Ten Years A Blogger

Do you know how birthdays can kind of sneak up on you? Well, this recently happened to me with a blogging anniversary. I had made note of blog birthdays for the first few years, but then kind of forgot about them. I remembered that I began this effort in July, but only when I looked into my historical stats did I realize that JP’s Blog is now a full decade old. Some thoughts.

After a little time spent getting the back end of things set up, this post went live on July 17, 2015. This blog happens to share my youngest brother’s birthday. He was probably hoping for a better present than this, but, well, sorry.

Just like a new television show, this blog took a little time to find its footing and settle into a groove. I will confess that I originally had hoped to create a forum where I could generate thoughtful discussions of important current topics. I started off doing that, at least occasionally. I had formerly gotten into those kinds of discussions on the social media platform that rhymes with PaceHook, but that was a poor format that was better suited for knee-jerk reactions than for more substantive exchanges. Then Donald Trump got elected and that sort of put a stop to any kind of appetite people had to engage in civil political discussions, so, um, that was pretty much that.

I eventually decided that my best format was digging into things that I found interesting and sharing them with all of you in the hopes that you might find them interesting too. We all need fun diversions in life and I like to think that I have been good for my fair share of them.

I racked up a whopping 64 visitors and 113 page views in this blog’s first month. After explosive grown in the third month (115 visitors and 274 page views) things started trending back down and I began to worry. But I decided to just keep doing what I was doing and hopefully I would find an audience. It seems that I have accomplished that, with slow steady growth every year. And sometimes not so slow, because so far in 2025 I am ahead of my entire 2023 in traffic.

But traffic is not why I keep doing this. For starters, it allows me to do a couple of my favorite things in the world. I love learning about unusual and obscure things, and I love engaging with others about them. It gives me an excuse to look into things I notice in the world around me. Like the early concrete blocks used in the foundation of my kids’ home (Rock Faced Block). Somehow, that has been my most-viewed post this year. I have also loved the deep dives into obsolete technology, like Technicolor movies from the classic era in Hollywood and the twists and turns in the history of sound recording (like this one about an actual stereo recording by a band in 1939).

Two staples that have developed have become old music and longtime snack or other well-known grocery store items. The posts on vintage jazz (and occasionally into other genres) started out simply sharing favorite old records, but have grown into an opportunity for me to learn more about the artists and their work than I ever did before. Another fertile area has been favorite foods – from candy to canned goods, that bring back lots of old memories.

I keep wondering how much longer I will have something interesting to say (assuming I have not already passed that point). Recently, I was excited to get my garage cleaned out so that I can fit two cars. I thought about writing about it, but remembered that I had already done it. This danger of repeating myself grows every year. However, I keep thinking of things and have a handful of ideas percolating, so I am not at the end of this odyssey yet.

What may be my biggest thrill has been the community of folks who take the time to come here and read what I have written and who take the time to leave comments. Some of you have blogs of your own that I enjoy, where I try to leave my comments from time to time as well. There have been some blogs that I enjoyed a lot, but that have quietly disappeared. I like to think that those writers just got busy with other things, but it is also likely that some of them have suffered illness or worse. It will eventually happen to us all, but I am fortunate and thankful that I am not among that number.

In the regrets column, I am discovering that blogging longevity has a downside. This blog’s archives are starting to look like the basement of someone who has lived in one place too long. This reminds me of one particular basement – oh yes – mine. I had started a historic archive with all links in chronological order. But that was a task that involved manually creating each link and the project sort of stalled. I would also like to organize the historic music posts and maybe do something to better categorize things. As of now, it is much easier to find something by accident than if you are looking for it. But, just like I avoid cleaning out my basement in favor of other ways of spending my leisure time, I would rather create new content than try cleaning up my old stuff. I have a long list of things to do when I eventually retire (for real), and blog clean-up is one of them.

That aside, I love the time I spend here, whether it involves researching, writing or trading comments with all of you. So for the foreseeable future I intend to keep plugging away with my weekly posts, which I like to think add to (or at least not subtract from) the quality of your day. Will I make it another decade? I don’t know. I guess that as long as I find it enjoyable (and as long as I have something worthwhile to contribute) I will keep at it. As for this 10th anniversary occasion – thanks to all of you for coming to share it with me.

46 thoughts on “Ten Years A Blogger”

  1. Congratulations on 10 years! How fast it went. Seems like only a few months ago you wrote about it having been five years.

    Here’s wishing you another 10!

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    • Perhaps I need to get a badge made for those who got in on the ground floor here! Seriously, I appreciate that you come to read and always value your comments.

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  4. Congrats on your ten years! I discovered you for the jazz entires, but love the vintage pop culture references like candy and Cracker Jack, as well as your current A to Z auto tour.

    If you’re thinking of how long to keep this up, I can tell you that I’ve abandoned web site visits to places that seemed to lose focus, i.e. started out as one thing and became something else I could care less about. I also tend to visit sites that have consistent downloading of new content. It doesn’t have to be daily, but easy to track, like weekly on Fridays. I’ve been in the media business in various positions for years, but one of the things we always talked about years ago, was how a lot of “Brit” TV shows are written with a story arc, and when it’s over, it’s over. It may last two years or three years, very few, like East Enders, have gone on for a long time. American TV shows are always trying to make it to the magic figure of 100 shows, needed for syndication interest, no matter how long it takes. Many of those shows lose viewing interest with poor story lines after a few years, and become trite or unwatchable; just a draconian march to the 100 show mark. I guess the idea here is know when to quit.

    I really don’t know why people decide to blog, there are many reasons. Some, I think, hope to have it turn into something that pays for itself and turns into a platform for interest. When I was doing internet advertising for a pals pretty famous site with daily views in the thousands, one of the stats I read is that over 90% of all blogs generate less than $100 a year! Good to know before you start out! In a life long career in media, I’ve been solicited to give away time and services on many occasions, and spent a lot of years doing so (and it never worked out with reciprocal work). As I’ve aged, I really started to demand that I get paid for what I’m doing, and have heard from many bloggers that their blogs have become a second job they have to spend a lot of time on, that isn’t paying them anything! After that, some of the joy bleeds out of it. It’s not unusual to read of long time bloggers closing down and pulling the plug, and to me, it’s all understandable. Continue when it’s a joy for you…

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    • Thanks, Andy! Yes, I am one of those who makes not a thin dime out of this venture. At one time I thought that this might be something I could parlay into a paid writing gig, but I reached a point where I decided I wasn’t willing to do what would be necessary to make that happen and have been happy to keep doing what I’m doing.

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  5. I’m glad for you JP. No, extremely glad, and pleased. A very nice accomplishment! It must take both determination and creativity to come up with new topics all the time. I look forward to your new posts every week, and have enjoyed following your journeys. Continued success! Lee

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    • Thanks Lee! Jim Grey, who I met through the Curbside Classic site quite a few years ago, served as my early source of blogging info/encouragement, gave me the advice to stick to a regular schedule. It was some of the best advice I ever got, because without that self-imposed deadline, I am sure there would have come a time when I would have missed a week, then two, then . . . .

      I guess I have always been naturally curious about things and like to share things I discover. Those traits and this blog were kind of made for each other.

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      • The difference between a focused discussion like what you have here, is enormous from that of the one that rhymes with PlaceCrook. Snappy one liners, or even the short congratulatory notes (Hey I just finished the course on Basket Weaving 102!) on the one that sounds like CrinkedMin could not take the place of thoughtful discussion and history that we enjoy here.

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    • Thank you, sir! I sometimes worry that what is interesting to me might not be for someone else. I guess it is a good thing when I am able to share things in a way that make others interested too. I appreciate the kind words.

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  7. Congratulations! Being a curious sort myself I found your blog when I was looking up something musical (I can’t remember what it was now) and that post led me to another one and another and I thought this guy is what Anne of Green Gables called a kindred spirit – at least as far as blogging goes – so I became a subscriber a few months ago.

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    • Thanks so much! Isn’t the web an amazing place – where a group of people can come together, if only for a few minutes, and enjoy some unique little thing. It almost makes up for all of the scams and bile found elsewhere.

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  8. Congratulations on ten years of blogging! Sticking with it for that long is no small achievement.

    Your entries are always well-written, informative and original. Who else has bothered to explore the origins of Cracker Jack or the Chef Boyardee brand? And how many other jazz lovers also have an active commercial driver’s license (CDL)?  

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    • I appreciate the compliment, and also that you read and comment regularly.

      It’s OK to just come out and say it – I’m weird. 🙂 You remind me that more than once I have been listening to some uncommon music in my truck, and I wonder if there is even one other guy driving a truck in the entire world who is listening to anything like this right now.

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  11. Congrats on Ten Years. I think there are vary few bloggers who last that long!

    I know what you mean when another blogger just disappears without saying good-bye. In a few cases, I have contacted the person by email (if they ever left a comment you have their email address) and asked them if they were okay.

    I thought a lot about how to make it easy for readers to find past posts on topics they are interested in. I settled on this: a Post List on the Header Menu; a sidebar widget with Recent Posts; a sidebar widget with a menu made up of Categories and tags.

    Theoretically, these are easy to set up and once done, do not require any other maintenance. Of course, I set up mine with the Classic Editor and do not have a clue how to do it now with the Block Editor…

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    • Thanks! On the organization, I have several categories, but some of my stuff doesn’t fit under them anymore – like the food posts. It is easy to add another category or two, but then I would have to go back and check new classification boxes for years of posts. So I do nothing instead. 🙂

      I have been pretty good at using tags from the beginning, so I just use Google and search my domain name and a key word or two, which usually works.

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  12. Happy Blogiversary! Good job!

    “I eventually decided that my best format was digging into things that I found interesting and sharing them with all of you in the hopes that you might find them interesting too. We all need fun diversions in life and I like to think that I have been good for my fair share of them.” I always find something interesting when I come here and I do enjoy what I would your “deep dives” into a thing. I don’t always have a lot to say, usually because you have pretty thoroughly covered a topic. I don’t know how long I’ve been following you or how I started.

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  13. Happy Blogiversary JP! I found out about your blog through Joni who told me about two bloggers whose posts she enjoyed and I should follow them (you and Dave “Life in a Word”). I marvel at people who are able to come up with a weekly topic to write about. I’ve always thought I had it pretty easy topic wise, as long as I was walking and taking my camera along. I started my blog in 2013 as my good friend/neighbor kept insisting I should do this. It was not my own idea, then 4 1/2 years passed with only a handful of e-mail subscribers, then I wrote a story about trees turning color and a blogger named “Uncle Tree” followed me as did some of his followers and suddenly I was immersed in the blogosphere with other bloggers. I hope you decide to keep on blogging as I’ve learned many things on a variety of topics since following you.

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    • Thanks Linda! Your blog is a little outside of my normal interests, but your combination of great photography and your enthusiasm for nature keep me coming back. I think we can get stale if we never look outside of where we spend most of our time. So I hope you keep at it too!

      Sometimes I get into a little panic if I think I’m running out of ideas, but then they always come, somehow.

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      • Thank you JP! I have evolved from my earliest writings where I started my blog in mid-February, then we had a lot of snow and I didn’t walk for a while, but I never thought to write about another subject besides walking. For me, I hope the well doesn’t run dry for my adventures, but in the event I get old and gray and I am not walking as much, a couple of years ago I registered another domain name at Word Press: Walkin’ and Whatnot. A Plan “B” is always good to have.

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  15. Congratulations JP! Here’s to ten more! I find it can be difficult to continuously come up with new topics but somehow we do, and writing helps keep your mind active. Maybe I just don’t do as much anymore to blog about. And then sometimes I think after the fact, well that would make a good blog topic, but I forgot to take pictures. I want to do a garden party post as I had one yesterday, featuring hydrangeas, and I forgot to take pictures of the food…maybe the leftovers….

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    • Thanks! I agree – I’m not doing as many things as I once was either, and wonder how that affects my list of ideas.

      And I think “Leftovers From A Garden Party” is a topic you could have more fun with anyway. 😛

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  17. Congrats on a significant anniversary. I’ve found your blog to be eclectic and very enjoyable. I hope that you will continue, as long as it’s still fun for you. Like you, I produce my blog as a hobby and I only post new stuff once a week so there isn’t a constant pressure of a deadline. I enjoy sharing my experiences with my hobby vehicles and hope that others get a bit of enjoyment from reading about them. It’s kind of amazing that we can set ourselves up as publishers of content, it’s kind of like writing a weekly column in a newspaper. I will admit that I use my blog as a weekly writing assignment hoping that I would develop my own voice and writing style. I had hoped that it might encourage me to write some short stories. I’m kind of old to try becoming a real author, but who knows? Best wishes for another ten years.

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    • Thanks for reading, Jose, and I appreciate your encouraging words!

      You have some fascinating stuff on your blog – sorry you had to take a bath on your Riviera. That seems to be the story of my life when it comes to selling old cars. Like you, I am cursed with tastes off the beaten path. When I got something everyone loves (like a red Miata) it sold in a heartbeat, but I have owned mighty few cars like that. And I love the Plymouth! I have always wondered what to do about failed clearcoat finishes, and wondered if its possible to polish everything up and spray with a fresh clear coat. But probably not, or everyone would already be doing that. I miss old single-stage finishes. I didn’t love the maintenance to keep them nice, but they were easier to bring back to life and to make repairs on.

      I have been struggling to find a way to comment on your blog. I think I figured out a way to subscribe, but I had to open a Blogger account to do it. If there is an easier way, like with an email subscription option, let me know!

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  18. I just discovered your blog today, thanks to your post regarding those pudding shake-up thingies from the 60’s. I was starting to think I had dreamed them up in my aging brain cells. I finally decided to Google the topic and there was your post. I decided to check out a few other things while I was here and we seem to have interests that are similar but just different enough that I might actually learn something. Glad to be on board.

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