Saturday, June 5, 2010

One Year of LeePender.com

For reasons I can't even really remember, I sat in the wee hours of a Thursday night and Friday morning one year ago today blogging about the bittersweet arrival of summer. I had no idea back then where this blog would go or how long it would last, but I'm happy to say that it's alive and well--and so am I.

My life has undergone remarkable changes in the last year. One of my best friends, Derek Torres, passed away last fall--something I haven't even come close to getting over. I think about Derek every day, especially when I see something that I know that he would have found funny (and that happens all the time). Sometimes I actually start to IM him before remembering...

Of course, the cycle of life continues, and my lovely wife and I are now expecting the birth of a baby boy in September. (And, no, we're not even close to having a name for him yet.) I only wish that I could talk to Derek about having a pregnant wife and about fatherhood. I know that he would have had some great advice for me, soaked in humor as always.

But we're very excited here about having a baby, if a little terrified and unprepared. Pregnancy has been a bit rough on my wife, but she has soldiered on and, I hope, has made it through the worst of the experience (aside from giving birth, of course...but that's something else altogether). Just how many posts I'll have time to leave on here come September, I don't know. I might have at least a photo or two to post, though.

I'm proud to say that this blog is nearing 4500 page impressions after one year, and although I never intended and don't intend to make any money here, my Google advertising account has netted me $23.62 as of today. Of course, Google doesn't even bother to cut a check until that revenue figure reaches $100, so I stand to get a little walking-around money in three years or so. In any case, I'm happy that friends and family have taken to reading these ramblings regularly.

Looking back over my posts, one subject dominates. Not surprisingly, the tab used most often (by a long shot--78 times as of today) is "sports." And what a year it has been for that topic, really. Going back to January, TCU finally played in a BCS bowl game (and lost--but still, 12-0 in 2009 was a heck of a lot of fun, as was the trip to the Fiesta Bowl). Just a month later, I got to see West Ham play live in East London, my most exciting and cherished live sports experience to date. And then, to top things off, my adopted college hockey team, Boston College, won the national championship. I refuse to mention the Boston Professional Hockey Franchise, which is dead to me after its historic playoff choke.

Speaking of BC, though, my wonderful wife now holds a PhD from that fine institution. I couldn't possibly be more proud of her--or more relieved, as a I saw how she struggled to get her monster project wrapped up and put away forever. It's OK to refer to us as Dr. and Mr. Suzanne Hevelone--she's earned the honor!

On my own front, I've become ambitious (read: compulsive) about blogging. A good friend and I started a blog on the Boston Breakers Women's Professional Soccer team a few months ago, and we'll be blogging on the Breakers as long as WPS continues to exist (which will hopefully be for a long time to come). Then, there's my labo(u)r of love, the West Ham U.S.A. blog. Yes, it's intended to be a blog for West Ham supporters living in the US, but it's really just my way of publicly expressing my love for the club that I now follow religiously. In that sense, it's more of an altar than it is a blog.

Of course, with all of the changes over the last year, there have been some constants: my lovely wife, my steady job, my family, our fantastic apartment in the great city of Waltham, snow on my birthday and faith. The job might change eventually, and we might live somewhere else someday. But all of the other stuff (including the snow, I imagine) is here to stay, God willing. And when I can, I'll be blogging about it all here. Here's to the end of year one and to the beginning of year two. Cheers! And thanks for reading...

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