I would like to think of this post as a New Year’s Resolution, a very important resolution which will eventually contradict itself. In 2008, I’ll be focusing less on my blog and decreasing my overall online activities in order to effectively “live more.” How will this contradict itself? Well, by living more, I will have far more experiences and opinions to share on this blog. Isn’t that funny? A resolution to decrease blog activity may actually result in increased blog activity.
2007 has been a great year. Sarah and I began planning our wedding this year and we’ll have the final plans next month, I have a new full-time job that pays very well and is only five minutes from my house, I got an iPhone, and I just received a gift card specifically intended for the purchase of a Wii (no, I haven’t been able to find one yet). But, enough about me!
So, how did 2007 fare for MacManX.com? Thanks to Joen’s outstanding work on Fauna, I was finally able to release Frost 1.0, “a cool and refreshing style” for Fauna. I also launched Program Notes (fka Music Program Notes), an exciting new resource for ensemble directors, educators, students, and anyone else with a general interest in music and stage history.
2007 also saw some cut-backs and major changes to MacManX.com. The Favored Freeware list has been scaled back to about a quarter of its size. The previous list included all of the freeware applications that I have ever used, which produced quite a few duplicates (applications which served the same purpose) and dead links, and therefore caused a lot of confusion. This new list only features freeware applications which I have used in the last few months. Along the same lines, the Blogroll Dive has been discontinued to make way for more individual postings, which will be more frequent and far less confusing than the link dump that the Blogroll Dive became. Speaking of cut-backs, Program Notes was accepted by (and moved to) Wikia just three months ago, which has dramatically decreased my bandwidth usage and average server load, and brought my operating costs of Program Notes down to zero.
As for the major changes, I am proud to say that most noticeable change at MacManX.com would be the removal of AdSense and Text Link Ads. Despite the slight drop in income, I am happy to see them go.
If I had to pick my favorite post of 2007, it would definitely be Save the Environment for Free. “For just minutes a day, you can improve the quality of the environment for yourself and everyone around you who is, or whoever will be, living on our green Earth.” That’s right I said “minutes,” not dollars or cents, “just minutes a day.”
Unfortunately, 2007 also saw a dramatic decrease in comments. In fact, you’ll noticed that all but one of the MacManX.com posts linked to today have absolutely no comments. I hope that by putting a more personal spin on MacManX.com, more people will be willing to share their comments and opinions. Only time will tell.
So, with all of that said, I bid farewell to 2007 and greet 2008 with open arms. I’m looking forward to blogging less and living more in order to blog more. Still confused? I have to admit, starting the New Year off with a contradictory resolution may not be the best of plans, but at least I’ll be enjoying more of life outside the internet. As for the predicted increase in blog activity, we’ll just have to see how 2008 plays out.