Happy Blog-iversary!

(Thanks, Mimi, for the title)

Just three short years since I started this fun little blog . . .

I thought we might spend the holiday (?) with some of my favorite photos, highlights, and most popular posts. Please (please!) enjoy.

These photos, from my first and second posts, are still worth a look, no?

---

Funny to think that I'm still working on that paper on eikasia in Plato's Republic that I mentioned back in August '05, and presented in New York later that year, no? Fortunately now I'm revising in response to some helpful comments from some reviewers at a journal. I may just finish this paper yet!


Great shot of Emily and her grandparents:



And who could forget the ten-year reunion (two different posts!)?

Thanks again, Marisa, for helping make our trip out there possible!



Remember when Emily worked for Unity? Remember when she guest blogged about it?
(That's Job 1, in Missouri, if you want to keep track. Then it was Augie, of course. For her most recent digs, try this post.)


In the winter of our first blog year, I knit myself a scarf, as you may recall.


And then we rang in 2006, complete with cheesy graphics and Aaron Dopf's middle finger . . .

---

Month by month seems like a drag, no?
How about some facts and figures?

Most comments on a single post: 14, on Speaking of Tacos.

A lot (most?) of those were my own, so I'll also mention the runners up, all tied at 7 apiece:

Speed, Song, and a Writing Sample
Big in Japan
How Walkable Are You, Reader?
Thanks!

Not exactly comments, but one of the liveliest threads was an email discussion that I pasted into the blog, which was also the source of my title--thanks again, Deron.

---

Speaking of politics, ever wonder how many times the name "Obama" has been said?
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

All right! Double digits!
[Updated 7:43AM Tuesday: and I forgot to include the post with this great speech, since I didn't actually use his name in it . . .]


Most popular month ever
Not the taco post, not the time that a Japanese blogger thought my mom was pretty.

No, the single most popular month was the month when I had up an mp3 of a certain song (I fear that if I name it, I'll just get people's hopes up again. And no, I don't think it was just a passing craze.)

561 hits that month, a small number, but a record around here.


How about places visited?
Georgia
Montana, as mentioned above; other times too . . .
NYC, also mentioned above
Arkansas
central Indiana (Mimi on a tractor!)
Madison
our nation's capital
San Diego
Kansas and environs (I don't have to say that state's name twice in one post, do I?)
And we drove from Chicago all the way to Seattle
Texas, of course
Portland
Illinois counts now that we live out here, right?
Some of us even went to Alaska . . .

[Updated 8:03AM Tuesday: you want a map? Oh fine:]

View Larger Map

We had our share of visitors, too, like when my mom visited us in Rock Island.



I'm still waiting
That universal library discussion still thrills me. Every book to every person.



Weddings are fun
Emily and I were fortunate to be invited to a few over the past three years:
Christa and Jed Baughman
Trace and Julie
Chris and Carrie
Rodrigo and Nora
Todd and Brandy


Oh, and in case you forgot
The Jayhawks won the National Championship!