Friday, September 02, 2005

Yerunda: More than 10,000 Served

I'm heading out the door to drop off a carload of donations to Salvation Army. I have no money to donate to hurricane relief right now, but I do have clothing and household stuff to give. Whatever can help.

In light of what's going on in the Gulf Coast states, I feel that writing about just about anything else seems weird. But, even when your heart hurts and your soul is weary and your retinas are burnt out from watching hours and hours of cable news, life is continuing all around us. But still, to a reasonable person, anything other than the drama in Louisiana and Mississippi seems like, as the Russians would say, yerunda (yeh-rune-DAH). Nonsense. Folly. Bunk. Crap.

ерунда

Sometimes, though, we need a little yerunda. If just to keep us sane.

And so, I offer you this. It's small peanuts in the big picture and of absolutely no interest to anyone but me, but I just made 10,000 hits here on the Church of the Big Sky. I added my counter back on May 30th, just out of curiosity, and changed it to StatCounter a few weeks back, so I could see just who the heck was dropping by.

I admit, many of the hits I've received over the past month have been courtesy of the link April Winchell made to my blog, and I'm most grateful to the lovely Ms. Winchell (who is recovering from cancer surgery today - everyone please think good thoughts for her!) However, the vast majority of the Aprilites only stay long enough to realize that I'm not particularly funny (zero seconds, according to StatCounter) and then they flee for the hills. In fact, #10,000 was a zero second referral from April's site, but hey, I welcome all the visits! Hopefully they'll come back again later to read some of the stuff I've put up here and maybe find something to enjoy.

Yee-haw!

This blog was started to encourage my good friend the Sasquatch to do more writing of his own. Unlike me, the Sasquatch is much more careful about his words and posting. He doesn't vomit words onto the screen like I do, with no proofreading and a tendency to ramble. Also, unlike me, he has a full-time job, helping the world to be a better place, one beautifully designed graphic at a time, so he doesn't have the available minutes to rant endlessly.

Regardless, I hope he continues to write - and more often if possible. Please visit his blog and encourage him to keep posting his carefully proofread and thoughtful words. And visit the other fine blogs I've listed on the side of this sucker. There are some good writers out here - and some good friends.

By the way, the Sasquatch and I have known each other twenty years as of this month. That's half of my life. And, unlike 10,000 blog hits, that's not small peanuts. No yerunda at all. That's something huge and utterly worthwhile.

Lasting friendship always is.

I met the Sasquatch when I made a trek across campus to visit a friend who lived one door down from him. And the rest is history. Well, that's a little overdramatic, but we still speak to each other. And annoy each other. And put stupid pieces of music in each other's heads. (Still whistling the A Team theme today, bubba? Heh heh heh...) He's a damn good guy, despite the kinda bizarre way he sometimes comes off here on my blog. (He thinks y'all probably believe he's a whack-job from the stories I tell. I promise, he's not!)

The Sasquatch likes to say that "friends are your family by choice." I think that's a pretty cool philosophy.

I imagine this would be the proper beverage for toasting our friendship,
but neither one of us drinks beer...


So, here's to twenty years of friendship, Mr. Squatch! I look forward to celebrating by taking you and your lovely girlfriend out to dinner sometime next month, when I am employed again. (Austin Grill???)

And, I will be employed again.

When that finally does happen, I won't likely have the time to update this blog as much as I have. I have to give up the fantasy that I will be able to get a job as a writer and have the flexibility to stop and make a quick observation here and there. But I plan to keep writing here whenever I can. And I thank you for coming by and reading.

And hey, folks - if you have any money you can spare, please consider sending it to the Red Cross or the Salvation Army. If you don't have moolah, like me, consider donating some household stuff to Salvation Army. That will help them generate income and jobs and turn the machinery that keeps their mission moving.

I never figured I'd see an American city rapidly decay into the set of a John Carpenter movie, but New Orleans is sadly looking a lot like Escape from New York at this point. God help them all, and someone shake our leadership into swifter action, because Snake Plissken isn't a real guy. And real people are suffering and dying out there.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here is to good friends in good times and in bad!

Lots of people in New Orleans are needing a friend right now...

Time to spread our friendship skills around.

Take care ~ SJL

Franco said...

I wish hamburgers were only 0.15$ still :(
Visit my blog but don't actualy go there :)