One year ago today I posted the first entry for The TrueTalk Blog.
Virginia Postrel noted her NYT column about Federal highway spending a couple of months ago. A key point for me was that "one dollar of annual highway spending reduces the annual congestion costs to road users only 8 cents." Robert Moses taught New Yorkers this lesson decades ago: building highways doesn't reduce congestion, it creates it. This is one of those instances in which supply creates demand: more (or better) roads, more people want to use them. Net: no gain in road usage efficiency.
And it's like that with a particular kind of happiness, too. Barry Schwartz refers to Martin Seligman's seminal work on happiness in describing our tendency to get used to pleasure of any kind (to become habituated). This means it takes more/different stimuli to make us happy after having experienced pleasure. Supply creates demand.
Getting off this treadmill is one of the greatest challenges of modern life, and none of us gets to deal ourselves out of the game short of moving to a small cabin in Montana and writing rambling treatises on why things are so screwed up.
I've had a lot of fun here since that first post.
I took a month or so off after starting up, not sure if I really wanted to make the commitment. In August of '04 I decided I did and started posting frequently since then.
The numbers: I've written 377 items and received 417 comments. The blog's had more than 25,000 hits. A bunch of pings.
It's been a tremendous learning experience, mostly about myself. I'm one of those true extraverts who often doesn't know what he's thinking until he either says it or writes it. Having a place to write stuff out almost every day has really helped me figure out stuff I never would have figured out without it.
A good friend of mine recently surprised me with by printing out over 60 pages of TrueTalk Blog entries organized into categories. It took me by surprise and I'll be reading those entries over the weekend to figure out what the heck I've been rambling about for the last year!
Anyway, thanks for stopping by whenever you have and keep watching this space!
Maestro! Hit it!
Groovy~
Congrats!!! And thanks for the inspiration!
Posted by: Laura | May 20, 2005 at 02:32 PM
Tom:
You have a unique point of view and a unique blog ... I enjoy reading your thoughts (though I personally like Target!).
Congrats on your anniversary. I'm glad you decided that one month off was enough. Keep up the great work.
Posted by: John Wagner | May 20, 2005 at 03:12 PM
Thanks, Blaugra...er, I mean Laura!
And thanks to you as well, John. I also like Target but find myself fascinated by this position they've attained without the benefit of much distinctive merchandise. See my latest comment on the Target post for more.
Posted by: Tom Guarriello | May 20, 2005 at 03:59 PM
Congratulations on your one year blogging anniversary. I'm glad you decided to continue way back when. Don't stop now!
Posted by: Jane | May 20, 2005 at 03:59 PM
Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to your blog. HHHHappy Birrrthday Dear Tom, to you and your blog. And many more.
Posted by: Connie Sartain | May 20, 2005 at 08:27 PM
"found" you on dear average jane's blog. what a lovely anniversary gift! continued success!
Posted by: Toby | May 23, 2005 at 08:34 PM
Tom---Thanks for the well wishes. I hope yours was fabulous also!
Posted by: Stacie | May 24, 2005 at 08:23 AM
Hi. I was out playing with Geourl.org and I found that your blog is nearby my blog, so I thought I would stop in and say hello.
Congrats on your year of blogging.
I've been blogging for quite a while now, and about a month ago, I took a paid position as blogmaster for John DeStefano's Gubernatorial bid. You can see some of my paid blogging at http://www.destefanoforct.com I just wrote a piece about transportation issues, which is another reason this post particularly caught my attention.
Posted by: Aldon Hynes | May 24, 2005 at 09:09 AM