My recent debut on Blogs.com as a guest blogger (Top 10 Water Watching Blogs) elicited some emails from some of those whose blogs I listed: Chris Brooks, Gayle Leonard [Class clown? I don't think so!], Kaveh Madani, John Fleck [Hey, John - yes, write some more on water!], and David Zetland [Yes - reroute that bottle of 'precious liquid'.]. It was good to hear from them, and was yet another indication to me that we have a real community here. Some of us have never met, but there are bonds among us: intense interest in/fascination with/love of water [WaterWonks!]; desire to learn, educate, influence, communicate, inform, and provoke; fondness for seeing our name in "print", etc.
Maybe I should have included 'obsession with water'. My wife would support that.
I have realized for a few months that I have never reported on the 'Waterblogged: Water in the Blogosphere' session that I organized at last fall's American Water Resources Association meeting in New Orleans. We had a great time, and it was finally so good to meet Robert Osborne (Watercrunch) and Kaveh Madani (the brains and money behind the revolutionary Water SISWEB). Abby Brown (Water For The Ages), my student here at OSU, and Jane Rowan, then AWRA President, also partook in the festivities.
I had dinner with Robert and Abby Brown the night before our session, and I remember that both Robert and I admitted to the same apprehension when we started in early 2007: that we would not have enough to write about. Two years later, we laughed.
Robert posted on the session right after it occurred, as well or better than I could, so you can read the Watercrunch version. Here's how Robert concluded:
I had a great time and I know I will enjoy their web work even more! If blogging doesn't die out from the likes of the one sentence Twitters out there, I think more face to face opportunities for fellow bloggers and readers are a good thing.
Note his comment about Twitter; my opinion at the time reflected his. But I capitulated, Robert, and so will you. Gees, I even have an iPhone (great device!) and may start posting tweets or WaterWired missives from it.
What's next? Texting?
Some bloggers have even thanked me for promoting and encouraging them. That is always gratifying. And let me return the thanks to them and to WaterWired's readers.
You're all part of the community.
"An ill-chosen word is the fool's messenger." -- Unknown
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
http://www.craigslistdecoded.info
Posted by: Sarah | Saturday, 07 March 2009 at 12:47 AM
Hi, Michael. I just checked out your Twitter page for the first time. I love the background and the content. Pretty neat.
Posted by: Abby Brown | Tuesday, 03 March 2009 at 07:52 AM
Not enough to write about! Oh, I wish! (Well, not really...) 20-25 posts/week and 25 emails/day are keeping me WAY too busy -- and blogging appears to be my day job!
Posted by: David Zetland | Sunday, 01 March 2009 at 10:40 PM