{"id":1000,"date":"2014-08-16T10:22:37","date_gmt":"2014-08-16T15:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iip-group.com\/hectic-dad\/?p=1000"},"modified":"2015-06-12T16:20:24","modified_gmt":"2015-06-12T21:20:24","slug":"happy-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hectic-dad.com\/hectic-dad\/happy-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

One year ago today I posted my first blog entry. I had been thinking about starting a blog and a series of websites to accompany the blog for a long time. For years, actually. I had spent several months planning the underpinnings of my Magnum Opus<\/i> hectic-kitchen, and honestly I had hit a wall that frustrated the living daylights out of me. I knew then, and still know now exactly what I want to do with my websites. In fact, I may know a little too well exactly<\/i> how I want everything to be. I can see the finished product in my mind\u2026but the journey to get there has been more of an adventure than I expected.<\/p>\n

Flipping the calendar back one year and four days ago, I was in a funk. I was frustrated with my lack of visible deliverables on my Hectic brand, and I felt like I wasn\u2019t getting anything done. I decided that today was the day that I was going to have something to show for all my work. I was going to prove to myself and others that I could produce content. At that point, I decided that the best way to show that proof was to commit to a personal blog. Since I was enamored with the Hectic<\/i> brand name, it seemed obvious to call the blog hectic-dad<\/i>. I purchased the website name and furiously started to write my first blog post. I took some breaks to figure out how to setup the website, but mostly I thought about what the blog was going to be about, and then wrote bits and pieces.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve followed me much during my past year blogging, or previously as a live human being, you know that I\u2019m a planner. I like maps. I like time-frames. I like schedules. I really struggle with the unexpected and unplanned. So I tried to apply schedules, plans, time-frames, and maps to my newly minted blog. And I slowly felt myself slipping into the same morass that had consumed hectic-kitchen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then it hit me\u2026just write. Write anything. and actually post it. Put it out there for the world to read. To Heck with what people think of it, that\u2019s not the point. The point is to get out there and do something.<\/span><\/p>\n

And I wrote that first post and uploaded it. I actually felt a serious sense of accomplishment. Although I didn\u2019t tell anybody about it, I had made my first blog post. I had joined the ranks of the internet bloggers. It took me a few posts before I was willing to tell anybody about my new venture. It took me even longer to put it out on Facebook and Twitter that I had a blog. But I continued to write.<\/span><\/p>\n

I really tried to stick to a schedule. I tried to dig into my list of ideas and post things in a rational way. I tried to stick to specific subjects for a long enough time that the blog flowed. But most importantly, I wrote. I created content that nobody else had created.<\/span><\/p>\n

So here I am, sitting on the porch of the fabulous Castine Inn<\/a> in Castine, ME looking back at a year\u2019s worth of posts. 106 posts to be exact. I\u2019m 1,570 miles from home in Hutchinson, KS and a world away in terms of the culture here. It\u2019s similar to Kansas in that the folks are relaxed and friendly. It\u2019s vastly different because of the hills and the accent. I\u2019m good with accents, but the Northern New England accent is a bit hard for me to understand. Give me a few more hours (I\u2019ve been here exactly 10 hours) and I\u2019ll be doing fine. If I\u2019m not careful I\u2019ll probably pick up some of the accent!<\/span><\/p>\n

In the year that I\u2019ve been blogging I\u2019ve biked across Kansas with one of my daughters. I\u2019ve traveled to NJ\/NYC twice and spent significant amounts of time with three daughters there. I\u2019ve attended two college graduations and a high school graduation, I\u2019ve sent one of my kids off to Army Basic Training, I\u2019ve attended so many sporting events that I\u2019ve lost count, and I\u2019ve had more wonderful dinners with my family that I can document.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a great year, and while my blog isn\u2019t anything like I thought it was going to be, it continues to grow and evolved. My other websites are beginning to take shape. In a couple of weeks I\u2019m going to be making some major announcements about the website roll-outs and plans, so I\u2019m really excited.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I counted up my blog posts I was actually fairly surprised. I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019ve been writing enough, and while that is true, I have proven to myself that when I get going, I can get things done. I\u2019m shooting for three\/four posts a week for the next year\u2026so you can hold me feet to the first.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, I want to thank all my readers. Whether this is the first post you\u2019ve read, or the 107th, I really appreciate you folks being out there. I\u2019ll try to keep up my end of the bargain by writing things that are interesting and useful to you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Happy Anniversary, everybody!<\/span><\/p>\n

Make it a great day!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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