#100

I enjoy blogging, it is good discipline and great exercise for the mind. Thus I note the 100th post of Pato News.

My Loyal reader Zaine commented to me recently in an email:

"The biggest thing I love about Pato News is its variety. Too many suggest a blog should be about ONE thing tech, culture, photography, politics, whatever. For god's sake, why? Pato News is about everything, and often things outside my own experience. Not a week goes by that Renee and don't say, "Did you see what Don wrote today?" And finally, you've managed to make it seem so easy and fun. You post what's on your mind and in response to everyday life. You don't pretend to be an expert, but you are when it comes to music, theater, and opera. I could go on, but Pato News is a fearless blog, willing to talk about anything."

I have two other faithful readers. One is my friend David in Elmhurst Il. David checks in daily. Now David, YOU have to start a blog! The other is someone in Finland. He/she checks in everyday, or at least someone using their IP address does. Guess I am interesting to them..maybe they are ducks.

While some blogs have more hits in a day than I have had since Pato News started, I am pleased and somewhat bemused by the response to Pato News. I guess because I write about so many things, Pato News posts come up near the top in a lot of Google searches. My review of "Married Alive" (4/7) gets a lot of attention as people search for information on the show and the actors involved. My review of the Gordon Chin "Double Concerto" (4/2) was quite popular in the composer's native Taiwan. I seemed to be a good source of news on the Tressa Waggoner saga, involving the grade school teacher fired for showing the opera "Faust" in her class(5/4, 3/19, 2/3). My most popular post of all was the one featuring Her Majesty Queen Puggles the Queen of all Pugs, "Her Majesty the Queen of Pugs; A Royal Birthday in Pictures" (5/2. Post pictures of cute dogs wearing funny costumes and you are instantly popular.)

I did scoop the news world with my announcement of the Maestro and Shelly expecting a child. This post has been accessed by the KC Star and the Greenwich CT Times newpapers plus a plethora of people from New York and Connecticut...even Japan. How's that for a 4 month old blog?

Pato News will continue on. There are concerts to review, idiots to rant about and dogs to take pictures of. It should be fun.

THANKS FOR READING!! ~ Pato