This month has been the most visited since I started, with over 40,000 unique visitors. What does that mean? Actually, absolutely nothing. If I kept you in mind when writing, the content would be weak and homogenized.

I’m not going to work on anything new until I finish writing about Spain. Right now I’m going through my 80 pages of notes I took there, trying to tame this beast of a production. Either it will drop this Monday or the next (probably the next). It will be worth the wait.

At the last blogger happy hour a couple people expressed disappointment that I am “slowing down.” Like anything, blogging has its peaks and valleys. I’ve had less time to write this summer but I’m sure that will change once the weather cools down. I know I’ve let Kathryn down with my absence from First Date DC, though she is doing just fine without me.

Postscript: Outline is done. We’re looking at 7 or 8 main parts. I’ll cut back if each part can’t stand on its own. The writing has begun…

4000 words written so far…
5000. Started editing early parts. Draft is 60% done…
4744. Six parts are complete. I need to regroup because I’m not sure how to finish this…
5637. I’ve hit a wall with two parts left. Maybe sleep will give me the answer…
6980. Notebook 1, page 21:

Monday, August 28
I don’t believe I wasted over four hours on the lamest side trip ever. To top it off, the magic fountain was magically closed.

Notebook 2, page 23:

Thursday, September 7
The cough is getting very bad at night, to the point of gagging. My throat is sore from all the coughing. I think I need to see a doctor.

I am done.

10 parts total. Check back Monday.

Right now I’m working on a massive post that is currently titled “My Rules Of Life.” I have the rules all written out but I still have to include in-depth explanations for each one that includes examples. It’s taking longer than I thought but I think it will be worth it.

I’ve been flirting with the idea of writing a book for a while. I dream of it being like Tight Game Week times ten. I want to give away all my secrets, all the specifics. It’s difficult to write a book on the side while maintaining a blog (and the social life that inspires the writing for said blog), so I’m not sure how to approach this. I’m thinking of writing new material but also expanding on things already written. I would go the self-publishing route through Lulu or a similar service because I don’t care for mainstream success. This would be something for 2007.

I’m taking a break but I’m not taking a break.

The forum is off to a good start. There’s over 50 registered users and a couple dozen topics going.

I finally decided on the slogan for the new shirt. It’s something that hasn’t been mentioned. At first I wanted these shirts to make a statement like Pump and Dump, but now I think I’m feeling more of a humor angle. This printing is 12 shirts.

I dropped off the blanks to my new t-shirt guy last week and while he was loading up the file I looked on the wall and saw a picture of his two super hot daughters. He laughs at the graphic and says, “I’m glad I don’t have this problem. My wife is still very thin.” Then he points to what I thought was his older daughter. What a pimp. :bow:

The new intern will introduce herself shortly. She is young, cute, and well-travelled. I think she will be posting a picture for her introduction.

I finally got around to upgrading WordPress from 1.5 to 2.03. Drop me a comment if you notice something that doesn’t work. The new version uses a built-in caching feature so the site should load faster for you.

Other changes:

1. Comments. You will notice the comments look a little different. I added a “time since” stamp which links to the permalink of that comment.
2. Email post feature. There is a link at the bottom of each post that allows you to email it to a friend.
3. More robust anti-spam feature. Akismet caught 280 spam comments in its first 20 hours of use… on Sunday.
4. Paged navigation. Located at the end of the main page and on archive pages.
5. Category drop-down menu. Browse posts by category with the drop-down menu located above the search function at the bottom of most pages.

Postscript: Sometimes certain pages don’t load correctly unless you hit reload. I will have to disable one feature at a time until I figure out what is causing it.

Postscript 2: Everything seems to work fine.

http://forum.dcbachelor.com

It’s set up a little bit differently from most forums: instead of multiple categories (dating, pimpin’, dc, politics, misc, etc.), there is just one forum for everything. If things get too unorganized then I can make changes. I’ve decided against anonymous posting for now.

There is a sticky welcoming you with rules. I plan on adding moderators if things get rowdy.