The Effect of this Blog on My Life (So Far)

In about an hour, I'm going to be participating in a roundtable discussion on academic blogging.  Oh, stop laughing!  This blog is...well, no, this blog is in no way academic.  I'm an academic, though, and apparently that was good enough to get me a seat at the table with Mark Byrnes, Erin Templeton and George Williams, all of whom do write academic blogs and damn fine ones.

Anyway, I had to figure out something to say about a topic on which I know practically nothing (not a new situation for me, I assure you), and that prodded me into reflecting on what, if anything, this blog has accomplished over the four months of its cyberlife.

Here, for your edification, are my conclusions:

The Effect of this Blog on My Life (So Far)

1. I have been able to claim to be working on the blog while reading Tom and Lorenzo's fabulous fashion reviews sixteen times.
2. My cousin Bekah has found a new way to make snarky comments about our family.  Not that she needed one.
3. Six people are following me, and I can't count them as stalkers.
4. I have found something to post to facebook that is not about grading, killing evil invasive plants or shared from George Takei.
5. I found out that too few people in my life have enough respect for George Takei.
6. My mother's popularity on campus has now extended into cyberspace where I receive daily pleas for more conversations with her.  Today, someone asked if she'd sign a photo.
7. Three students whom I don't know have come to my office to meet Xena, The Warrior Chicken.
8. I have been able to claim to be working on the blog while reading Television Without Pity eight times.
9. I have been able to claim to be grading papers while working on this blog twelve times (sorry, Mom).
10. My neighbors across the street (who have not yet appeared in this blog, but I assure you, it's going to happen) have made me question their taste due to the completely over-the-top enthusiasm they have for this blog.  Really, guys, you should try The Bloggess.
11. And, finally, I have managed to find an appropriate forum for saying many of the things that have gotten me into trouble in other venues.  My mother--and probably my employer--are greatly relieved.