Archive of entries posted on 9th July 2017

Sunday Night Open Thread

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Well, I need to turn in my crystal ball. I wrote yesterday that I didn’t do anything all day. But, I wrote that in the morning, just in case I got busy.

I got busy.

I’m babysitting my youngest grandson this weekend. And, with my daughter and my second-youngest grandson down from New York, it turned into a busy day. When those two get together…

And it won’t be stopping until supper.

Wait. It’s nighttime, right? I mean, it didn’t stop until supper.

Darn it, now you know that, again, I wrote this post ahead of time, too. So, I don’t really know how busy Sunday was. But, I feel confident that I’m exhausted.

Now, here’s where you’re expecting me to say it’s Sunday Night Open Thread. But, with the 15th blogiversary of IMAO, we’re sending you to Frank J.’s earlier Open Thread post, where he asks “what do you fondly remember about IMAO?”

Happy 1111th anniversary IMAO!

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It doesn’t seem like it, but IMAO is 15 years old today. At this moment, in fact. Yes, at 4:42 PM on 9 July 2002, Frank J. put up the first post at http://imao.blogspot.com/

We haven’t always made a big deal about anniversaries … um, blogiversaries. Mostly because we forget things. You know that movie Finding Dory? Based on us. Not the finding part, but the can’t remember anything part.

Anyway, we’ve made anniversary posts — or is it blogiversary posts? — posts in the past, at the one, two, three, four, five, seven, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve year marks.

Yeah, I noticed that around the time I wandered in and SpaceMonkey asked Frank J. “Can we keep him?” that the blogiversary posts started to taper off. But, 15 is a big deal. My first marriage didn’t last 15 years, so there. And, we are kinda making a big deal about it. Well, not really. It’s just that someone remembered ahead of time. Probably Harvey, or one of the adults.

How big of a deal? We got Frank J. to agree to jump out of cake for the official blogiversary celebration. Can you imagine that?

Uh, maybe we ought to go some other route. Yeah, we’ll not do that Frank J. in the cake thing.

Instead, let’s look back at the very first post at IMAO, back when the blog was on Blogspot. How many of you remember that?!

New Blog

Hooray! A new blog! There’s lots of stuff I felt like spouting off about, so here I am. Just as a warning, everything written here is in the most unrefined form and should not be used as an actual opinion.

POSTED BY FRANK AT 4:42 PM

Huh. That’s the first post? That’s, um … historical? Yeah, we’ll go with that.

Maybe the second post?

Peace or Pothole

First off, I don’t like the way the current administration is pussyfooting in the Middle East. If Reagan were still around, right now there would either be peace in the Middle East or it would be one giant smoldering pothole. And then it would be done with. Instead we play buddy-buddy with a bunch of dictators who, in a true and just world, should be hanging from trees. At least, it seems, Bush has completely cut off all ties with Arafat. I think we could have cut off ties with him a lot more forcefully, though. Instead of Bush coming out and saying, “You should elect someone other than Arafat because we don’t like him,” just so the Palestinians could defy us, we should first have had a sniper take him out and then say, “I think you should elect someone other than Arafat because he’s dead now.” Then the Palestinians would have to concede to our simple logic or elect a dead man. They’d probably elect a dead man, but sometimes people surprise you.

POSTED BY FRANK AT 5:22 PM

Okay, that’s more like it. Oh, and don’t forget the original tagline at the top of the blog:

I believe that the important issues that affect us our too complex to be fully grasped by the intellect alone and that by thinking them out too much leads to the worst answers. That’s how crap like communism came about. That’s why I’m dedicated to responding to political issues with my gut response and as little extra thought as possible.

Of course, it was later shortened to “Unfair. Unbalanced. Unmedicated.”

Well, that’s a brief look back at the beginning of IMAO, 15 years ago today.

So, what’s the future have in store for us? I dunno. Probably good stuff. I mean, you guys went and elected Donald Trump, which is comedy gold. So, yeah, probably good stuff.

I have no doubt that IMAO will easily make it to year 20. Or, 15 years and a day, at least. I’m optimistic that way.

Favorite Posts/Moments Open Thread

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I’d love if you’d post some of your favorite posts or moments from IMAO from the last 15 years in the comments. I’d put up some of my own, but I’m afraid it would be like the Simpsons where every one would be from the first few seasons.

Anyway, what do you fondly remember about IMAO? I did love doing the podcasts with SarahK, Harvey, Spacemonkey, and Lair, but man were they a lot of work.

15 Years of Blogging Supremacy

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Hey, it’s me, Frank J., the guy who sometimes blogs here. Anyway, it was fifteen years ago today I started the blog IMAO. Since then, this blog has led to me becoming a columnist, becoming a published author, and becoming a script writer. And this blog has also led to me getting married (12 years now). And it was all thanks to you, my readers and those who have supported me.

So, yeah, I know I don’t blog as much as I used to with all the other stuff going on (I don’t have much time to write right now as I’m on a fishing trip with the kids), but I will keep this blog going forever if I can. Well, maybe Harvey will, with Basil doing tech support. But I will be around waiting for that one fabled day where I will have more time to blog. Maybe on the 30th anniversary, though it’s possible by then I’ll have handed the blog over to my daughter Buttercup. She’s very opinionated and very certain she’s right about everything.

Anyway, I feel very blessed. Thank you so much for your support. And I’ll try to be funny again one of these days, I swear — though I think it’s now been thirteen years since that last happened.