F2: Should I retire Friday's Feast

Welcome again to Friday's Feast. Given that Mr. Linky is having issues (probably due to the popularity of the application) I will not be posting a Mr. Linky link— but instead will be inquiring of my readers what I should do with Friday's Feast moving forward. If you don't know what Friday's Feast is all about, please read the Friday's Feast page for a more detailed explanation. If in spite of the circumstances you still want to participate, be sure to include a link to your post in the comments so that I and others can join in the feast.

Even before Mr. Linky decided to have difficulties, I have been pondering if the whole concept of Friday's Feast is still a good idea. What I have decided is to leave it up to my readers so that they can let me know which direction to take. If you are visiting this post through the Web you will notice a survey at the top of the page. I have included this so that you can take the survey and let me know what you think of Friday's Feast. This post should better explain what your choices are so that you can choose accordingly.

Should I retire Friday's Feast?

Yes— Cease and desist

This means that you no longer want to have any more postings related to Friday's Feast. I will stop posting on this topic and only the archives will remain.

Yes— But keep it around just in case

This means that I will no longer post, but reserve the right to bring it up again if demand for it returns.

No— Let it age like a good wine

This means that you want things as they are. You like the concept and figure that it just needs to mature. Hopefully word will spread like a good jam and more people can participate and share their posts like many of the other participation posts I have encountered.

No— But no Mr. Linky

I originally thought that encouraging people to participate was a good idea, but perhaps people are intimidated by having to come up with something. Also… now that Mr. Linky is having technical difficulties, I may opt to use a different method to have people share in the feast.

I am considering leaving the survey up for two weeks— but may leave it up longer to allow others to voice their opinions. I noticed that many people seem to not be as active in blogging activities due to warmer weather and are probably participating in outdoor activities instead. Please spread the word around so that others can take the survey even if they are not active subscribers. Once I get my results I will post again and let you know the future of Friday's Feast.

Spin Cycle: Double Date

In honor of Spin Cycle by Sprite's Keeper… I have decided to place my spin on this weeks assignment— Dating:

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When I was in college I attended a Single Adults dance with a friend during winter break. During this dance I met a girl to whom I discovered had the same birthday as me— only one year older. We thought that it would be fun to get together before we went back to school. In order to be safe, my friend and I proposed a double date— and to have it in Rockford so we could meet up with her where she lived.

My friend and I both lived in Crystal Lake which is half way between Rockford and Chicago. His date lived in Chicago— so we had to drive the 45 minutes into the city to pick her up… then proceeded to drive the hour and a half from Chicago to Rockford for the date.

The details of the date escape me (must be those aliens at work again taking my memory for their entertainment)— but I do know we had a great time together and ended the date sometime around Ten O'clock that evening. We proceeded to take our dates home in reverse order: mine first, then my friend's date after that. We drove all the way back to Chicago during which my friend and his date proceeded to fall asleep. In order to stay awake, I had to roll down the window so that the cold air would keep me alert. Luckily my friend stayed awake during the ride back to Crystal Lake and we all made it home safely.

I for the life of me cannot remember this girl's name— not that I wanted to forget her, but mostly that this happened more than 20 years ago and we just lost touch with one another. So my friend… if you remember her name, please let me know so that I can at least be assured of the fact that this happened and that I am not losing my mind (aliens or none).

Wordful Wednesday: Top of the world

You're on top of the world
You're on top of the world
And you can't get any higher
You're on top of the world
You're on top of the world tonight ¹

Top of the World— from Yosemite

That is me on top of Glacier Point in Yosemite. I have a lot of stories to tell— but have not had the time to assemble them. Looking forward to telling all.

¹ Excerpt from the Cheap Trick song: "On Top of The World" from the album Heaven Tonight.

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Blogiversary

I cannot believe that I have been posting to this blog for a whole year. If any of you have read my previous posts about the birth of my blog you can see how this all came about.

Many choose to highlight their greatest posts from the past year to show what you may have missed if you started reading as of late. Since I am not sure what constitutes a great post, I thought I would list those that I am proud of (but did not get many comments) as well as those that got a lot of comments on.

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Posts I'm proud of:

Name, Occupation, Health, Feelings

This is probably my oldest personal philosophy concept as I remember writing about this when I was a freshman in high school. I am considering re-posting it and making it into a multiple post where I outline my thoughts in the first post, then get into greater detail in separate posts.

Attraction Factors

This is one of my personal philosophy posts which talk about those things which attract us to others.

Traditional Letter Writing

I talk about how I have many traditions when it comes to letter writing some of which I still follow to this day.

The Tangibles

This is part one of a two part post which deals with the concept of tangibility. I suggest reading both this one and the following one to be able to compare the two properly.

The Intangibles

This is part two of a two part post which deals with the concept of tangibility. I originally wanted to just talk about this— but realized that I was doing a lot of comparing so I had to break it up into two separate parts.

Three Legged Stool

This post uses the analogy of a stool when it comes to relationships.

From the mind, heart, and soul

Here I try to clarify some of the terms I tend to use when it comes to my opinions on things.

Sphere of Influence

This post can stand on its own— but is also related to the next two listings below. It is an interesting concept which is referenced a lot in other posts.

Tyranny of Numbers

This post is related to the Sphere of Influence post but expands upon the concept to include the Internet and being able to find what you are looking for through searching.

Anonymity through Commonality

This post takes the post on Sphere of Influence and the post on Tyranny of Numbers and expands upon it to show how difficult it is to find "Me".

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Posts that currently have 20 or more comments:

Warm Milk

This was my first post that reached 20 comments. It is also one of my first participatory posts where I am participating in Tuesday's Tribute.

Wordful Wednesday - Spikester Diddly Dog

This one got a lot of comments because… who doesn't like dogs.

Writer's Workshop: C is for Cookie

This is a good story about how my sister taught me a lesson for demanding a cookie. Be sure to read the comments, she tells the real story and not the one a 4 year old remembers.

100th Post

Most people like to wish you well on your 100th post. Hopefully it will give you some topics to ask me to write about.

TT: Spin on the Bed

This is currently the record holder with the number of comments made. I probably tribute it to being both a Tuesday's Tribute and a Spin Cycle participatory post.

What's in a nickname: Naming conventions

I think a lot of people have nicknames and like to share theirs.

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And the one that I get the most search hits on…

ASCII Love

I don't know why… but I seem to get hits from all over the globe for this one. So much so that I wrote a special post about it: Looking for Love in all the wrong places.

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Please feel free to visit these pages if you have not done so already to give you a smattering of what I've been writing about this past year.

F2: Ordering in a Restaurant

Welcome again to Friday's Feast. Today I'll be sharing on how to order at a restaurant. If you don't know what Friday's Feast is all about, please read the Friday's Feast page for a more detailed explanation. If you want to join in on the feast, be sure to leave a comment and include the URL to your post so I and others can know of your contribution.

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Since I am on vacation this week, I thought I would talk about how to order at a restaurant. My father taught me a lot of these tips and I find them quite helpful when dining out.

Author's Note: I realize that when I learned these techniques that they were geared towards impressing a woman on a date. The person you could be dining with could be your spouse, your girlfriend/boyfriend, or even your partner— so I will try and use the term "date" to refer to the person across the table from you (unless you're dating yourself— then you're on your own). Ladies, you can either try and convince your boyfriend/husband to adopt these techniques— or even use them yourself to throw him off guard. Here we go:

Be sure to seat your date first.

This is crucial so that you can be in position to get at the wait staff first. If the table is by a wall, be sure that you are facing towards the middle of the room. It is difficult to see the wait staff if you are facing the wall, so be sure to seat your date accordingly.

When you first sit down— start discussing what's on the menu.

You do not want to fall into the trap of talking about other things and having to turn the wait staff away because you don't know what you want. Be sure to get right down to business and start discussing what looks good. During this time you can pretty much figure out what they will be having.

Figure out all the details to their order.

You need to figure out all the details that the wait staff will be asking when you order— so be sure to include in the conversation things like how they like their steak done, what kind of potato they would like, etc.

Be sure to order for your date.

Once the wait staff arrives, be sure to announce "allow me" and proceed with the ordering. Start with your date first "They will have…", then go to your own order. Be sure to remember all the details so that the wait staff does not have to ask.

Be sure to flag the waiter/waitress appropriately.

You don't want to flail your arms when trying to get the wait staff's attention. Be subtle and make eye contact with the staff so that they know you need them. This is why it is important to seat yourself facing into the room so that you can see the staff and flag them when needed.

Find out if your date is finished with their meal

You certainly do not want the wait staff to clear your date's place when they are not finished. You may want to announce to your date that you are finished and ask if they are too. If they need to have a doggy bag, be sure to find out and flag the wait staff.

Be sure to not let your date see the check.

When the wait staff arrives with the check make sure that you see it first. Even if you are going dutch, you should give the impression that you will be handling the check. Sometimes you may even suggest how much they can pay, or even suggest that they only cover the tip.

Thank you for partaking in this weeks feast. Please stop by on Sunday as that it my blogiversary and I wouldn't want you to miss the celebration.

Birth of a Blog 04: What's to come

You may ask… what else is there to do? I know that I have always wanted to start up a professional blog so that I can document those things that I find people should know. I already have a Wordpress account and an About page— but nothing else. If you are curious, you can visit my welcome page at http://cajoh.wordpress.com/about/. I have not made any posts because I am waiting to have the tools I need in order to create the screen shots for my posts. I first need to get a new computer since my current home computer is almost 10 years old. Then I need to install Photoshop so that I can manage my screen shots accordingly. However… I also need ideas. I know enough about computers to be dangerous— so if there are any topics you want me to post on that you feel will make your computing experience easier, feel free to e-mail me and let me know. Once I get enough posts under my belt I will promote my other blog in a post and have a special "What my alter-ego is saying" blogroll on the side.

There is a feature post called "He Blogs, She Blogs" where people submit questions and both Heinous @ Irregularly Periodic Ruminations and Petra a.k.a The Wise (*Young*) Mommy @ The Wise (*Young*) Mommy give their take on the questions. Unfortunately Heinous went on sabbatical and the torch needed to be passed on to someone else to be the "He" portion. Petra decided to take out a personal ad type post and have a contest to see who could fill in while Heinous was away. I put my hat in the ring and answered the questions given to me so that they could be posted in the contest. Interestingly enough, I got second place— but lost out to Captain Dumbass @ Us and Them who won by a landslide. As a consolation prize I was asked to guest post and may even guest post again if the need arises. Now they have their own dedicated site for He Blogs, She Blogs, which deals with one question at a time in more detail. So, go visit the new He Blogs, She Blogs site and enjoy.

I have also signed up to be a contributor over at In The Real World Venus vs. Mars. This site has guest contributors who post about relationships. Since much of my personal philosophy posts revolve around relationships— this allows me the opportunity to talk specifically about relationships and give real world examples rather than talk abstractly as I sometimes do. So if you are interested in my perspective on relationships— feel free to sign up and read not only what I have to say, but what others have to say as well.

This coming Sunday will be my blogiversary. So much has happened within the past year. I believe that my writing has become easier to come by and the ideas keep coming in. If you don't tune in for tomorrow's Friday's Feast— be sure to stop by on Sunday for the celebration.

Birth of a Blog 03: Growing Pains

Wanting to write means that you also want an audience. I installed feedburner before it was incorporated into blogger so that I could encourage my friends to at least sign up to have my posts e-mailed to them. Interestingly enough I also got my first subscriber that I didn't know— which was very flattering. So often when visiting other blogs I see that there are a lot of followers listed. When following was first introduced I was curious if I had any followers. I kept installing the widget that showed the number of followers and was disappointed in that nobody was following. It wasn't until that faithful day when I looked at my dashboard and saw I had one follower that I realized there were people who actually read my posts without me having to twist their arms to do so.

I also got a Clicky account so that I could track who visits my site. I found it to be very useful in figuring out where in the world people were visiting from as well as seeing how many visitors I have per day. I must admit that I have had at least one visit per day since November and the most number of visitors in one day is 43 back on February 10th.

I think that one of the things that helped me expand my audience is to participate in various themes. The first one that I remember was a theme called "Mission: Monday" hosted by Deb @ Dirty Socks & Pizza and Jay @ Halftime Lessons. The concept of Mission: Monday was a great way that I could find out about other people's blogs. Three featured bloggers each ask a question about one of their posts. You leave a comment (but not the answer). Then Deb and Jay pull a name out of a hat (or something like that) and post a winner. Not that I was much into giveaways, but it did give me an opportunity to read other people's blogs that I would not know of otherwise.

There are some posts which ask the user to write a post and link your story back to their post through Mr. Linky. These "participatory posts" as I call them, allow me to write off-the-cuff and put together a post that would otherwise take a very long time to write. Three that I regularly participate in are Tuesday's Tribute, Writer's Workshop, and The Spin Cycle.

Tuesday's Tribute was originally created by Deb and Jay after the Mission: Monday theme was difficult to manage. The idea is pretty simple: if there is something that you want to pay tribute to (other than yourself)… then this is the place to do it. Jay has gone on hiatus and Deb is currently in meme therapy trying to get over her addiction to memes— so the torch was passed over to Angie @ SevEn cLoWn CirCuS who also hosts Wordless Wednesday.

Writer's Workshop is the brainchild of Mama Kat @ Mama's Losin' It. In it she has a writing assignment post which lists several prompts to write on and the next day a new post is added so that you can link up to share your contributions.

Spin Cycle is hosted by Sprite's Keeper @ Sprite's Keeper. Every Friday a new topic is given which typically is one word. You are then asked to take your "spin" on the topic and let her know that you did. Throughout the week she lets her readers know that new spins have been added so that by the end of the week you can check out other participant's spins.

I even started up my own participatory post a few months back called Friday's Feast. I think of it more like a recipe swap, but you are not limited to recipes. If there is any food related post that you have, I encourage you to post it and link up.