But after last night I realized my place in life, and this 5 minutes a day I spend rambling on about my life and our family life events, in a way keeps our family and extended family closer.
Last night we had a post-Christmas party at my folks' house with my dad's sisters and their kids. After a while the talk turned to Living On Liquid, the laughs were hearty, and inside jokes about stories and comments on the website came out for all to enjoy.
I had a warm-fuzzy feeling to know that a little something I do keeps our family connected, I guess I am the family journalist...with the world wide web as our newspaper.
The end of the year always brings awards, top 10 lists and Best Of lists...so here is the awards from the Living On Liquid staff.
Most loyal Living On Liquid Visitor: After much debate Aunt Gloria wins this award...she told us there are only 3 websites she visits...Living On Liquid and the 2 funeral homes in our town. Yes, Debbie Downer gets her fill of family news and then heads on over to Welter's site to see who's dead! (Notice the 2 new hot links on the right hand side of the website to make things easy for Auntie Glo!) Honorable Mentions: Sally, Skipper and Verlie (Skipper and Verlie would have won this award but thier wives don't let them post comments for fear of hurting my feelings...come on guys start dishing it out again, we miss you!)
Best Fake Injuries Sustained Through False Reporting On This Website: Grandpa Bob...a blown out knee from caber-tossing gone wrong, and a nose injury from prize fighting on the East Coast...both injuries sound way more rad then how they actually happened...thanks for the artistic leeway, dad. Honorable Mention: Shaki the cat...who my mom almost successfully crushed with their 2,000 lbs. garage door...don't worry Shaki, Maxim has his Sunday School teachers praying for you and Grandma Penny!
Most Frequent International Visitor: Amber K. wins this one hands down...it's always nice to see that Uganda has Internet access. Honorable Mention: The Korean spamer that had Aunt Gloria convinced that all of our computers are now in the hands of Kim Jong-il.
Best Picture Posted: At Sally's request, my 2nd grade picture with the hemp necklace, velour shirt, stocking cap hair and a half-stoned look on my face...funny thing is...I look the same today, minus the 2nd grade innocence.
Best Linking Site To Living On Liquid: Minus Car Project...I get more outside the family visitors from this site than any other site. Mike is the man when it comes to blogging and saving the Earth...also takes a pretty good picture with the sweaty drummer from MeWithoutYou...good times.
Best Comments Posted: Aaron S...he posted the comment that shocked the Internet world after I lost my stupid dog in a sleet storm earlier this fall. Exactly 17 minutes after he posted it his mom called him to yell at him for being so mean to me. In all reality he was quoting lines from one of our favorite Adam Sandler movies and I was laughing with Brent as A.J. was getting chewed out. Aaron, may God have mercy on your soul! Honorable Mention: Skip and Verlie...this tag team - dynamic duo of retirees used to rip it up on the "post comments" section, but now have been shut down by their wives...I guess we know who wears the pants in those relationships!
Most Played Musician During Posts: Jack Johnson...I can't seem to figure out my Last.FM scrobbling tool all the time and I have a feeling Jack would have lost out to Eartha Kitt singing "Santa Baby" over the last few weeks, but here's to Jack!!! I am counting down the days to February when the new album drops...maybe an invite to the CD release party in Hawaii???
Visitor # 1,000: January 21, 2007 we tripped the "hit counter" over 1,000 here at Living On Liquid and I am almost 99% sure, Uncle Skipper was the 1,000th visitor...congrats. For being number 1,000 I invite you to go to the Living On Liquid webstore and buy yourself a new t-shirt. By the way we are nearing 10,000 hits! Can we do it before 2008? Only you can decide.
Most Controversial Post: July 20th's Harry Potter blog. I completly went off that day...I think it was some of my best work. BUT...I must have stepped on toes, because I was approached by an older friend who said a person came up to him with concerns about my blog and my beliefs.
They were a little miffed about my statement:
"Will the books challenge people's beliefs, thoughts and faith? Maybe not, but I hope so.Will it cause people to face the reality of darkness in the world, ie...in magic, wizards, demons and the occult? Maybe, and that's a good thing in my eyes...when is the last time any church had a 4 week session on demon possession? Never, but it still happens, and we sweep it under the rug.
Maybe because it is a powerful thing, and most of us are ill-equipped to deal with it's depth, mentally and spiritually. It's much like faith healing or speaking in tongues...oooooh, I stepped on some Mennonite toes there, yes I believe that God still preforms miracle healings, and I also believe Christians still speak in tongues."
I still stand by my statements, as my Bible still has those stories listed in the text.
Biggest News Story On Living On Liquid During 2007: The Great Flood of May. If I would have had a 3rd son I would have built an ark...I just didn't think we could get it done without a "Japheth". We got 10" in a couple days...then there was the infamous pontoon boat landing on our "shores". Finally 8 months after the event, the insurance company did what insurance companies are supposed to do...pay you for losses. Honorable Mention: House remodel completion...actually there is still some more to do, but that is a bad subject with the CEO of the family, and we won't bring it up...if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
Most Blogged About State: You would think the 605 would be the hands down winner here, but I guess I have a crush on Montana. Final score of posts about states...Montana 8, So-Dak 5, Idaho 2. Sorry Gov. Rounds...I guess I need a little more kick back from the Dept. of Tourism this year.
Best Guest Blogger: Cousin Brent...I think he did it from his BlackBerry in an airport all about airport travels! Thanks for giving me a break from the writing that day! By the way you will see some of Brent's work this New Year's Eve...when the ball drops in Times Square...you will see an ANHEUSER-BUSCH sign in the background...that's his project!
Finally MVP of Living On Liquid: My wife* and kids, there is no way I could put up the stats that I do each night without their help...they are the lifeblood of this blog, and without them I would have nothing to write about. However you might notice there is an asterisk by my wife's name...as she was listed in the Mitchell Report for using HGH and The Clear during the '06 season. But how else could she have got through almost a full year without a working kitchen!
Special thanks to Whiskeymilitia.com and Steepandcheap.com for making Christmas shopping for presents to myself and others easy...thanks to Wikipedia.com for giving descriptions to obscure references to readers during my posts...thanks to basec.net for still offering slow Internet dial-up connections to those of us who can't get a cable modem and don't want to pay $130 a month to a satellite Internet provider...special thanks anyone who comes to this site for a break from their busy days...Happy New Year for the gang at Living On Liquid.
5 comments:
Very nice article Tom, even thou you did include me, it was MOSTLY nice about me. I can comment today, because the BOSS is in Romania visiting our Son, she landed this morning our time, late afternoon Romania time. After some flight cancellations and re-routing she finally made it. Is she excited, you can say that again. She even said that I could say whatever I wanted to you, just kidding.
Keep up the blog by all means, I just love it, between you, Steve Hemmingsen and Doug Lund you are all just great and make my retired day better.
Love you Tom and family.
To Tom and the rest of the family who faithfully checks this like me three times a day. Yes I really think Tom has all kinds of free time to update this several times a day!! What a faboulous last entry. I imagine the evening spent at mom and dads was wonderful and funny! I am proud to be a part of the gang here at Living on Liqid!! Thanks for mentioning me, I really did love those pictures of you Tom!! Hesston just got a bit of snow last night, very pretty and white, for Kansas!!
Happy New Year from the 4 of us!! I Love ya Tom, Sally
hey old boy don't ever think juanita holds me back from slamming you. that is my gift in life. also you had 1000 hits 900 of them are from verlie, gloria , and me. so don't think you have to many fans out there. verlie and me well have to step it back up a little. we've been pretty slack lately. but don't get the idea we're nice. you uncle from the south
hey thanks for making my web browsing easier. now you will be the FIRST site I will visit since it will be easier to log onto to my other two favorites. : ) not sure I like my new nickname though, I guess I will have to concentrate on more POSITIVE news items to share : ) we always enjoy getting together with the family- we had a great time last night. Have a great 2008 - and please continue to keep us informed and smiling : )
Gloria
Good post, cuz. I'm writing this on my laptop connected to the internet through my cell phone while sheila is driving in Wisconsin on the way home. We had alot of fun Thursday night. Thanks again to Uncle Bob and Aunt Penny.
Mom, don't take it personally, its just from a very funny SNL skit. Here is some more information on Debbie Downer. You're nothing like her, I just couldn't resist when you turned the conversation toward negative town. :)
Cheers, and Happy New Year everyone!
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