If you're new around these parts, I just want to say how much I appreciate your dropping by! Oh, and you may want to subscribe to my feed. Thanks, and a tip o' the hat to ya!

Surprise, it’s yours truly, Blue Shark, at the keyboard today!

Yep, today marks the 200th post here at the Middle Zone, and because it’s such a special occasion, I thought it would be fun to write this post myself. After all, why send a man to do a shark’s job, I ask you?  It did take a while, though, to find a keyboard especially designed for me. (After all, I can’t use voice recognition; sharks don’t talk, silly.)

But it didn’t seem right that Robert was getting all the glory for Middle Zone Musings. After all, I’m the brains behind the operation; he’s only the front man. So I distracted him with a trail of chicken nuggets, and sure enough he fell for it. (Don’t worry, he’s OK; I’ve just got him locked up in the shark cage out back.)

(And by the way, you may notice my writing style is very much like Robert’s. Actually, since I taught him everything he knows, the truth is he’s the one who imitates me.)

My Mudda Thanks You, My Fodda Thanks You

First off, I want to thank all my many wonderful, gracious and loyal fans, friends, supporters, groupies and syncophants out there. Without YOU, I’d be just a voice crying out in the wilderness. (After all, if I blog out in the middle of the deep blue sea, and no one reads it, does the price of sushi still fluctuate on days that end in the letter “Y”?)

But the fact is, you guys have made the whole thing an absolutely incredible adventure, and I’m truly grateful for your participation. Most of all, I hope I’ve managed to make your lives just a little better for having stopped by. Maybe - just maybe - I even (dare I say it?) made you think (once or twice at least), or better yet - I made you laugh. (I usually go for the “blow milk out your nose” reaction, but I’ll settle for even an ingrown chuckle now and then.)

Anyway, without further ado (because further ado really makes no sense), I give you… the State of the Blog. (And by the way, if you are curious about the State of the Blog message after the first 100 posts, click here.)

The State of Insanity the Blog

To begin with, during the last hundred posts, some really exciting events took place, and they combined to rocket MZM from a somewhat ordinary Technorati rank of 298,775 to around 44,000! Not bad, eh? Ah, but not so fast, Bubba!

That’s when the Zone moved to its own domain; something I thought wouldn’t happen for quite some time. Many thanks to William Tully (what a guy!) for encouraging me to break free (I’m free! I’m free!) from the limitations of Blogger and fully embrace the WordPress adventure. Setting ‘er up and transfering all the old posts over was something he did for little ol’ me, just because. Way to go, my friend; I don’t care WHAT those other people say - you’re OK in my book!

Anyway, after the move, what was once a quite respectable T-rank instantly zoomed up to the stratospheric rank of 1,700,000 or so! Yea! Woohoo! (Oh, wait - it’s supposed to go down, not up, right? I’m so confused.) But not to worry, I always say; MZM has steadily risen in the ranks and last week was back up to 143,050. Many thanks to you guys for linking back to the Zone!

Also, many of you will no doubt remember with aggravation fondness the Let’s Be Brief contest. Talk about a lot of fun! We had over 400 entries from more than 70 people from all over the globe for that one, and what a whacky bunch they are, let me tell you. I’m still mulling over ideas for the next contest, so be patient, friends, the time will come….

Finally, in a late-breaking development (alert the media!), just last week I took part in the Blogging Mistakes Group Blog Project over at Daily Blog Tips, and that alone increased the number of incoming links tremendously! The results are still coming in, but in just a few days the Zone’s T-rank went from 143,070 to 57,786! Wow! Now that’s a sure indicator that group projects really work (when done right), and it also gives me an idea… (sound of gears grinding)

Looking Ahead 

So what’s in store for the future of Middle Zone Musings? Well… it’s kinda hard to tell you (since I’m making it up as I go). But one thing I’ve discovered; that telling stories is my “thing”. Lucky thing, since I truly enjoy telling stories, don’t you think? Definitely expect more of that.

Also the big upcoming event is SOBCon ‘07, coming up May 11-12 in Chicago. If you haven’t made your plans yet… well, let’s just say you’re going to miss the blogging event of the year!

Not much more to say (I’ve said enough, don’t you think?) so I’ll sign off now; besides, it’s getting pretty hungry in here (and I’m thinkin’… sushi). Thanks for dropping by, and as always, keep those, er, card and letter coming!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!