20,000!

At, 8:21 A.M., EST, BillyBlog registered its 20,000th hit. Hoorah for BillyBlog! Whereas it took 1 year, 2 months and 10 days to get to 10,000 in November 2006, I've managed to double my visibility in less than 5 months since then. Of course, I owe an immense debt of gratitude to the loyal readers of BillyBlog. I know a bulk of my "hits" are one-time views referred by Google, but its those return visits that keep adding up.

For those playing the home game, the 20,000th hit came from a user in Dakar, Senegal. Someone googled the terms "dating" and "kidjo" (presumable Angelique Kidjo, the African singer), which somehow linked my post, Dating Advice No One Gave Me: Leave the Death Metal off the Résumé.

I would also like to offer thanks to Heather Browne at I am Fuel, You are Friends, whose linking me on her immensely popular blog, not only sent significant traffic my way, but also did wonders for my google relevancy (for those who don't get google, the more you are linked by other sites, the greater your relevancy in the search engine). Also, thanks to Ron Silliman, whose poetry blog
not only was one of, if not the first to link me. In addition, a recent mention of my Poetry in Motion project in his weekly linkfest has indubitably contributed to BillyBlog's growing cultural significance.

So what's in store for this modest little blog? More of the same, yet you never know. I'm chomping at the bit, for example, to have a go at this Don Imus business. I generally shy away from politics and the culture wars here on BillyBlog, but I might stick my toe in those infested waters more occasionally. Those who know me, know my politics, but blogging about said beliefs is a whole other story. Blogs that dabble in politics are pock-marked by inane comments from extremists on the Left and the Right. It's a slippery slope, a minefield, and a rollercoaster all crumpled up into one formula for success and, simultaneously blogdeath.

Since I can't end a celebratory post with the coined word blogdeath, let me instead say, it's a wonderful day to hit 20K. After a miserable day of rain on Thursday, we have clear skies this morning. Ok, clouds. But still, the ground was dry enough for me to bike the 12 miles to work, managing to avoid the scattered carcasses of umbrellas speckling the cityscape. It's Friday the 13th, I'm wearing my new jeans, fresh from Bloomingdale's (thanks Mom, I finally used that gift card for my birthday!) and my Starbucks Americano is particularly tasty this morning.

Thanks to all, and come back soon!