Today marks the 3rd anniversary of Toys & Stuff and what an interesting time it has been! The blog has been growing slowly but surely, and slow works for me. As of this writing, we show nearly 325,000 pageviews. With there being soooo many blogs out there on the Web I can't say how good that is, but for me personally it's a lot more than I had expected. The posts aren't as structured as they once were - tin buildings only on Monday, Trains only on Wednesday, Batmobiles only on Sunday, etc. It's a blog and supposed to be fun and following a fairly strict routine like that had put pressure on me. No more. We took the comments out - no comments, no replies, no taking time away from doing other things, like enjoying other blogs. I do what I like. Call me a rebel. And this year we introduced my terrific wife Bettina and wonderful daughter Michelle whose beautiful Vegas Valley Big Sky Pics have broadened the scope of the blog and certainly have brought you wondrous displays of nature the way we see them - from our own backyard.
And then there were the guys from Moonbase Central: Woodsy (Paul Woods), Wotan (Bill Bulloch), and Scoop (Mike Burrows) whose own blog has been an inspiration to me and helped re-awakened a somewhat dormant interest in space toys and space in general. Their involvement also led to my first ever radio interview playing on Celtica Radio, in England no less! Thanx Bill and Mike for the wonderful - and long - talk we had. Yup, lots of fun this year.
Most of the changes have been evolutionary, simply coming about as need arose. One of my goals was never really satisfactorily met, the goal of building dioramas. Only one space terrain piece was constructed even though I've had ideas for many more.
Oh well, got to keep things loose and not pressure myself over a leisure activity. Bettina and I have been talking about changing the look of the blog, with a new template and masthead to go with it, but we've never really got serious about the re-design effort. But that's okay, it's the stories and photos that are the stars of the blog after all.
What's in store for the next year? Heck if I know LOL I think there will be a slowing down of Bat-toys, specifically Batmobiles. There's still a bunch of nice ones out there but I'm not gonna break my neck (or budget) trying to latch on to them. No more 4" action figures. That whole thing is so out of my system. Mostly. I think. I do believe the coming year will begin to see more Little Green Army Men, WWII, Alamo, Western, and more airplanes. I'm not saying that's a specific goal but lordy I've got an itchin' to start showing that stuff!! Aw heck, the blog is one long exercise in improvisation, so stick around and let's see what the coming year brings and Many Many Thanx for your readership!! Keep Enjoying!My Wife & Me Enjoy it so can you The Berg's :)
