the copywriter for the original SYZ packaging (and later a writer on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In on television). It is really gratifying to occasionally see that kind of reach from my little efforts.

So please accept my congratulations for making it through 2024 with me, and my best wishes that each of you has a happy, healthy and plentiful 2025.

Photo credit – unidentified man from long ago, undoubtedly worn out from a year of blogging. Photo was uncredited and was being offered for sale at etsy.com.

36 thoughts on “. . . And A Hap-py New Year”

  1. Congratulations on your success! The cocktail of variety (food, music, and building materials are in your Top 10 this year), personableness, and humor is the secret sauce which is feeding the readership growth you are seeing. But 10 years? Wow. I had not realized it was that long.

    The time commitment to keep this going with fresh material every week has undoubtedly been stressful at times. However, please know it has become a Friday morning staple at Casa de Jason. It’s the first thing I look at for the day. Granted, it has also made me late for work, but that’s on me.

    Congratulations on a healthy 2024!

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    • Thanks for your reliable and positive comments, they have been appreciated! But now I wonder if I need to start closing each week with a reminder for you to tear yourself away and get to work. 🙂

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  2. I can’t believe it’s been ten years. I’ve been a faithful reader for every post! Sometimes when I’m bored on lunch I’ll even skim through the archives. Congratulations on the huge jump, and I can’t wait to see what 2025 has in store in terms of eclectic, engaging posts.

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    • Oooh, it sounds like your boredom has boosted my stats, so thanks! I keep wondering if I will run out of things to write about, then I keep thinking of just a few more.

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  3. Congrats and keep up the great work! I found your blog from seeing some of your posts at Curbside Classic.

    Can’t figure out how to add my name to let you know who this came from. (I’m the guy who still has his full Handy Andy tool set)

    Chad Wallace

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  4. Congratulations on ten years of effort and persistence bearing fruit! I hope that 2025 brings good things to both you and your family. And I’m looking forward to reading new columns in the New Year!

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  6. Happy New Year to you J.P.! I discovered your blog from your work at Curbside Classics. I enjoy your diverse range of subject matter and your honest, positive outlook. As a small time blogger myself, I know how much fun it is to stand on our online soapbox and share our experiences and ideas. It certainly is gratifying to see that our “conversations” are resonating with people that we will probably never see or meet in person. This kind of exchange is the positive role that the builders of the internet were hoping to happen, thank you Al Gore! Just kidding.

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  7. Congrats on everything! I am glad I found your blog.

    My stats pale in comparison, but as long as I can make a few people laugh, I will have fulfilled my destiny. (I can not find a good destiny pun though…)

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    • Thanks! But you have had me racking my brain over the last part of your comment. Best I can come up with: I’m old enough that my destiny has retired, leaving me to seek destiny’s child in its place.

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  8. Wow, 10 years already. I always enjoy the Forrest Gump box of chocolates every Friday, never know what I’m going to get.

    Happiness and health be yours for the New Year!

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  9. Congratulations, Jim!!!!! I really enjoy reading your blog!!!!!! Merry Christmas to you and yours and a happy , healthy, and blessed New Year!!!!! Keeping on writing!!!!!!

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  12. Well JP – those are all great stats and it feels rewarding knowing that people keep coming back for more and enjoy your posts every Friday. How impressive, not to mention fun, that the copywriter for Screaming Yellow Zonkers commented on that post. I enjoyed working in the Creative Department at the ad agency (Young & Rubicam) in the late ’70s; copywriters and artists were always very passionate about their creative work. In your list of most-viewed posts of 2024, it appears food/snacks resonate with a lot of people – me too! Best to you in the new year as well!

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  13. Is that a tweed suit that guy in the chair is wearing? Maybe he was an early inspiration to Steve Martin in Planes Trains and Automobiles. He has just arrived home after crisscrossing the country selling insurance.

    Best wishes for what’s left of Christmas and a Happy New Year! Shine up the Charger on a nice sunny day.

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  14. Congratulations on a year well done! I sincerely hope that this means that the closing of 2024 means that there are now 48,000 more people around the world who will join what should be the deafening chorus crying out for the return of Space Food Sticks to supermarket shelves.

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  15. It boggles my mind that my healthy-kitchen mother allowed Space Food Sticks into her pantry when we were kids (also Lucky Charms and Oreos, but I think my dad had something to do with those). I forwarded that post to my brothers when you wrote it and the five of us had a lively recollection of that particular “food” (as well as Screaming Yellow Zonkers). I hope one of your 2025 resolutions is to blog about more junk food from days gone by. And thanks to you I’m occasionally searching the supermarket shelves for the return of Space Food Sticks.

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