This is cross-posted from Hack Bend (I was there in a "Hack Bend" capacity) because it’s cool and I’m just narcissistic enough to post multiple times:

Last month I had been invited to be on media panel at the Deschutes County offices, as the resident blogging expert representing how blogging and "new media" are becoming more prevalent in news and reporting and such. (The "expert" notion is up for debate, of course. I just do what I do.) The panel was to supplement media communications training for County employees and was held today—and I have to say, it was interesting and enlightening, and definitely something I’d do again if asked.

With me on the panel were Barney Lerten, of KTVZ; Heather Roberts, of KOHD; Heidi Hagemeier, of the Bulletin; and R.L. Garrigus from the Bend Radio Group. I’ve known Barney from back when he was still Bend.com, and had known of the others but not met them before. All very nice folks, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out they were already familiar with Hack Bend(!).

For the most part, it was as much a learning experience for me as for the County employees, I suspect; I talked a bit about the blogging aspect of things as it pertains to media and reporting and communication, but to a large extent I just listened to the others, all of whom come from more established channels with much more background than I.

And a big thanks to Anna Johnson, the Public Communications Coordinator with the County, for inviting me and arranging it all. Thanks!

I cross-posted this over on Hack Bend, as well: that blogger bash I wrote about? Yeah, it’s on for sure.

This Wednesday, April 30th, at The Summit Saloon and Stage in downtown Bend at 125 NW Oregon Avenue. Starts about 5:30ish and goes til whenever. Here’s the "official" description:

The first blogger meetup was a big success! Since then there’s been a lot of growth and new folks have popped up in our local "blogosphere". Meetups like this are a nice chance for all of us to gather, unwind, and put some faces together with the blogs.

This event is primarily intended for bloggers who wish to meet other bloggers. If you don’t have a blog, then this may not be the get-together for you. So, if you just can’t stand not being there and don’t already have a blog… what are you waiting for?!

I’ll be there for sure. Will you?

Today I’ve been officially blogging for six years. Ironically, yesterday marked Chris’ five-year blogiversary. It’s going around!

Not much more to it than noting the date, except to bring up the imminent next blogger meetup.

Which will be this month, on the 30th—next Wednesday.

Shannon, Jen, BOR, and I are in talks to figure out where. (Stay tuned for further announcements.) So obviously the four of us at least are in. Who else is in?

Since I’m celebrating six years of blogging this month, I thought it’d be interesting to go back through the past six Aprils and link to some highlights.

April 2002 – Really not much to see here… I was just starting blogging, playing with the software I was developing, and it’s really just mundane stuff. I think Pong was a highlight.

April 2003 – Even less than in 2002. We saw Bon Jovi for the first time and there was more work on the software.

April 2004 – I was blogging up a storm. Pretty geeky stuff, an equal mixture of technical posts and non-technical-but-still-geeky posts and some random things. My musings for an A-Team movie first appeared, and—strangely enough—I first noted the use of the word "blog" on Law & Order.

April 2005 – I feel like I was hitting my stride in blogging style. A lot less of the technical posts and more… I don’t know, "general" posts? Fun posts? More of a mix of links, ideas, commentary, irony… Not sure if that’s the best way to describe them, but here’s a sample to judge for yourself:

• Superman is a dick
• Globe
• Sesame Street top 25
• Scrapple
• $40 a day
• Cougar! (and Cougar! The Return and Cougar! Reloaded)
• The Burger King creeps me out (with 673 comments!)
• Things about Bend that I miss

April 2006 – More of the same. I really think it was around 2005 and into 2006 that I found my "voice" and I don’t really cringe when I read those and later posts. You can see the seeds of Hack Bend being sown with this post (and I started Hack Bend the following month, in May ’06), and this post and this post still make me laugh. A lot.

April 2007 – I blogged a lot less—no kidding, right—but I prefer to think of it as "quality over quantity" in this case. My favorite for that month has to be this post, showcasing just how wonderfully twisted San Diego-area activities can be.

This is one of those TV posts that I hate to do because I feel like I become a parody of a cliché of myself, but I need to scratch the itch so I’ll just keep the commentary down to short one- or two-line comments rather than long-winded diatribes. And no, I’m not going to talk about "Lost."

"American Idol" — they really, really need to get rid of both Paula Abdul and Ryan Seacrest (or, as I like to call him, "America’s Douchebag").

"The Office" — the funniest show on TV. Last week’s first new post-writer’s-strike episode: funny and uncomfortable!

"Scrubs" — the other funniest show on TV.

"CSI: Miami" — I don’t watch it.

"I Survived" — the few bits of this I’ve seen? Damn, the most depressing show ever.

"ER" — I don’t watch it.

"Law & Order" — I like the new cast members this season; didn’t realize ’til later that Linus Roache also played Thomas Wayne in "Batman Begins." Nice.

"24" — what? There’s a show called "24"? Oh, maybe next year.

It’s been at the back of my mind recently that this month marks six years of blogging for me. I am of course talking about "official" blogging, with the software and reverse-chronology posts and comments and such—naturally I had web pages before 2002 but none of those were blogs.

Six years of blogging. April 22nd, 2002, to be exact, and since then I’ve spun out two other blogs (which lately have been getting far more attention from me) and written a crazy amount of words—exactly how many will have to be a topic for another post. But I keep thinking that this is some sort of milestone (since I missed the five-year anniversary) and that it should be celebrated somehow.

Shannon‘s organizing another blogger meetup this month, I believe, so maybe something in conjunction with that.

Thoughts?

Not a hangover in the literal sense, but it sort of feels that way because I’m not sure where March went and I’m sitting here looking at the calendar thinking, "Where the hell did April come from?" Like it’s already starting out with that thick, muzzy-headed pounding that you have with a hangover.

Seriously, what the hell did happen to March? St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Spring Break… everything seemed off this year. I blame Easter. It was far too early. And Spring Break went by too fast.

And April… well, April. No, I don’t do April Fool’s Day; at least, not online. (Not really in real life, either.) I can’t stand April Fool’s Day online; I find it’s just an enormous waste of time. Look, it’s been done; I get it, ha ha, now move along, there’s plenty of other oddball and cool stuff to see online that’s for real.

See? I told you, March hangover: I’m coming across cranky as hell, fumbling for a brick of aspirin while gulping down coffee and squinting against the inordinately bright light.

Okay, I’m being too clever even for myself. More later with some real content.