Tag: Blogging

Updates

May 2013 Recap

Geoff W

I guess what they say about time moving faster as you get older really is true. I feel that every time I sit down to write my monthly recap I always wonder where the month went regardless of if it was short or long month. Regardless it was a busy month on the blog and in the real world. I somehow managed to stick with my post schedule of every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and had 95% of all the posts written at least three days in advance so whoop for that! That planning ahead helped me with my first Culture Corner and Work Out Wednesday posts and I’m already looking forward to getting started on June’s posts.

2013 05-18 Graduate Leigh!In addition, the planning ahead helped for when my entire family was in town for my younger sister’s graduation from her Master’s program (that’s her to the right). While they were in town I played host and tour guide for five days in a row and we went to numerous restaurants, touristy places, museums and even to see Pirates of Penzance at the American Repertory Theatre. But as soon as they were all gone I wound up with a stomach virus and spent two days in bed which stunk, but at least I’m feeling better now and was able to get to work by the end of the week just in time for another four-day weekend. And as if things weren’t busy enough as it is, when this posts I’ll be running around work slightly crazy trying to help the alumni relations team as work is hosting the 2013 reunion classes the weekend of the 1st and it’s going to be an awesome weekend full of all sorts of exciting activities and events! Click here to continue reading.

Random

Boston

Geoff W

Love BostonI just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who checked in with me after what happened on Monday. I’ve not met any of you in person, but the number of you that reached out to me to make sure me and my friends were okay was truly heart warming. I apologize if I didn’t get to respond to everyone individually, but hopefully you saw my message saying I was okay.

I was with friends about 2-3 miles from the finish line around the 24 mile marker and well away from Copley Square. It took a long time to get home that evening, but that was okay; I was safe and everyone I knew was safe. And as much as I love to complain about the MBTA and hate to admit anything great about them, I have to say their response immediately afterward and ability to get things back up and running mostly that evening and 99% the next day was incredible.

The city is slowly getting back to normal, but there are daily reminders, good and bad, that the Boston is dealing with the aftermath. Every morning I go through Copley station and the station is still closed and it’s an eerie reminder of what happened with all of the lights dimmed. There is still a large area cordoned off around the scene, including the historic Boston Public Library. But the worst is how empty the city feels; it is school vacation week, so many families are out of the city, but the lack of people on the T and walking the streets is eerie.

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The Classics Club

The Classics Club: One Year Check-In

Geoff W

I was really hoping to time my one year check-in for The Classics Club for the exact date, but that just didn’t work out. I forgot I’d joined as early as I did. (I may have joined a little later, but I’ve set my end date as March 8, 2012.)

I’ve really enjoyed participating in the club and even though I’m right on track 20/100 books read I am starting to wonder if I can keep up the pace for the next four years. I managed to squeeze in with my twentieth novel this month (thus the late post), so I’m right on schedule, but long-term I’m not sure if I want to continue to dedicate a third of my reading to Classics. Who knows though, mostly I’ve only read older classics, maybe it’s time I take a break and read some of the newer classics from my list or re-read a few favorites? Any one else go through this sort of thing already?

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Updates

Two Year Anniversary!

Geoff W

Two years ago on July 20th, I started The Oddness of Moving Things.  I planned on waiting until the actual day to post, but It seemed to fit right in with my stats this week.  When this posts, it will be my 201st post and I will have surpassed 14,000 unique views (not a lot I know, but I thought it was awesome it was right at the same time I hit 200 posts).  To see my very first post about why I started The Oddness of Moving Things click here and to see my One Year Anniversary posts click here, here and here.

It definitely feels like a lot longer than two years, but who cares!  This is my yay for sticking with something for longer than a year, and celebrating all you amazing people out there I’ve ‘met’ over the past two years!

Top 10 BannerI’ve got a couple of “Top Ten” lists for you below, so check them out!  The first is the top 10 most visited books, the top 10 tags from this past year and the last is the top 5 Commenters and top 5 commented posts.  There are very few surprises I think and it’s nice to see some of my older responses still being read.

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Updates

One Year Anniversary! Part 3

Geoff W

The third and final post of the day! Yes, it is a bit excessive, but it’s your blogs anniversary only once a year!

Work In ProgressAs I realized the one year anniversary was approaching I began making minor changes to the blog. I switched themes to a darker, more modern theme and started cleaning up post tags and internal links to other posts. Below are other things I’ve already changed and things I want to change in the near future!

Check out what I’ve already changed:

  • Upcoming Books – I’ve recreated each of the pages including embedding an up-to-date Google document on the My Reading List page of my infamously long list of books to read (currently at 295) books. I’m hoping to clean up the Booker Prize page and to actually get some of the Suggested books read.
  • Recommend a Book – Again with the help of Google Docs, I’ve embedded a form which allows people to recommend books. I’ve not done a great job at reading many yet, but they are definitely on my radar! If you haven’t, you should recommend a book! If enough people recommend Twilight I might eventually read it (cough Alie and Tom cough).

And keep an eye out for things I hope to change:

  • Create an updated and accurate About me and About this blog page. Now it still sits as my original post from July 20, 2010 talking about the 50 book challenge.
  • Switch the blog over to geoffwhaley.com and maybe get a little crazy and try my hand at some CSS/design with a hosted website.
  • And if I get a good amount of free time and some amazing design skills, create a static homepage with a bookshelf similar to the iBooks app (I think) where you can click on the books and it’ll open up the reviews/blog posts.

My plans aren’t grandiose, and I don’t think they’ll be too complicated if I put my mind to them. I started this blog for fun and hopefully I can keep it going as long as it remain so. Let me know what you think about the changes, or if there are any others I should make!