I believe congratulations are in order

While doing my daily scan of all things internet, and there are quite a few daily things, my hair-infested blogging anti-matter counterpart, otherwise known as "Jaquandor" (amongst his aliases), noted that he just passed his fourth year of blogging. It staggers the mind how much useless blather must be stored on some poor sap's server, but we must realize that at some future date, it will be turned against the writer. This I promise, so let us keep our vigilance of his blog. What's that you say? He is already suffering from incredible hubris in that same post? I'm shocked, shocked:

By the way, my current impression is that Byzantium's Shores is one of the oldest Buffalo Blogs in existence. Alex Halavais's blog has sporadic archives dating back to 1994, but the regular archives begin in May of 2002, and I don't know how much of the preceding material can be termed as a "blog" at all (i.e., how much of that was re-cast as blog entries at some later date). Jennifer has been around almost as long as I have, and I'm sure there are others. But four years is a pretty damn long time in Blogistan! That's a lot of books, of movies, of music, of whining about the Bills sucking and the Stupid Patriots not sucking, of wishing the Democrats would get a clue and George W. Bush would just go away, and of writing and meeting cool people. I've gone from maintaining strict pseudonym status to posting tons of photos of myself and attending blog meet-ups. And I've grown about six inches on my hair and added a beard.

I am of course referring to his hair growth and not his claim to have the oldest blog in Buffalo, which, if not true, is likely a contender.

In a completely related story, reading his memoir made me wonder, when did I start this heap? One quick look to the archives revealed a shocking truth -- TODAY is the 3rd anniversary of me publishing my unwanted thoughts for any pajama-wearing, work-slacking, google-searching fool to read them! Let's take a look at what my first blog looked like:

I'm tired, which is why I am finally taking the time to create a blog. Pressure from Jaquandor finally took over. I may use this site for good, but most likely for evil.

Riveting! Why, it's a page turner, like the first chapter of an even more fantastic novel! It just draws you in and won't let you go! Congratulations are indeed in order to myself, not only for initially caving to the incessant complaining from Jaquandor, not only for blogging on such a sporadic basis that chaos theory claims copyright infringement, not even for picking topics that cater to a crowd most likely to be ostracized from general society. Laud me because you love it, and it makes you feel good to pat someone on the back. Today is my 'back' day.