Saturday, September 17, 2016

10 year anniversary of this blog

Thank you for everything. For visiting. For reading. For commenting. For the tips. For your encouragement. For your friendship.

Ten years ago, I started this blog because I wanted a creative outlet. I also wanted to learn more about cars and I wanted to travel more. A friend had a successful blog that catered to Philadelphia Eagles fans(?!) and suggested that I set up a Blogspot account. So I began blogging.

Great things, bad things, and mundane things happened along the way in life, and I kept posting. Although this blog never gained a large following, I am proud of two results. One, it gathered a tight knit group of well-read, well-rounded, like-minded car/geopolitics nuts from around the world.* Two, it had a positive, outsized influence on the automotive blogosphere.

My grand plan for today was to go over every one of the thousands of posts on this blog and give you the highlights. But instead, I will go over some of my life's mile markers over the past decade. You can see how those events have tracked with this blog.

2006: My grandmother, who raised me, passed away.


2006: Started this blog. (I just realized I started this blog right after my grandmother's passing.)

2007: Made partner at the firm.

2007: My first bus trip, from Oakland to Alaska.


2009: Loss of a great friend to gun violence.

2010: Drove a Citroen XM from Oregon to California. (Thank you!)


2010: Discovered Chile, the most wonderful country in the world.


2011: Got a Phaeton.


2012: Started writing for Hooniverse.

2013: Took a bus trip from Guatemala to Panama, and decided to start my own law practice.


2013: Started my own law practice.

2013: Adopted Cooper the Dog.


2015: 10th wedding anniversary/40th birthday in Paris.


2017: A life-changing addition to my world.

I cannot guarantee that I will post for another ten years. But it has become such an integral part of me and my routine. I will do my best to share what interests me with you. And I hope that you find it interesting as well.

*I'm still looking for visitors from Chad, Comoros, North Korea, Sao Tome and Principe, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Vatican City, and Western Sahara.

9 comments:

m4ff3w said...

Thanks so much for starting your blog and exposing me to things I didn't know about.

I found your blog initially when I was looking for Maserati stuff when I had my Bitrouble.

Pete Dushenski said...

So 2017... your wife's preggers ? If so, mazel tov!!

F1Outsider said...

Pretty crazy to think I've been reading this blog for well over 5 years. My life has changed drastically in that time but reading this blog has been a constant.

Congrats and keep it up! It's a great blog with always interesting content.

Also congrats on the life-changing news for 2017.

HouseOfCadillacs said...

Thanks to you I'm going to have to change my screen name to HouseOfPhaetons now!

Keep up your great blog, it's always fascinating to find out what you are going to write about and one day your kid will be able to read it too :-)

Lukas said...

Congrats for 2017!

Tarlan said...

Thanks for your blog Jim, one of my favorite blogs. i'm probably not an active commentator but believe I'm an active reader.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all these years of blogging! And I appreciate the mention of Chile as the most wonderful country, hahaha. Best wishes for all what's comming!! ;)

Edvin said...

Congrats for 2017, I'm happy for you! Big thanks for the blog! May it last at least another 10 years! I think I started following in 2009. It was and still is the only blog that I follow somewhat regularly.

Ed Kim said...

Don't stop, Jim! This is some of my favorite reading when I have the time. :)