State of The Blog Address, 2013

"I'll tell ya, folks, it's harder than it looks...."
                                     -AC/DC


  Yeah, I know.

  It's been a while.

  As I write this, the little hand is closing in on to midnight,  I am sitting in a lakeside room on the 22nd floor of the Westin Harbour Castle , sipping a  couple of fingers of Sailor Jerry's, watching the last of the day's Porter Airlines flights return home.

Folks, it doesn't get a whole lot better than this.

In January.

In Ontario.

Tomorrow, SWMBO and I and Hilary and Deb launch the annual Dock Six Boat Show Assault.  We'll grab some swag, eat some food, drink some beer, stumble through a couple of boats, scorn a few dozen more, buy some gear, then adjourn to the Chartroom at the Westin for the Saturday night gathering of the faithful.

We have hit a milestone this week.  Less than two years since the first post, the Dock Six Chronicles has had it's 100 000th page view.

I have no idea whether that 100 000th page view was a new reader or a regular follower,

(sorry, mom)

But thank you to all of you who have taken the time to check us out, fed back on what you have read, taken the time to say hello as you wander past us on the Dock, or just generally "talked the dock!" and passed the word.

Our world has become bigger than I ever dreamed it would be.

And that has raised the bar.

Thanks a hell of a lot.


See, if no one was reading the crap I typed into my crappy little netbook on an irregular basis, it really didn't matter whether it was worth reading.

The writing could suck, our (mis)adventures could suck, all of it could suck, and it wouldn't matter because no one would notice.

Well, f**k me, some poor masochistic idiots keep reading this stuff.

Repeatedly.

And letting their damn kids read it!  Which is why I have to use ** in all the really good words, ferf**ksakes!

Before I started throwing this crap at the cyberwall and seeing what stuck, no one cared whether I wrote anything.  Hell, even my kids turned to mom for signatures on permission slips.

Now?

I take a couple of weeks off while my children-of-choice (I hate the word "stepkids"- they are mine, chosen and cherished) are home for the holidays, and after a week the emails start coming in (what's new?  any new blog posts coming?) telling me it is time to saddle up.

I'm not complaining- it's good to be wanted.  Unless post offices and posters and rewards are involved.

Here's where I see the Chronicles heading in 2013:

   A regular schedule.  The idiots  my faithful readers deserve to know when to tune in, and potential new suckers readers should have some sort of structure to keep 'em coming back. Once a week?  Twice a week?  Daily?  Monthly?
Folks, let me know how much is enough.

   Better photography.  I look at some of my pics and cringe.  I'll work on it.  I promise.  I'll also use more of  
Melanie's pictures.  That chick can plain shoot!









More recipes.  More food ideas is more better.

More projects.

Less filler.  Yeah, I know, sometimes I work way too hard to make way too much out of way too little.  It succeeds way too often.

More connectivity.  There is now a Dock Six Chronicles facebook Page

Yeah.  facebook.  Next thing you know I'll be standing in line to buy the latest iPaidtoomuch.

More guests.  I want to have more folks tell more stories their own damn selves;  it means less work for me, and a different perspective is always good.  Win/win.

Book reviews.  Cripes, we read enough around here, we should be able to recommend some good boat reads, and/or good reads about boats,and/or good boat-related reads.

Less excuses.  I've posted less often this year than last, and offered all sort of bullshit to justify why.
It doesn't matter.  I slacked from time to time.  With a regular schedule and the deadlines all that entails, you're gonna get more D6C,  more often.
Some of you might even think that is a good thing.

More swag.  Beyond "Talking the Dock!", We're gonna "Pimp the Dock!"  T-shirts, hats, coozies, maybe even our own Dock Bock.
Say it loud!  I'm Dock and I'm proud!

Thanks for all your support.

  Happy 2013 to all of you!

"Talk the Dock!"

We're Gettin' All Crazy Convergent and Stuff

   "Build on a trust that we must stand on..."
                                  -Howard Jones


   When I started banging the keyboard a year and a half ago, I didn't have much of a vision of the future of the Dock Six Chronicles.

   Scratch that.  I had no damn vision.

  At all.

  I figured I'd simply punch out a running commentary on the comings and goings on the Dock and, by extension, the larger community around us.  I thought it might be a good way for all of us who sail off the ghetto dock  to keep in touch, maybe share tips and stories, or something like that.

Then the damn thing blew up.

We now have 50 followers.  Some are even legitimate.

We  have had more than 71 000 page views, and counting.

We have followers and readers on five continents.  Australia, freakin' Australia,  that big -ass island all the way around and under the planet from us,  fer Russell Crowe's sakes,  accounts for a sizable portion of our readership Thanks, mates!

Even Romania accounts for a few hundred views.

And, perhaps the coolest accomplishment of all, we have an acronym.  A follower has dubbed us "D6C".

We have been approached by a handful of internet-based enterprises (perhaps maybe more correctly known as "etherprises" when one examines the depth, breadth and density of the entity, or lack of the aforementioned thereof,) offering a "partnership'" or a "synergy" or a "merging of resources"...

when asked what they bring to our party, the response is largely as substance free as the suitor-organization.
  In other words, they want our content and readership, while offering nothing in return...
Not even a bottle of rum or a six pack of cheap beer.

THAT pisses me off.

 I will happily work cheap, but I won't work free, and I won't sell out the tales from the Dock.

Then, a funny thing happened.  I confronted this dude in the parking lot of the local grocery store.

Let me back up.

Over the last couple of years, I have enjoyed reading an upstart, free, local, alternative newspaper, The Silo . An eclectic mix of local art news, reviews, fun articles, comics, and just plain life, The Silo is a breath of fresh air, filling a niche neglected by the rest of the local media.
Hell, they might not even know this niche exists.  An artsy free paper/website/arts booster here in the land of retirees and farmers?  Yeah, THAT ain't gonna work.
But it has, although not without seriously constant ass-busting by a small and feisty staff who works a hell of a lot harder than any bunch of slackers should.  Coming up with the idea to launch the kind of multimedia  outlet you want to interact with  is easy.
Making it fly takes some serious hard work.  And some fun.

 This summer, for example, the braintrust at the paper came up with a novel idea to get their rag more noticed- they distributed googly-eyeball festooned "pet rocks" at all of their distribution points as paperweights/marketing tools/conversation pieces.

Like this:

It's a low-buck, effective, clever idea that turns a problem (newspapers blowing around their businesses do not make distributors happy, and noone reads a mangled freebie) into an opportunity-( now people talk about the rocks, pick up the paper, etc.)
As a sales and marketing guy, when I saw a car with "The Silo" emblazoned on the side, I wanted to compliment the guy driving on the idea.  He was tight for time, I was tight for time, we just sort of acknowledged each other, I go the e-mail address to fire off a line and...
 I decided to shamelessly plug the blog.
And to invite the publisher, Jarrod, to come on down and join us for a drink.
That was a couple of weeks ago.
This week I submitted the first Dock Six article to The Silo.  We're gonna play this by ear and see how and where we fit together.  it may be a regular gig, it may be an occasional filler article- it goes as it goes.  I'm cool with that.
Turns out Jarrod has ties to the marina, having spent some serious time down here a few years back.  He digs the vibe, and likes what we have going on enough that he wants to share it with his readership.  he thinks we have something to offer.
I think it's kind of cool to bring our burgeoning international success back home on the local level, and explore new audiences.
This is gonna be fun.
So,  thanks to Jarrod and the gang at The Silo for welcoming us aboard. We'll try not to break anything or piss off the neighbours.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone for hanging with us.

"Talk the Dock!"

We're (slightly) Famous(ish)!

     "Is it any wonder, you are too cool to fool..."
                                            -David Bowie




    Good Old Boat  is the bimonthly bible of classic plastic sailboats, a must-read for many of us on the Dock and many who follow the D6C.

     They have just added us to their "Sailor's Blogs and Sites" list.

http://www.goodoldboat.com/resources_for_sailors/sailors_blogs_and_sites.php

  I'm feelin' like Sally Field at the Oscars over here.



"Talk the Dock!"

The State of the Blog Address

      "Let the bells ring out!"
            -Robbie Robertson




     The Dock Six Chronicles passed a milestone this week.  Less than three months since I started tapping away at this ongoing, impending, car- wreck of a blog, the Chronicles has now passed 10,000 page views!

     I didn't think the wheels would stay on nearly this long.

     Thanks to all of you who have discovered us here on the Dock and decided we're worth spending some time with.  Thanks to all of you on the Dock, for your feedback, post suggestions, comments and spreading the word.
I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.

    There have been some changes to the blog over the past few weeks as I try out adding some features, and attempt to come up with some sort of cohesive format.  Here's what's happening- as always your thoughts are greatly appreciated:

     1.  The projects page will be updated monthly and I want more input from all of you- if you've got a low-buck projj-ect fire me the details, I'll post it as a regular blog post, then at the end of each month I'll add that month's new projects to the "Low Buck Projects" page.

     2.  We have been chosen as an Amazon Affiliate-  you can shop at Amazon directly from the Dock Six Chronicles, and Amazon will run ads along the margin that relates to the blog posts on the page.  This is going to become very convenient because...

     3.  A book review post, or series of posts, is in the works.  I NEED your input.  What boat-books have you read that you find are invaluable, interesting or just entertaining?   Fire me an email or a comment with the title, author, and why it's a good book.  If the feedback is positive, I can see making this a regular feature.  Read about a book you haven't read and want to try?  Boom!  Go straight to Amazon.  Easy-peasy.

     (*Full shameless disclosure-  I apparently get some sort of small commission for every click-through to Amazon from the Dock Six Chronicles. If it covers my rum budget, I would be surprised. But, if the idea of yours truly profiting from this enterprise appalls you, then feel free to resist the impulse to click on the ads.  I won't be mad at you.)

     4.  More on- the -water posts. Today it is raining.  Again.  Like yesterday.  And the day before.  And the day before that.  Remember back when I asked you all to pray for rain?

 STOP IT!!!!!

     Sooner or later the weather has to get better, more boats have to get in the water, and we can finally depart from stately Jones manor for the season, more or less.

     5.  Last, I want to get some guest input from my fellow Docksters.  James, are you listening?  I need a docking tutorial.  Jim and Maryann, how about a quick overview of Long Point Bay fishing?  Jack, I need info on  McVay boats.  Jordan!  More info on the dinghy build!

     6.  The Long Point Lap has really stirred some interest, and I have tentatively scheduled the Lap for the weekend of July 15-17, with an alternate of July 22-24  looks like we might be seeing a fair number of boats from all over Southern Ontario.

  So, that's where we are, where we've been, and where we're going.  Thanks to everyone who has been following along and contributing.  Keep Talking the Dock!