A few new things ...

The new year approaches, and I've begun contemplating what my 2008 blog should look like, sound like, etc. After last week's South Sound Technology Conference, and long chats with Elle, TacomaMama, Beast Mom and others, I have been re-evaluating what I want this blog to be. I still want to blog about great things in Tacoma, but what about all the other stuff? Why should I have to have two, three, four, five blogs when I can have one with several topics? I've discovered that's kinda what key words are for ... they help categorize things. And so, as I spend the next month or to evaluating what I want this blog to become, there will be a few new things here and there. I'm learning how to make headers. I actually bought a domain name, www.tacomachickadee.com, I added a "silly photos" section, and I've expanded my topic a bit to include Tacoma, novelling ... and silliness. Who knows what will come next ...

Tacoma: 200,000 blogaholics can't be wrong ...

Ok, some of you newbies (or oldies) might not get the reference. Out there somewhere there are T-shirts from Tacoma's grittier days when to be proud of Tacoma was looked at as an over-optimist's ever-quest for the silver lining, there were these T-shirts ... And they read: "Tacoma: 185,000 alcoholics can't be wrong." My husband jokes that it's how he remembers the approximate population of Tacoma. (Though now even the census records put us close to 200,000, and recent numbers say we've at last pushed through that ceiling.)

Anyhow, back to my point ...

There seem to be a lot of bloggers in Tacoma. Especially a lot of Tacoma-centric bloggers, with a lot of them being proud (longtime and newcomer alike) Tacomans.

Some of my regular blog rounds include:

Exit133, FeedTacoma, the News Tribune blogs, the Tacoma Gnome, TacomaMama, Erik Emery, Zesty Enterprise, the list goes on and on ... seriously, on and on and on and on and on and on ... you get the point.

Which got me wondering, are other cities this blog-happy about themselves? Seriously. It seems like a lot.

FeedPortland.com is a religious ministries organization. Exit66.com is some guy's personal website and Exit300.com is some random website service. There is, in fact, a SeattleMama.com. But it's, well, quite different than ours. And PortlandMama.com is definitely more of a business enterprise than our own local version's feet-on-the-street efforts. There is a Gnome.com ... but I didn't detect another city with it's own gnome blogger.

Now, other cities do have blogs. There's OlyBlog, OlyPoster, EugeneBlog, DowntownEugene, the SeattleBlog, MetBloggingSeattle (Which appears to be a chain blog? That's new to me ...), various neighborhood Seattle blogs, of course, Portland Neighborhood's Blog, Boise Blog (run by a real estate broker), MetroBlogging Minneapolis (another one of that chain! hmm ... they haven't hit Tacoma ... yet.) Anyhow, etc. etc.

So, are we just a sign of the times? Or is Tacoma blogger happy ... and are all those alcoholics now blogging? I won't say what I'm drinking while writing this ...