Today marks fifteen years since November 8, 2003, when I sat down to set up this blog on Blogger and wrote the first post of Bark Bark Woof Woof. Back then I was living in a little apartment in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, I was a little over a year into my job with the public schools, and I was in my early fifties, single, and had visions of becoming part of the burgeoning blogosphere and a famous writer. We were a year away from the 2004 election and outraged at the excesses of the Bush administration and vowing to take our country back from the warmongering and arrogant GOP. I drove a Mustang convertible and had a Pontiac station wagon in the parking lot awaiting restoration, knowing it would be another ten years before it would be considered old enough to enter in antique car shows.
Well, fifteen years later, I’ve moved twice, changed servers twice, updated the blog from Blogger to WordPress with the invaluable guidance and expertise of my brother, and, according to the stats counter, written over 28,000 posts. With a few exceptions due to weather and internet access, I’ve written every post and written something (or at least put up something) every day, be it a simple observation — How about those Tigers? — or a long essay on something that strikes me as important and worth sharing, be it marriage equality or nostalgia about leaving my old home town. Much water has gone under the bridge, but some things have not changed: I still work for the public schools, I still have a Mustang convertible (though not the same one), and I still have the Pontiac, now restored and going to car shows. And I’m still finding things to wax long or short about, and I’m still getting up at 3 a.m. to look at the world and try to find some way to make sense of it all.
This is the place where I say thank you to you, the reader, for coming here whenever you do and seeing what I’ve put up, and for those of you who comment, a sincere thanks for your support, your guidance, your corrections, and your indulgence. I’ve gotten to know many of you in real life and I truly appreciate your friendship and support.
By the way, when I started this blog I made a somewhat diligent effort to keep my real name off the pages because I was pretty sure that writing an opinion blog while working for the public schools could cause issues. Well, I’m less than a year away from retirement, I’ve rarely if ever written about anything to do with my work (and when I have it’s been supportive), and it doesn’t take a crack team of cyberanalysts to figure out who I am. So I’ll tell you: my real name is Philip Middleton Williams, and if you want to know about my playwriting, you can look me up on the New Play Exchange. I will still blog under the name Mustang Bobby and credit my alter-ego Bobby Cramer with all the work because he’s still a large part of my creative writing. He will get his turn on stage next March when “Can’t Live Without You” opens at the Willow Theatre in Boca Raton.
Anyway, fifteen years down and many more to come. What’s next?
I’ve been reading your blog for over a decade. Congratulations on 15 years of blogging…Keep it up
I visit every day. Thanks for your work.
And by the way. I have a 1964 Chrysler New Yorker Salon (one of 590 made) sitting in the driveway. It runs great, and someday it’s going to be restored.
If the car is unrestored, it would qualify in the Antique Automobile Club of America as an HPOF: Historic Preservation of Original Features. The nearest AACA chapter to the U.P. is in Marshfield, Wisconsin. Might be worth looking into joining up. http://www.aaca.org
Not only unrestored but I discovered that squirrels were hiding peanuts (I put them out for the blue jays) in the exhaust pipe. I’ll check that out!
over 28,000 posts, pretty damned impressive.
This is always my first stop on my internet journey. I’ve been here since the beginning. Thanks and keep up the good work.
Happy anniversary! Writing is about writing 🙂
Still an inspiration, even to those of us who gave up blogging a long time ago. Here’s to 15 more years. Thanks, Mustang Bobby.
I love BBWW! It’s the first thing I read every morning (while still in bed) and “A Little Night Music” puts me to sleep in a good mood. 28,000 posts- wow, it boggles the mind. Thanks for all your efforts!
I’m so proud of you, your diligence, your creativity and even your affection for that unremarkable ancient station wagon. I suspect you’ve hung on to it because it reminds you of trips our family took to Michigan and you were often the last one to load so you were stuck in the WayBack. But somehow that has lingered as a fond memory. Congratulations to you on15 mornings at the computer bringing life to BBWW and to upholding the honor of the Pontiac division of GM.
This is such a sweet response.
Congratulations!
I have my dad’s Chrysler TC, 1989, original, mostly, new belts and hoses, new gas tank, white with a tan interior as new. under 30K miles, still titled in his name OR my name.
And I knew you were a Cramer for a long time now… don’t recall how or why.
Congrats on the anniversary, the long term employment, and having all those orchids in the front yard! Retirement is sweet and sour, I miss the fun part of work, the problem solving, but not the meetings, the getting up early to go in. Napping in the afternoon is great!
I’ve been one of your devoted readers for many, many years now. Thank you so much for sharing your life and thoughts with us. And if you ever get to Roanoke to visit family, please look me up? I’d love to meet you in person!
Congratulations on your 15th anniversary and near retirement.
Proud to have been a part of this legacy. Happy to help you with the backend of it, and thankful that you’ve been so accommodating when it’s not gone quite as smoothly as we would like. Like last night 🙂
Love you!
Congratulations – and please keep up your wonderful work. You’re brilliant and an important voice in our troubled times.