So Today I Leave...But Don't Cry...
Joe Gandelman
FYI, today is my last day as permanent weekend Guest Blogger at Dean's World.
More than a year ago Dean invited me to Guest Blog on this site on weekends and there was a huge response. Despite that, he had me continue guest blogging.
Dean had contacted me out of the blue in an email saying: "The Internet needs people like you." And he promised that I could post what I want and would never restrict what I had to write. And, true to his word, he never did.
He said I could expose myself and I did. The nuns complained and probation ends next week.
Dean needed a bit of a break from blogging and in the message he mentioned that after a year I might feel it was time to just do my own thing. He contacted me about two months after I started my blog The Moderate Voice and figured I could do some posts on this site that would make readers think.
And from the emails, I know that has been the case. Readers have thought about strangling me, disemboweling me, or chaining me to a chair and forcing me to listen to 10 hours of Kathy Lee Gifford CDs.
Now it has been more than a year. The Moderate Voice is becoming known and reviled by liberals, conservatives, Democrats, and Republicans who want to strangle me, disembowel me or chain me to a chair and force me to listen to 10 hours of Kathy Lee Gifford CDs.
I get lots of hits, mostly when I meet my readers.
Dean is now antsy to start blogging again after taking a break on weekend and perhaps worrying that if he didn't get back to taking control of his own blog on weekends readers would want to strangle him, disembowel him, or chain him to a chair and force him to listen to 10 hours of Kathy Lee Gifford CDs.
On TMV, due to my travels and long stays in hospitals after meeting satisfied readers I now have several of my own guest bloggers. I also want to do some writing for $$$$ so I need to budget my time. I face a very mobile summer schedule. And, honestly, I see Dean has a host of excellent guest bloggers on weekdays and here I am hogging his blog when he and them would like to be posting.
When I'd guest blog I left a referring link to this site on my blog and basically shut my blog down on weekends. This worked for a while, until the blog grew a bit more, some readers complained and it was clear the weekend traffic dropoff was way below the decline most blogs experience on weekends. A few weeks ago I tried posting links to all of my posts here and doing two original posts on my blogging days here. That worked but it means that to properly maintain my own blog I have to essentially do a blog and a half on weekends.
So with all of these factors Dean and I decided the reasons why I guest blogged (to give him a break he no longer needs, to expose myself which meant I had to hire a lawyer for the trial, to help TMV grow...which it has) are really outdated.
And, to be honest, I have sensed in the past few months that Dean is chomping at the bit to get back to doing more on weekends and other times.
But, Dean, be careful what you write: remember those Kathy Lee Gifford CDs...
You gotta go-pole the pirogue down the bayou
You da one, the sweetest one, me oh my oh
Son of a gun, you’ll have big fun on the bayou
Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and filé gumbo
’cause tonight he’s gonna see his mon cher amio.
Dress in style, go hog wild, me oh my oh
Son of a gun, you’ll have big fun on the bayou
Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and filé gumbo
’cause tonight he’s gonna see his mon cher amio.
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gayo,
Son of a gun, you’ll have big fun on the bayou.
Thank you joe, for the jambalaya and a crawfish pie
and filé gumbo, pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gayo,
Son of a gun, you’ll have big fun on the blogo-bayou.
Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and filé gumbo
Son of a gun, you’ll have big fun on the blogo-bayou.
Just be grateful this terrible pun-poem-song isn’t
Two yards long, so dress in style, go hog wild,
me oh my oh you’ll have big fun on the blogo-bayou.
But the Kathy Lee CDs? That's a bit of overkill, don't you think? :-)