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My 2007 Year in Review

Unlike everyone else, I slacked off and waited until 2008 was officially here to do my review. 2007 was my first year of full on blogging. I’d messed around here and there with different blogs before, but 2007 was the year I drank the Kool Aid and went at it for real. I’ll keep this list confined to what occurred on this blog. You’ve probably guessed by now that I’m somewhat guarded about the personal life. Enough about me…here are my thoughts on my 10 most notable posts of 2007:

Ron Paul’s Presidential Run
At times it seemed to me that Ron Paul news was taking over this blog. On one hand I feel like I need to apologize for that, but on the other hand, it’s my blog and that’s what I was interested in. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one who was excited by Dr. Paul’s message, and I hopefully played a small part in helping him get elected. More on that later this year, as I have some thoughts on what is realistic, and what is for the best.

Knox County Scandals
There were more in 2007 than I can even count. That makes you wonder how much stuff is going on that we haven’t even heard about yet. Last week I saw a t-shirt that read, “Miami: A sunny place for shady people.” Knox County seems to have the market cornered on shadiness this year.

Steroids in Sports (and Non-Sports)
My bottom line–WHO CARES? Next topic.

People Getting Nekkid and Almost Nekkid
I got a ton of traffic this year writing articles about Vanessa Hudgens, along with a couple of articles about the Inskip teacher who had arguably inappropriate photos on MySpace. I don’t really care who gets naked and takes photos of it, I just wonder how people can do that and not retain ALL digital copies of the material. Idiots.

Barbie Cummings and the Highway Patrol
This was just a funny local story that ended up causing me to exceed my bandwidth when it went national and I ended up ranking #3 on Google for “Barbie Cummings Blog”. Since then, Ms. Cummings life has apparently changed dramatically, much for the better. How do I know that? I’m resourceful, and it didn’t take much digging anyway. Nevertheless, it seems like she wants to leave that part of her life behind her, so I think it’s time this story finally died and went away, never to be mentioned here again.

Tennessee Smoking Ban
Thank you to our state’s elected leaders for writing and enforcing personal choice laws on private property. If you really want to look out for me and mine, stop wasting our tax dollars on this crap. Next thing you know we’re going to have to provide health care for people who would’ve otherwise died if you’d not spent millions trying to keep them from smoking.

Buddies Blogging
Some people I know IRL also started blogs this year. It’s funny that you can go months or years without talking or emailing with someone, and this medium puts you in the position to “converse” with them every day. Even when it isn’t dialog, you read what they write and they read what you write. Very cool. Not to mention the countless other blogs I’ve begun to read that I never would have learned about if I’d not started blogging for real this year.

The War On Education
Also known as the public school system. I feel like I don’t spend enough time or energy talking about this because I think it’s the number one problem facing our country. Solutions are anything but clear and simple, but one thing I’m very excited about for this coming year is that I’ve got an idea that may help a little, at least for individuals. I’m finishing up some other projects, and then I’m going at it full force.

Blogging About Blogging
As I said, 2007 was my first year blogging full throttle, and boy did I learn a lot. I posted a ton of stuff about monetizing, driving traffic, building networks, linking to other people, and I’m sure lots of other stuff that annoys people. I can’t help it…my interest is peaked. Another project I want to tackle for this year is keeping that stuff off of this site and directing it to a different blog that is dedicated to that subject.

The One I Wish Was More Popular
Just a couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about The Wire. I really wished more people watched this show, especially the season that starts next week which will address the media. I’ve had several great conversations with people who watch The Wire, and I’d love to bring more of them to this venue. In fact, I think I’m going to, despite the fact that most people don’t know about the show. At least I’ll have the bragging rights that a couple of people heard about it from me when they are finally turned on to it.

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No Place Like Home

We had a great time on our trip to Miami, but it is great to be home again and back into our regular schedule.  I couldn’t believe the story about the shooting at Hooter’s here in Knoxville–how tragic.  I actually found out about it while reading Total Diatribe…thanks Billy Mac!

With a week of almost nonstop non-posting, I have several things in the works.  I’ll be working the next few days to finish up my half written posts and complete my half thunk thoughts.  I’ll start by popping over to twitter and writing some notes.   All of this before I even get a chance to catch up on everything I haven’t read in the last few days.

It’s crazy how the world keeps turning, huh?

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Dream Connection Radiothon

If you are feeling more like Bob Cratchit and less like Ebenezer Scrooge Tuesday morning, I’ll be manning the phones with the Knoxville Rugby Club at Dream Connection’s annual Radiothon on WIVK–call in and make a pledge from 7am to 10 am!

If you aren’t familiar with Dream Connection, it is an East Tennessee charity that makes dreams come true for local kids with life threatening or chronically debilitating illnesses. Our club just started working with them last year when we did a golf tournament for their benefit, and they are a top notch organization. My favorite thing about this organization is that 100% of the funds they receive goes directly to making dreams come true for kids.

No overhead costs–printed materials and the like are donated. No paid positions–everyone involved works as a volunteer solely to help the kids.

Call in Tuesday morning and help this great cause!

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In The Nashville Know

MCB is linking up to Jared’s post on things you should know about living in Nashville.  I’m not from Nashville proper, but from “out in the county”.  I have a few that need to be added to help the newcomer get by.  Nashville folks, please don’t take these personally…it’s all in good fun.

1.  Never, under any circumstances, pronounce the word “Demonbreun” without using three m’s.  The correct Nashville pronunciation is “Duh- muhm-bree-uhm”.

2.  Don’t freak out and ask for an autograph when you see a someone famous.  Nashville etiquette says that you ignore the celebrity.  There is a very good reason for this.   You need to be able to brag to your friends later that you saw a celebrity and didn’t care.  Don’t make a big deal out of seeing someone famous.  Make a big deal out of the fact that you didn’t make a big deal of it.

3.  It’s not a “garden hose”.  It’s a “hosepipe”–having the properties of both a hose and a pipe.

4.  When you see a funeral procession, pull over.  Don’t just slow down.  Stop.  Yes, this stands true for most of the South, but Nashville is a gateway city–the first stop for many transplants to the South.

5.  The 24/7 Horn Honking Festival that takes place at the Capital every few years is not actually sanctioned by the Chamber of Commerce.  That’s just a few concerned citizens who feel they shouldn’t have to pay a fee for the right to earn a living in our great state.

I hope these help.  Once you’ve mastered Nashville, you can move on to a bigger challenge, like Knoxville.  On second thought, just stay put–we like our peace and quiet around here.  It makes it easier for us to here the whispers of our County Commissioners plotting and scheming in the shadows.

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Red Light Cameras — The Real Enemy

From the KNS

Knoxville police arrested a man Sunday morning for allegedly shooting a traffic light camera several times at the intersection of Broadway and Interstate 640.

Surely I’m not the only one snickering at this.  How can the police find the guy who allegedly shot a traffic light camera three times at 2 a.m. in Knoxville Tennessee, but still don’t know who shot Tupac on the Las Vegas strip in front of countless witnesses?  There really is no justice in the world.

Before any of the anti-gun nuts start asking for bans on .30-06 rifles, let’s remember…

Guns don’t take photos of your car and send you expensive traffic tickets in the mail…RED LIGHT CAMERAS DO.

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Not Even Local News

SVD has a pretty funny post over at KtownLowDown about “Local News“. Well what do I find featured in the KNS the very next day? A real scoop: Kenny Chesney Still Loves The Vols.

Look, I get it that offbeat stories are interesting. When somebody does something really stupid or odd, it’s going to attract interest. I even understand covering stories about scandalous nude photos or crazy sexual escapades. If nothing else, there’s some web traffic to be gained.

What I don’t understand is a front page (at least on their web site) story about which college football team has earned the allegiance of a singer.

Can anyone who would actually care one way or the other even read?

This isn’t even local news.

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Nashville Increasing Licensing Fees For Strippers

From The Tennessean:

Even though the board has discussed increasing the dancing permit and club licensing fees to $500, it probably won’t be able to charge that much.

Metro attorney Doug Sloan said the board is prohibited from charging more money than it needs to regulate the industry, and the board is waiting for a tally on those actual costs

If they factor in the cost of enforcement of the tax they should be able to justify it. Just like the cross-border cigarette enforcement, Metro Nashville will no doubt have to send revenue officials into strip clubs in all neighboring counties to make sure that the dancers are not actually Davidson county residents.

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(Hopefully Short) Life In Prison

From the KNS

A Knox County sports referee who used his position to lure child molestation victims into his home will die in prison.

Hopefully this death will be administered by the most sadistic son of a bitch in the penal system. Bonus points if it occurs within the first week, lessening this walking fart’s burden on the taxpayers.

Good riddance.

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There Should Be A Law

For those of you who are not yet convinced of the dangers of smoking and have not yet written your state representative a letter of thanks for deciding on your behalf which private businesses can allow smoking, this story should change your mind.

In the vehicle they inhaled fumes from a can of compressed air normally used to blow dust from computers or photographs.
…
When one of the women lit a cigarette in the vehicle, the fumes ignited, burning the couple, DeBusk said.

This could have been avoided. All we need to do is outlaw smoking in private vehicles. That way people will be forced to either step outside of the vehicle to smoke after huffing, or will be compelled to huff outside so that they can smoke immediately.

We must do everything within our legislative power to make huffing safe….for the children!

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Barbie Cummings Trooper Indicted

The KNS tells us that former Tennessee State Trooper who received a favor from Knoxville based porn star Barbie Cummings will be prosecuted, even though the work she performed was pro bono…

James Randy Moss turned himself in to Wilson County authorities in Middle Tennessee this morning to face a sealed indictment on charges of official misconduct, tampering with evidence and official oppression.

I’m a little surprised that Barbie Cummings doesn’t still have her blog going, or if she does I can’t find it. She really could have made a big splash with this story if she’d played it right. I thought from the beginning it was just a clever stunt on her part to get her name out–no such thing as bad press, right?