Happy Birthday To Northstate Science (Better Late Than Never!)

Well, Northstate Science reached its first birthday about two weeks ago (officially February 6). I knew it was coming and had planned on a "reflections on a year of blogging" post, but well, got busy and never quite got around to it. I did want to comment on a couple of things, however:

- I have come to really enjoy the blogging. It is certainly very therapeutic and clearly allows me to "vent" from time to time, although I'm trying to make an effort at more reasoned responses (my wife always says, "You don't talk that way in public!"). It has also re-kindled my interest in all those areas of science that got me excited in the first place...so my reading and researching have gone up dramatically since blogging (you have to understand, my "day job" is largely administrative, so the opportunities for active research don't come as often as I would like - most is done on my own time at a considerably reduced pace - it's much easier to have a beer at the end of the day than pick up a Binfordian treatise...). So if nothing else, blogging has forced me to get "back in the groove"...

- I clearly need to blog more regularly. In looking back over the year my posting average was well under one per day. Although I often bemoan not having the audience of a PZ, Ed or Afarensis, I clearly did not post often enough to merit the attention. I'm trying to change that this year and am shooting for a monthly average of more than one per day (so far I'm there). Let's see if I can do that and where it gets me in terms of attention in the blogosphere..

- I guess I did relatively well for the first year...I started with an average of about 60 hits per month and now I'm around 60 per day. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but the overall trend during the year has been an increase in the number of visits. It would certainly be nice to be linked at more locations, but I'm sure that will come. I had a couple of off-the-wall spikes when PZ linked to some posts of mine, but if I can contribute my increasing success to anyone, it has to be to my anthropology buddies, Afarensis, Carl, Kambiz, Duane...and probably a few others to whom I owe some gratitude. B&B and Coturnix were the first to ever link to me, so these guys kind of gave me my start. I know there are others...my thanks to everyone!

If my large scale audience is only creeping up, I can definately say that my local audience is dramatically increasing. There are more people I see on the streets of Susanville who have begun to check out Northstate Science on a regular basis. That was one of my goals for starting this blog, as an "alternative" to other sources of information. Interestingly, I have done almost no advertising about the blog, either locally or via other websites - anyone who has discovered Northstate Science has done so either via word of mouth or through searches and links to my posts (hell, most of my relatives, including my mother, don't know I actually have a blog!). I might change that this year...

- Finally, I just want to say how appreciative I am of the broader community of bloggers out there, those I agree with and even those I don't agree with (yes, Kurt, that means you!). There are a number of people I would love to meet in person, buy a couple of drinks, sit around and talk "stuff" (Afarensis, Duane, Coturnix, Ed, Kambiz, RangerX, Jim West, to name just a few off the top of my head...oh, of course PZ!). I would also like to get to know some of my regular readers better, like Chuck who is only down the road about 30 miles...

So, here's to all of you...May this year bring the best to all of you and may I "meet" even more of you during the next 12 months!

All the best,
Chris at Northstate Science