Milestones
I began this blog on January 21st, 2006, or 3 months ago today. While I’d been writing about H5N1 for some time on another website, it wasn’t until 90 days ago that I decided I wanted to chronicle the lead up to a possible pandemic. I thought of it as a personal journal, and doubted anyone but a few close family members and myself would ever read it.
To my very pleasant surprise, I’ve learned that I have somehow picked up a number of loyal readers. I never expected that. To those who, for some unfathomable reason, visit this blog site, I thank you.
This is my 100th blog entry. Another, albeit artificial, milestone. So it appears I’m averaging better than 1 entry a day. I never expected that, either. I thought I’d write something once or twice a week, during my infrequent breaks from playing Internet Poker.
But the news has been hot and heavy for these past three months, and shows little sign of abating. Each morning I rise and there is something worth noting or at least bitching about. Sadly, my appearances at the poker table have all but vanished as my daily pursuit of more information on H5N1 leads me on a merry chase around the web.
But on the plus side, along the way, I’ve met a large number of people on the net, and have made a good number of friends. I’ve even met personally with several like-minded flubies and last week we shared beer and lunch and tales of our preparations. We now plan to make it a regular thing, and meet once a month.
I’ve been contacted by a number of folks who have read my essays, and we correspond regularly by email, or meet at one or more of the forums where I hang out. I’ve even been contacted by the editor of a book on Avian Flu, and have been asked if part of one of my essays’ might be included in the next updated release.
All in all, pretty remarkable, given that I had no expectations when I started all of this.
I’ve no idea where all of this will lead us. Avian Flu may disappear from the horizon just like Swine Flu did 30 years ago. I hope it does, for I still have plans, and things I’d like to do in my life, that a pandemic would probably crush. Somewhere, there’s another sailboat waiting for me to fall in love with, and, if my health holds up, a long promised 3-year circumnavigation.
But, life is what gets in the way of our plans. And right now life has handed us a potential pandemic. Until this passes, H5N1 is pretty much my life.
If a pandemic comes, my biggest hope is somehow the Internet stays up, and I can remain connected to my newfound friends and loyal readers. Hopefully, they will use the comments feature of this blog, or email, or the forums, to let others and me know they are doing all right.
By staying in touch through this cyber network, we can support one another in a time of crisis, and we can share what we’ve learned along the way. Together, we stand a much better chance of getting thru this crisis.
And that, my friends, is the true power of the Internet.
