Not a Bloggie finalist!
Mon Jan 23, 2006 21:06 (UTC -5)During the nomination period for the 2006 Weblog Awards several days ago, I posted a message at the top of this site urging visitors to nominate The World of Stuff for all of the categories for which it was eligible. The finalists have finally been posted, and alas, I’m not among them. I’ll tell you what blogs are among them, though: Slashdot (2 nominations), PostSecret (5 nominations), Photojunkie (2 nominations), Waiter Rant, Dooce (3 nominations), Lifehacker (3 nominations), Daily Dose of Imagery, Kottke.org, Engadget (2 nominations), Boing Boing (3 nominations), We Make Money Not Art, Daily Kos, Fark (2 nominations), Whedonesque, Go Fug Yourself (3 nominations), Wonkette, 456 Berea Street, Gizmodo, Digg, and Overheard in New York (2 nominations).
I’ve heard of all of those nominees before, and some have won Bloggies in the past. Because they’re all more popular than this site, they get more nominations, so sites like this never get considered, even for the “Best Kept Secret” category. I’d attribute this to poor planning on my part, if only because my first instinct is to blame myself. I should have coordinated some kind of mass nomination in which I could count on the votes of all of my readers and even some non-readers. After all, I’m obsessed with winning, and so I can’t afford to lose or else I’ll have a nervous breakdown or something.
Actually, it’s not just me. When you submit nominations for the Bloggies, you have to nominate at least a few sites — not just one. For many readers, this is the only blog they read, and I guess I’m kind of honored by that. But seriously, the blogosphere is the wave of the future, man. The blogosphere serves as a barrier between Internet users who know the meaning of the terms “podcasting,” “TrackBacks,” and “Web 2.0,” and the users who only go online to check their Hotmail on — gasp — IE. In short, the world of blogs is cool. I’m surprised some of you folks don’t read other blogs. There are better ones than this one, seriously. Hey, wait, maybe that’s why this site didn’t get nom…
Oh, anyway, I have an aggressively tongue-in-cheek plan to prevent this tragedy from occurring next year. The parts of the plan are as follows:
- Get linked to the aforementioned sites somehow.
- Sell out in style by charging my own high rates for advertising.
- Write about politics, because I know that “touchy” matters such as that would definitely not spiral downward into flaming.
- Get myself a cool job that allows me to blog and pass it off as work.
- Redesign the site to validate as proper XHTML and show up nicely on mobile/handheld devices.
- Make even more use of unordered lists. (Check!)
- Sell TWoS merchandise?
- Become popular.
If I can accomplish all those things in a year’s time, I’m sure I’ll be a shoo-in at the Bloggies next year. In conclusion: podcasting, TrackBacks, and Web 2.0.
As you may remember, my colorfully boisterous AP European History teacher (and also my World History teacher from last year), Mrs. Vazquez, had to leave and was replaced by the more demure Mr. Miller. A while back, Luke shot an e-mail to Mrs. Vazquez, who is now in Puerto Rico:
Man, the new guy doesn’t even hit anybody. What’s the point? Maybe there isn’t one. We were just (ha: “just”) beginning to start rumors that all of your stuff sank on the way over, and now you’re giving us a way to disprove that. Thanks a lot. Unfortunately, the World classes have taken “viva la Vazquez” to heart and in all the wrong ways. Will they all make it to the end of term (Thursday)? It’s doubtful. They’re killing the chances of keeping Miller.
Mrs. Vazquez just sent back this reply:
well i am glad to see that your sense of humor has not changed. i am sorry that mr miller is not violent, but i thought that an education is so much more…who knows. what do you mean about the world classes, are they misbehaving? let me know.
tell brian and jordan that i miss them. have you and brian read your books. well in brian’s case, he has probably read at least 25 books since i left. stop starting rumors silly boy, if anything, tell them that the truth is that i am going to…
The rest of her e-mail consists of statements that may be taken as threats toward national and school authority figures. Anyway, it’s good to know that Mrs. V. is alive and well and acting like her usual self.
Feeling down? According to scientific (?) research, the Monday nearest January 24 is the most depressing day of the year. And since today is Monday, January 23, the most depressing day of the year is today. It’s a little late now, but try using that excuse next year (on Monday, January 22, 2007) if you feel like moping around and doing nothing.
College students do the darnedest things. On the Glasgow Underground, it takes 55 seconds for the train to go from Buchanan St. to the next station, St. Enoch. Is it possible to get off at Buchanan St. and make it to St. Enoch in time to catch the very same train? Watch The Subway Challenge and find out. (Note: The video is available in WMV and MP4 formats, but Firefox wouldn’t open them correctly. I had to use IE for them to work.)
One year ago: “Although I don’t like my World History teacher very much, she has her good points. For example, she believes that her students should learn.”
Two years ago: “And last week I passed by him in a hallway, he said, ‘Hey Kalilich! In just two weeks, you’ll be in my class! Muhahahaha!’”
Filed under Blogging, Friends, Internet, Musings and Observations, School, Science, Stuff, Weird
3 comments
#1 by Luke: Mon Jan 23, 2006 21:29 (UTC -5)
Good judgement call. I thought the _other_ parts of the emails were just filler leading up to the end, but there is that whole “threat to national” figures thing. It’s really too bad you kids aren’t in the pudding. Those were classic lines that got cut.
#2 by Todd: Thu Jan 26, 2006 01:25 (UTC -5)
I used the most depressing day thing as an excuse for everything that day.
#3 by Luke: Fri Jun 09, 2006 11:49 (UTC -5)
Also: “shot” is my verb for emails.