Alternative to the State of the Union Address - the State of the Blog

Tonight is the annual state of the union address, and many Americans will watch and listen to the President's statement on  how the country to doing.  Many of my readers would sooner listen to 1,000 cats fighting, than listen to Trump.  I probably won't listen, the politics of division are really getting to me,  I don't like the idea that a lie repeated enough times, becomes the alternative truth.  

So I offer an alternative, my state of the blog address. 

My fellow bloggers and readers, it is my pleasure to offer my annual state of the blog address.  Thank you for gathering today, thank you for reading and commenting on a regular basis.  I am in my fourth year of posting daily, having missed just one day in the past three years.  The commitment to creating content, keeps me thinking, looking, considering the world.  2017 presented a lot of personal challenges for me, the blog gave me an outlet to talk, ramble, develop my thinking.  I have tried a second blog and have not followed. (I actually have five blog accounts.) I think from time to time about creating new blogs that would be weekly, maybe talking about food and cooking, or my unique collections.  

Since beginning, The Adventures of Travel Penguin has had over 1,900 postings, and almost 290,000 page views.   A couple of years ago I added "ad sense" to my blog, I just recently passed the $100 mark in ad revenue - the minimum amount for the ads to payout.  There are other blogs that do that per month, or week, or day.  But I didn't start doing this for fame or money.  If I wanted more followers, page views and ad revenue, I would need to create different content, and cross promote my blog.  I seldom mention my blog on other social media.  I would also have to deal with more unpleasant people and trolls.  I am not in this for that - a least not at this time.   

I did turn off anonymous comments this year.  Most of the nasty comments were anonymous, and I guess I am more sensitive than I should be, but it got to me.  I am sorry to anyone who was nice and was caught up in the block.  It is not hard to create an account and identify yourself in comments.  

My plan for the coming year, is to keep up the daily posting. I create postings ahead of time, and schedule them.  My goal is to focus on the positive, to point out the adventure that is life and travel.  

2018 is going to be a busy travel year, I have already been to Florida.  In February I am going to Kentucky, North Carolina and back to Florida. In March I am going to San Francisco. In May I am going to New Orleans. In June I am going to Toronto (possibly by way of Chicago) and back to San Francisco.  In November I am going to Chicago.  I need to go back to Michigan and Florida,  I will likely have fall trip to Kentucky (we want to sell the other house late this year.) That should give me some blog fodder.  And imagine this, I have put off a major trip until spring of 2019.  

I continue to enjoy my daily blog reading.  A handful I regularly comment on, other I read and seldom if ever comment on.  My morning blog routine takes about 30 minutes, 30 minutes of me time.  I will keep that up.  

All in all, the adventure is strong, the adventure continues.  

How is the state of your blog?