Gotta be Connected Online

On Thursday night, my connection to the Internet went south--for no obvious reason. I decided to wait until Friday to see if the problem fixed itself--something that's not unknown with electronic gear. Well, Friday arrived and it was still disconnected, so I went to work early and produced my blog post from there.

Sunday morning, and still nothing. So--I called AT&T and they were able to reset it--and here I am.

But--the problem is--I HATE being disconnected. Surely it's one thing to be put out by not receiving the service for which I pay (substantially) monthly, but it's also a nagging sense of being in the boondocks--out of touch--and unable to communicate--that I wonder about. Because I am old enough to remember when if you weren't at home you couldn't make a phone call, and if you wanted to say something to lots of people at once, you'd have to rent a hall.

Whew. Perhaps someday this will all  be up in the cloud and we'll be device independent, but what happens when there's a cloudburst? What about super sunspots? Then, it's back to square one.

Accounting for 2011 - Big Growth

The goal with Test Driving Life in 2011 was to post daily. I did that--and somehow, at the beginning two extra posts slipped in, so there were 367 posts last year.

Total Views for the year were 35,091, and the number grew steadily all year, from 647 in January (after practically nothing in December 2010) to 2,312 in July and up to 6,254 in December--the best month of the year.

Test Driving Life is focused on two main subjects, Cars and Music, but the third, category, Miscellaneous, actually had more items.

Cars - 106
Music - 101
Miscellaneous -158
There were two additional stories that were specifically dedicated to both cars and music. Add them all up and you get 367.

My end-of-the-year survey shows that the Miscellaneous subjects included at least 28 categories, from Art to Food to Anniversaries (birth and death), Architecture, Tattoos, Movies, Health, Sports, Travel, Social Issues, the News, and more.

The top 10 stories of the year were:

Audi A2 May Return - Hooray   9/3/11     2,292 views
Ford Pinto Turns 40 - Join the Stampede  6/5/11   1,801 views
My Worklife in a Nutshell  3/25/11   975 views
Bob Dylan is 70 Today -- Really?  5/24/11   942 views
Jack Casady - Bassman Then and Now  6/6/11  691 views
Fiat 500 Brings Cuteness into the Present  8/2/11  644 views
Christina Perri - Jar of Hearts  3/1/11  491 views
George Harrison's Cloud Nine - Post Beatle High Spot  11/10/11  459 views
Paul McCartney Meets a Girl from the Motor Trade  5/6/11  436 views
Three Beatle Weekend  10/10/11   384 views

Of the top 10, three were related to cars, including the top two, which were far ahead of the pack. Of the seven remaining, six involved musicians, of which three were related to the Beatles. Christina Perri was not the only musician from today who was featured in the blog, but is the only one to crack the top 10.

Test Driving Life continues, but may not be daily. Check regularly, though. Thanks.

Two of Us at the Hayward Farmers Market

The Beatles' music lives forever, as shown by the appreciation of the farmer's market shoppers today, who put $93.70 in my music partner Frank's guitar case. As the Beatles duo, Two of Us, we ran through dozens of Fab Four favorites, including everything from Please Please Me to the concluding section of the second side of Abbey Road (by request).

The weather cooperated, with temperatures in the high 50s and no wind, so we weren't uncomfortable. Several of our local friends and fellow musicians dropped by. Gary Howe was good enough to join us on one song.

The beauty of playing in this kind of venue is that you can try out stuff and nobody minds if you screw up. We had plenty of false endings, wrong chords, shaky harmonies, and the like, but we are getting better ("all the time") and are looking forward to another outing in February and next summer.

SPECIAL NOTE:

This post completes a commitment to blog daily in 2011, and is on a theme, music, that was popular as a blog subject. Test Driving Life is about trying everything as a "test drive," but music and cars were the main stars. I'll publish a review of the year of blogging tomorrow, when all the numbers are in. I do know that December 2011 was the most popular month ever for Test Driving Life, with more than 6,000 view. It's amazing what you can do if you put your mind to it.

Thanks to everyone who reads this blog. It will continue, but may not have a daily entry, in 2012. See the Jewish Roots Project for the blog that will be my primary focus next year.