*
Your editor is just about back up to speed following the recent illness and my first thoughts on the future of this blog. Thanks to those who have written to offer get well wishes, other words of encouragement or simply to ask how you can help.
The short answer to that question is to make a donation to our two blogs. All donations are welcome and deeply appreciated, no matter how small or large. Some have made donations last week ranging from $15 to $50. But even a $5 contribution is helpful. To donate, look in the sidebar to the right of the page. Scrolling down, you'll see a blue screen icon which reads "Donate." Just above the screen is a button labeled "Make a Donation." Clicking on that button takes you to a secure PayPal screen.
Those who can't afford to make a cash donation can help out in other ways. Some of our regular readers send us tips to news and opinion items about Gov Palin, and those are also greatly appreciated. We're also always on the lookout for good writers. Sorry, only experienced bloggers who are Texas-based are being considered. There's just no room in my time budget to train an apprentice. If you really want to get into the blogging game, I recommend that you create a blog of your own and start posting on it and building it up into something you can be proud of.
And speaking of the time budget, starting next month, mine is going to stretched considerably. We have a new Catholic FM radio station in the area, and I have volunteered my services to help out with it. I've got 20+ years of experience in nearly all phases of the radio business, and I'm looking forward to putting it to use for something which has become of paramount importance in my life.
When I became a Catholic, I was encouraged to give something back to the church. I can think of no better way to do this or any way I am better qualified than to help out with the new radio station. Obviously, I'm doing what I can for Gov. Palin because I believe she can do more than any other person to help save the republic I love so much and which has given me so much. I feel the same way about my spiritual life as I do about political life, only more so. My personal code is faith, family and flag -- in that order. This country has given me much, and the church has given me even more, leading me back to God and filling a spiritual void that had been in my life for far too long. What greater gift is there than the blessed sacrifice which makes possible the salvation of one's very soul?
A balancing act will be called for beginning in September. I'll make every effort to keep blogging at a high level, but I won't have quite the number of hours available each day to put into it as in the past. I'll try to sleep less and get more work done during the late night hours. We will see how it all works out. The biggest help will be if I can find some reliable contributors who can take some of the load off of yours truly.
So Texas for Sarah Palin, the Book of Sarah and the Blogs 4 Palin blogroll will all continue. Since some of you have invested in this blog, I'm obligated to give you good value as a return on your investment. And I'll do so as long as contributions keep coming in. But that Catholics for Palin blog I've been wanting to launch will probably have to stay on the back burner, at least for now. Thanks again for those who wrote this past week for your encouragement and your donations.
God bless you all,
- JP
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Sick Leave Reflections
*
Your editor has been sidelined by a quite nasty strain of either food poisoning or a stomach virus since Saturday, finally reaching that point which is best described as "over the worst of it, but not yet out of the woods." This accounts for the recent lack of blogging content, and my thanks to ehvogel and Warner Todd Huston for their timely contributions when it was all I could do to force myself to sit down at the keyboard, manage comments, and post Day by Day and Quote of the Day (even if they were published a bit later than is the norm here).
There's only one silver lining around the cloud of being ill, and that is having plenty of time to think about things. And one of the concerns which has been on my mind during these sick days is this blog, it's reason for being and what the future might hold for it. One of the comments I read was a slam at me from someone who was very unhappy with my choice of placement for the ad trumpeting the September 14 appearance by Gov. Palin at Baylor's Ferrell Center. The angry commenter demanded to know why I "insisted on" putting the ad way down at the bottom of the page where the fewest number of our readers would ever see it (you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page).
Your editor does not suffer fools gladly, even when I'm feeling at the top of my game. You can only imagine my thoughts in the midst of the misery of such illness as I've been fighting. I deleted the comment and turned off the computer. I had neither the mood nor the inclination to explain at the time the circumstances around that ad, and indeed all ads for events where the governor appears. We don't get paid for running those ads. As far as we know, we're the only blog that does this. We do so as a service to our readers and to help Gov. Palin, the latter being the entire reasoning behind this blog. Believe me, we ain't in it for the money. We have a store which sells very few items, and a tip jar which very rarely sees any tips. This blog is not only a non-profit proposition, it drives us deeper into the financial hole every month. We have spent time blogging for Gov. Palin here that could have been spent finding a paying job which would allow us to at least break even. But the choice to do this was our alone, and we blame no one but ourselves. The one thing which has kept us going has been the positive feedback from our readers. Knowing that we were making a difference for the better, at least to some out there, has made it all worth it. However, we are having to reevaluate whether we can keep going under our present circumstances, and we will have more to say about that in a later posting.
For the record, that Care Net of Central Texas ad is placed at the bottom of the page because we don't know what else to do with it. We scaled it down to a 300-px width which would make it fit in our sidebar, but that makes all the text in the ad too small to read. Needless to say, we don't have sophisticated graphic editing software, nor the time to spend playing with an ad that we are running for free. We had the same problem with the ad for Gov. Palin's appearance in Dallas a few months back, and we also put it at the bottom of the page. As the date for that event grew nearer, we put it at the top of the page and gave it some extra coverage. We had planned to do the same with the Care Net ad.
But here's the rub: Like many other mom and pop bloggers, we bust our butts blogging for Sarah Palin, and we don't respond kindly to self-righteous jerks who tell us that no matter how much we do for Gov. Plain, it's not enough. Especially when it comes to running ads for free. In our view, that's more than just a little over the top.
More to come...
- JP
Your editor has been sidelined by a quite nasty strain of either food poisoning or a stomach virus since Saturday, finally reaching that point which is best described as "over the worst of it, but not yet out of the woods." This accounts for the recent lack of blogging content, and my thanks to ehvogel and Warner Todd Huston for their timely contributions when it was all I could do to force myself to sit down at the keyboard, manage comments, and post Day by Day and Quote of the Day (even if they were published a bit later than is the norm here).
There's only one silver lining around the cloud of being ill, and that is having plenty of time to think about things. And one of the concerns which has been on my mind during these sick days is this blog, it's reason for being and what the future might hold for it. One of the comments I read was a slam at me from someone who was very unhappy with my choice of placement for the ad trumpeting the September 14 appearance by Gov. Palin at Baylor's Ferrell Center. The angry commenter demanded to know why I "insisted on" putting the ad way down at the bottom of the page where the fewest number of our readers would ever see it (you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page).
Your editor does not suffer fools gladly, even when I'm feeling at the top of my game. You can only imagine my thoughts in the midst of the misery of such illness as I've been fighting. I deleted the comment and turned off the computer. I had neither the mood nor the inclination to explain at the time the circumstances around that ad, and indeed all ads for events where the governor appears. We don't get paid for running those ads. As far as we know, we're the only blog that does this. We do so as a service to our readers and to help Gov. Palin, the latter being the entire reasoning behind this blog. Believe me, we ain't in it for the money. We have a store which sells very few items, and a tip jar which very rarely sees any tips. This blog is not only a non-profit proposition, it drives us deeper into the financial hole every month. We have spent time blogging for Gov. Palin here that could have been spent finding a paying job which would allow us to at least break even. But the choice to do this was our alone, and we blame no one but ourselves. The one thing which has kept us going has been the positive feedback from our readers. Knowing that we were making a difference for the better, at least to some out there, has made it all worth it. However, we are having to reevaluate whether we can keep going under our present circumstances, and we will have more to say about that in a later posting.
For the record, that Care Net of Central Texas ad is placed at the bottom of the page because we don't know what else to do with it. We scaled it down to a 300-px width which would make it fit in our sidebar, but that makes all the text in the ad too small to read. Needless to say, we don't have sophisticated graphic editing software, nor the time to spend playing with an ad that we are running for free. We had the same problem with the ad for Gov. Palin's appearance in Dallas a few months back, and we also put it at the bottom of the page. As the date for that event grew nearer, we put it at the top of the page and gave it some extra coverage. We had planned to do the same with the Care Net ad.
But here's the rub: Like many other mom and pop bloggers, we bust our butts blogging for Sarah Palin, and we don't respond kindly to self-righteous jerks who tell us that no matter how much we do for Gov. Plain, it's not enough. Especially when it comes to running ads for free. In our view, that's more than just a little over the top.
More to come...
- JP
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