The Machine Turns One Today

365 days ago today, The Mighty Quinn Media Machine made its debut to the world. I woke up that day and decided to become a blogger. I almost did the previous June, but decided not to. (I really wish I had then.) I selected that name based on a comment I made to a friend a few years back about some of the attention I got through the Red Sox 2004 World Series win and a few other things. ("I feel like a one-man media machine.") I didn't give it a "Red Sox" name to it although I knew I was going to be writing a lot about the team and baseball in general (and I have of course).

This is also another special post: it is the 600th post I have made in total. Some coincidence that it happened on the first anniversary, eh?

It's been such a blast to write this blog, and it has truly reached the four corners of the world. About 19,000 people have reached my blog. (That's an approximation, as I did not put the Site Meter on to my blog until April 20, five weeks after I started the blog.) It's fun to check every morning to see where around the world people have come here from. I've had readers from all 50 states, most major nations of the world, and from such diverse places as Mongolia, Iran, Ivory Coast, Bolivia, and Vietnam. I haven't seen a reader from Iraq or Afghanistan yet, but I'm sure that's just a matter of time.

A lot of people find my blog through Google searches, especially Google Image searches. (The pictures I put up of Paul McCartney and The World Cup Trophy are still the two most popular ones.) The seven-part series I wrote about my experiences at Tower Records brought a lot of people to my blog late last year. Two web sites linked two parts of that story and that brought a ton of people here: Gawker linked my Tower story of the recreational drug use, and Idolator linked my first story about Tower announcing its closing.

The most responses I got on my blog was of two 9/11-themed posts I made. "Saint of 9/11," the film about Father Mychal Judge I wrote about last month, and the tribute to my late friend Joyce last September 11 both brought a number of warm responses from many people, and I am very grateful for that.

I am also glad I began putting up the Q&A to Trivia Night last November, as that has likewise brought many people here as well. I noticed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays that people searching for trivia end up here. I guess my trivia Q&A is slowing catching on!

I can hardly believe an entire year has now passed since I started The Mighty Quinn Media Machine. It has been so much to fun to write, and I really wish I had started this much, much earlier. Hopefully this will continue far into the future. Thanks to all of you who check out my site and especially to those of you who return often.

It's been a pleasure.