Category Archives: Blogbook

Approaching the two-week anniversary of having installed the Count-per-day plug-in, the report card indicates 537 total reads and 383 total visits. The top 20 visits-per-post list shows: 20  Single Ship 20  The Great Toilet Paper Caper 18  The Ultimate Commute Vehicle 16  Blog Backstory (CAUTION! Info Dump) 15  The Quagmire of Disproportionate Response 15  Undergraduate Pilot Training – Split Schedules 14  Status Report 13  Doolittle Raid Part 2 – by Mac McElroy 12  Bizarre Events in Aviation 10  Blogbook 10  Undergraduate Pilot Training – “The Chinese Pilot” 9   About Tosh 9   Weather in the Cockpit 8   Do Home-Built Airplanes Come … Continue reading →

A week ago, I grew tired of dealing with spam. My site doesn’t have enough traffic to attract a lot of it, but the principle of the thing began to bug me. It’s no less of an invasion than the telemarketing garbage peddler who expects me to answer the phone while I’m eating dinner and sign up for something that I supposedly can’t do without for another second. So I installed a plug-in spam filter. As of this writing, 44 of the devils have been denied access. I like to think of it as Gandalf confronting the Balrog with, “Thou … Continue reading →

My primary initial objective for this website/blog was to establish an online presence that might enhance my chances of securing agent representation for my novel. The “theory” is that if a query letter and writing sample do not generate a form rejection and the agent is tempted to request a partial or full, the presence of a website can be a positive factor in what happens next. You are never supposed to “send” agents to your website, but if their curiosity results in a visit and they like what they see, it’s a nudge in the right direction. It also … Continue reading →

So, here I am, blogging away and having a great time within the cocoon of my own making, one tiny crumb in the webfeast. I get visits from a friend or two every now and then, but generally it’s a solo endeavor of no import to anyone else. But as mentioned in a previous post in this logbook, that doesn’t mean I’m not getting any visitors who leave comments. Some are so obviously spam that trashing them has become automatic. Who but a computer would post a comment with nothing but multiple links? A few cause me to wish for … Continue reading →

I’ve mentioned in previous Blogbook posts that favorable comments from visitors are hard to ignore, even when the source appears “suspicious.” On the one hand, I’m pleased that someone appears to have enjoyed a post. I’d like to thank them and encourage them to return. But when the comments and the source have little or no direct relationship to the topic of the post, an excess of caution seems warranted. Here are some examples (I’ve edited them for typos): From Cinemaaa.com  on Illegal immigration, a humorous post about liberals sneaking across the border from the US into Canada: “I’ve added … Continue reading →

How time flies. It seems like yesterday when I sat down with my friend Deanna Roy and created this website and blog. Within 36 hours, the site appeared on the first page of a Google search for my name. Before the end of the first week, I was number two on that page. At the one-month anniversary, I was still camped there below a link to ripoffreport.com and an article about the bad professional practices of a City Group Smith Barney employee in San Diego named Tosh McIntosh. But today, I noticed that bad boy has been shoved down a … Continue reading →

My website is really getting popular. I have “fans” in Germany, Mexico, Canada, England, France (this visitor included the word “sexe” as a special incentive, I guess), and the latest, Pakistan. Compliments come from visitors associated with online poker, pharmaceuticals, children’s toys, skin treatments, and hauling companies, just to name a few. When I started this, I had no idea how easy it would be to attract attention. Begin the process of launching a website at 10:00 one morning and by 2:00 in the afternoon, you’re live. But you are also a microscopic crumb of digital existence, and someone can … Continue reading →