I think that the internet cannot remove the human element no matter what.  We are by and large, good people.  Human suffering is something I cannot abide.  It hurts me when people hurt.  ALL people.  It’s a no-brainer that we do what we can when we can.  As much as I have been fighting against the ‘web friends’ thing, as much as I have withdrawn, these people are people I don’t want to see hurting.  I know them...and I’m ok with knowing just a part of them.  I don’t need to be all up in their business to know who I like.

Blogging...ya know, I really don’t know why I blog anymore except for habit.  I should have quit years ago...is it better to burn out or fade away?  I could do either. 

Still, I love Annie.  I love you.  I love my HBLM.  If I decided not to blog, I’d still have commenting as a new hobby...seeing as how I kinda suck at it and all.

If I was 10 years younger, Poopy would have to cede.  Heh.  Which brings me to...wtf?  aren’t you like 2nd in line for my potential replacement husband?  You fickle little dawg!

So, after we send Lisa to Disneywhereever, can we have a buy-danalyn-boobs raffle?

Oh yeah, bad timing, I know...shame on me.  :(

Where’s yours go?  You lost them or they ran away from home cuz you put them in a walmart bra once?

No, they got scared and ran away when we moved to OKC…

Prolific. :}

I’ve never commented before, but I love your blog and it’s part of my nightly routine!  I just wanted to say thanks and that you should run for office!  Seriously.

I hope you inspired some of the bloggers you mentioned to not shut down their blogs, or feel as much pressure regarding posts because it’s getting down right frustrating (as a reader) to worry about so many people on the edge of calling it quits. 

Thanks again, you rock!

Yeah, I recently wrote about the goodness of bloggers. It’s astounding, the things I’ve seen bloggers do for other bloggers and for various charities. Strikes hope in this aging cynic’s heart.

That was an excellent and inspiring post.  Like everyone I sometimes tire of blogging, but it’s the sense of community that gets me through those times.

Great post, Dawg.  And I think if your post yesterday had been a tiny bit subtler, people would have fallen for it.  Like mine.

You know… it wasn’t that we pay extra good attention to the calendar - it is just that… you reminded us it was April 1st with the silliness. Duh.

Well said babe, well said… Now I am off to the button for Lisa! Muah Muah Muah!

I’m not actually considering quitting blogging.  When I get PMS I doubt myself on EVERYTHING - what kind of wife, mom, friend, blah blah blah I am.  I wonder why I bother writing because OMG IT ALL SUCKS!!!!!  It’s a hormonal thing more than anything.

But Kimberly asked a question at the end of that post - where would you be if you hadn’t started blogging?

And that really struck me.  I realized I’d be living in a small town in Iowa, wondering why I never really “fit” anywhere.

Blogging helped me stand up taller, breathe deeper, and fully explore ME.

If I stopped blogging tomorrow - no one would care.  I mean, not for long.  You know?  They’d go on with their lives, blah blah blah.

But *I* would miss it.

And I realized THAT is why I blog.  Ultimately, for me.

And also?  I love you. *smooches!*

You know, I really thought about your comment yesterday and realized that I used to think differently about my blog.  It never was about the quantity of the posts but the quality, which came from blogging when I actually had something I wanted to say.  It’s nice for me to take some time off from writing to rediscover that side of me, before I was worried about having a post each day...forget that.

The thing that always keeps me coming back is my blog family and the kindness they all show to one another.  Sure, I tend to focus way too much on the bad apples but I’m working on that too .

Great post!

Thank you for reminding me that sometimes there are more important things than actually blogging.

However, as a collective whole, we are probably the best group of people on the whole wide internets! 

I have never read Lisa, but I will.  And I deeply believe that a trip with her family is severly important.

People seem to think that “Online” equals “Not real” and “Offline” equals “Real,“ but that’s too simplistic in my opinion.  I think those who say that bloggers and the blogosphere are too virtual to have any real power or real impact need to not only look at the empirical facts as you mentioned and see what HAS been accomplished online, but to also keep in mind all the “real life” situations in which people DON’T rise to the occasion to do something for someone they know needs help.  (Kitty Genovese comes to mind, for example) I’m not saying bloggers are somehow superior to non-bloggers, or that they don’t sometimes look the other way too by clicking the red “x” at the top corner of their screens.  What I am saying is that just because there’s a physical distance between individuals and just because they use technology to bridge that distance does not mean they can be written off as a community.

Oh and as for yesterday, I’ve been known to forget my own birthday (and realize it a week after the fact) so really, it wasn’t a matter of calendar awareness.  Your prank is what made me realize it was April 1st, not the other way around.  No one fell for it because we just can’t see you being that much of a hypocrite.

I have gotten through a very nasy divorce....a battle for my children....and a diagnosis from my son’s doctor that he has Meneire’s Disease by reading your blogs (the collective you, not just you Dawg )......I hope none of you “delete”, “remove” or “x” your blogs....I would be lost without you

P.S.  How shitty, my verification word is “alone34” :(

That would be NASTY...not NASY

Excellent post sugar--I’ve seen the power and it’s as real as anything else in this crazy old world.

Well said all around.

An April Fool’s joke with a point.  How rare.

Guess who’s back!

I thought I was the biggest bummer out there.  Like who read my blog because it’s just bad news after bad news.  The blogging community has put me in complete awe, tears and left me speechless.  It’s been carrying me.  I have proof that good people really exist online and I’m grateful for that...you included.