Two Hundred and Counting...

I've been pondering a worthy post for my two-hundredth blog. The Stream of Consciousness was started back in 2009 - at least on Blogger. An earlier iteration was born on Live Journal and I still have a couple of friends that blog over there, but Blogger offered me a little more of what I needed creatively so I made the move in 2009. Lately, I've been thinking about a move to WordPress - I have several author friends who blog there - but an irrational fear of moving has kept me at Blogger for the time being. The future is yet to be written...

What does 200 blog posts mean? Does it simply infer that I have a lot of time on my hands? I would contest that; looking back over the years, there are weeks and months where no blogging at all took place. In fact, these idle periods tend to skew the curve of my blogging activity (and creativity). Let's get the boring, self-aggrandizing statistics out of the way, shall we?

Prior to writing this blog, I had received 31,481 lifetime page views on Blogger. Let's break that down:

Writing production: i.e. number of blogs written per year...
- 2009: 27
- 2010: 50
- 2011: 25
- 2012: 57
- 2013 (year-to-date): 40 (not counting this post)

Reading/Page views:
- Page views per month: 562 (56 months)
- Page views per week: 130 (243 weeks)
- Page views per day: 19 (1,697 days)

Now, as I mentioned, were I to factor out all the months/weeks/days that I didn't blog at all, my adjusted page view statistics would be much higher. However, I am neither a math geek nor a raving narcissist so we'll go with the raw data and move on.

More interestingly, I thought it might be a reasonable idea to take a look at some actual blogs based on certain milestones and reflect on their meaning, etc. (or just laugh embarrassingly and hope you don't click through to actually read them).

Naturally, one significant milestone would be the first blog I posted on Blogger:

- January 8, 2009 - Greetings to the Big G: Nothing spectacular here; no pictures, no professions of undying fealty to Blogger. In fact, reading through this short post shows that I was vacillating on moving from Live Journal at all - I sense a behavioral pattern here. On the plus side, I managed to fit in a plug for Seabird, an excellent fantasy adventure that you should read if you haven't already!

- December 30, 2009 - The Music is in My Head: A recurring theme throughout the blogging years has been music. This was my last post of 2009, and reading back through it I can honestly say, "This still applies today."

For proof, I'll just note that I've listened to all the songs mentioned in this post during the last month (August, 2013). Quality never goes out of style. Enjoy!

Guys are spinning girls like forty-fives...

That was the beginning and the end of my first year on Blogger. Let's go to the Hall of Fame now and take a look at the top posts of all time - TPAT. In the interest of time (and your sanity) I'll confine my trip down memory lane to the top three blog posts - by page views - published on The Stream.

- January 7, 2010 - I Dislike Equivalent Temperatures: I'm not a science geek, but sometimes I will explore more technical subjects in my blog. Coming in at number three, I have no idea why this particular post has received so much play. It's probably because I included Jim Cantore as one of my labels. As a writer, I am definitely not above a little SEO (search engine optimization) in a lame attempt to drive traffic to my blog. If you're inclined, you can enjoy my humorous rant against using the heat index instead of the actual temperature.

- December 6, 2011 - Space...the Final Frontier (that we'll never get to?): Interesting! My second most-read blog of all time is also scientific! Hmmm...maybe I need to leave all this musical, creative and philosophical stuff behind? Okay, you busted me - I was making fun of science again. Don't get me wrong, I think the idea of an Earth-like planet in the universe is awesome. I just don't think finding one that is 7 million years away - in our best current travel modes - is all that exciting. That's kind of like me looking in the window of the Ferrari dealership: it's really beautiful in there but there's no way on Earth I'm ever going to afford one.

Please sir, may I have another?

- February 10, 2012 - Literary Review - The Scroll: I'm not a voracious reader; I just don't have the time anymore. As a young man I used to plough through novels like a farmer at planting time. I still read but, by dint of my limited opportunities, try to be a little more discerning regarding my content. The blog post with the most page views ever was my review of a novel entitled The Scroll. Written by Grant R. Jeffrey and Alton L. Gansky, The Scroll is an excellent read and I highly recommend it. I won't re-review it here - if you want to read what I had to say about it, click the link above and you can enjoy my full review.

There you have it, the top three blogs I've posted on Blogger - ranked by number of page views.

What does the future hold? Yoda says it best in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, "Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future."

I will keep writing this blog and, hopefully, people will keep reading it; either by accident or on purpose. One topic I would like to spend more time blogging about is the progress of my New Kingdoms novel series. If I could have one wish for the future, it would be that a lack of blog production would be a result of available time being spent writing my novels, as opposed to not writing at all as a consequence of work and other responsibilities.

See you at the next milestone...

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Space, the funeral frontier

I wrote a blog entitled Space...the final frontier (that we'll never get to?) on December 6, 2011. It was all about the seeming-impossibility of humankind ever traveling to a distant, earth-like planet, despite our best efforts to find one (or more). The catch is that the planets which seem to be good candidates are so far away that we'd all be dead before we could even get close.

                                         It sure is pretty out there...

This blog - which could be construed as a follow up to my December 6th missive - may offset the notion that we shouldn't bother looking for distant, habitable worlds. Why? Because, it seems, there are a fair number of people who will pay good money to send a few of their ashes into space. As this BBC article highlights, there are people dying just to get into orbit - never mind traveling to strange, new worlds.

There is no doubt that space is an amazing place. Having recently moved to northern AL, my wife and I have already taken the time to lay in the back yard at night and gaze up into the dusky heavens while pointing out the few constellations whose names we remember. For most of us, space is something we can see but never touch. Despite decades of enjoying Star Trek, Star Wars, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and countless other space-based offerings - including the Apollo missions - I know that I'll never get there. At least on this side of heaven.

Apparently this inability to actually get into space bugs some folks enough to shell out good money so that a tiny amount of ashen remains can be carried into space in varying degrees. I say varying degrees because there are several programs run by companies like Celestis; these programs range from shooting a tiny canister of your loved one's remains out of the atmosphere and giving the capsule or module to you after it returns to earth; to the more Trek-ish, the Voyager program is where you wave goodbye to that same small capsule/module as it heads off into deep space.

 

           These are the voyages of...some dead guy

As romantic as that sounds, I have my glass of cold water handy. Simply getting a capsule containing a single gram of ashes into space (defined as a zero-gravity environment) will cost you $995. Want a larger representative sample? To blast a module containing seven grams of ashes into space will cost you double that.

There are orbital and lunar options as well. But the creme de la creme is Celestis' Voyager program. Launching a single gram of ashen remains into deep space exploration will run $12,500; prefer the module option in which seven grams of ash can boldly go where no (dead) man has gone before? That'll be $25,000 please.

Twenty-five large - to send seven grams of ash hurtling into space?

I don't mean to be insensitive; I can definitely see the attraction. But especially after this 60 Minutes episode where it was discovered there is a fair amount of 3-card Monte going on with earthly remains in cemeteries all over the country, I'm not sure I'm up for spending the equivalent of a nicely equipped Toyota Camry on sending seven grams of my ashes into space. I mean, how do I know they won't just make a big to-do about putting my ashes in the capsule or module, give my loved one a nice plaque and go out back and dump me in the butt-can?

I know this may rain on some folks' parades but we're talking about someone who has already passed on to the happy hunting grounds, gone to be with their maker, risen into heaven or descended into Dante's Hot & Spicy. We're talking about spending a lot of money on shooting ashes into space.

I respect everyone's beliefs; I respect the fact that it may give someone closure or at least comfort to think of their loved one hurtling through the dark, airless vacuum of space. They can spend $25000 and believe that dear, sweet Harold (or Ethel) is in a better place, helping mankind chart the unknown reaches of space.

My belief is that when you die you are, well, dead. Whatever is left of your human form is a lifeless shell bereft of anything you may have been during your life. Burning that shell and shooting a portion of it off into space may sound romantic but what about the important part?

What about the soul of the person who has passed? Where is that?

In my opinion, it would be better to spend your money on taking care of your soul - and the souls of others - than worrying about these fleshy modules we inhabit here on earth.

What do I believe? God has already got a place in the heavens for me when I die. When it's my time, I won't need Celestis or anyone else to blast me into the heavens. I'll already be there.

Sorry about that old capsule I left behind...

What do you think?

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