Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Year 2 In Review

Doug Dawgz Blog is two years today, July15, 2008! Click here for my 1st blog's birthday greeting to myself!

Soooo ... what's happened during Doug Dawgz Blog 2nd year of existence? Lots of stuff! It's been an amazing twelve months of Oklahoma City history (aside from me anticipating our new NBA team's colors -- but black & gold works for me)!

The detail is below. But, if you want, click on a flash file link for a "video review" that you might want to see ...

THE YEAR'S TWO BIG STORIES IN PICTURES & MUSIC
The videos will open in separate and larger windows (IE Explorer) or tabs (Firefox)
(I may add a couple of other videos later)

About 3 minutes

About 6 minutes


The Statistical Detail. Here's some comparative data as of July 11, 2008, over the then almost-two years of this blog's life:

Click image for larger view



The Detail



Last 500 Visits (US Only) — many overlap so don't bother counting



Last 500 from Planet Earth


I continue to be very happy with the blog's reception and growth! It's no match for the deserved popularity of Charles G. Hill's excellent Dustbury, but "we" (that's the imperial "we") are quite pleased!

The Articles. Here's a synopsis of articles posted since July 15, 2007, through July 11, 2008.

THE CENTENNIAL. First and foremost, Oklahoma's Centennial occurred during the past 12 months, and was it grand! I certainly was not able to cover it all, but several articles had the Oklahoma Centennial as their focus:

NBA In OKC! After a couple of years of false hopes and expectations, the "impossible" did occur — Oklahoma City did become a "Major League City!" Even if bordering on the surreal, and even if I keep pinching myself to be sure, it did happen! Last year's blog articles focused upon our Hornet's Legacy, Sleeping in Seattle, and such. Self-proclaimed writers, such as the self proclaimed ultra-wise Greg Doyel said in 2006 that it would never happen — Oklahoma City would never, never, never become an NBA city. "It's not gonna happen," he said. His counterpart in that article, Greg Wyshynski, was proven more prophetic, because it did happen!

These developments received Doug Dawgz insatiable interest in this topic vis a vis the following articles during the past 12 months:
  • After PBC's purchase of the Sonics and the 10/31/2007 passing of its drop-dead-date for getting an up-to-date-arena in the Seattle area, and while the Hornets were still on shaky ground in New Orleans, I wondered, "Where are we?" in this article
  • Then, after Mayor Mick's announcement which proposed a referendum on improving the Ford Center and building a practice facility, I went ape-shit crazy about that: here (discussing the proposed ordinance), here (in this unabashed pro-vote video), here (in this exposĂ© of a non-Oklahoma website acting as though it wasn't), here (at the Buffalo Wild Wings All-Star Watch Party), here (on why Berry Tramel finally got it right), here (Roy Williams making his pitch at CafĂ© do Brazil) was then posted, here (at the pro-vote Bricktown Bash), here (at the Chamber's "Breaking Through" luncheon featuring Rick Horrow), here (wondering out loud, "Can it fail," giving Tulsa as an example as to how that was possible), here (relishing in the Tuesday vote, "We Are The Champions"), here (detailing the vote precinct by precinct), here (looking at a 2004 study evaluating OKC's NBA viability and PBC's 3/14 Letter of Intent), here (press conference after the NBA relocation subcommittee gives OKC glowing marks), here (giving special thanks to non-Okies (e.g., Chris Van Dyk) for helping us Okies out), here (discussing closely the Howard Schultz litigation), here (discussing OKC's mayoral history about how this all happened), and here (showing off OKC's team players).
SOME GREAT MAPS. I'm a map lover, to be sure, and during the year I posted a few that I either planned, owned or came across, they being ...



ARTS STUFF. Arts and arts-related projects are part of what makes a city "a city" and gives it soul and character. A few such events were covered during the past twelve months:




BUILDINGS. Several historic, and planned for, buildings were covered during the year. They were:

AREAS OF THE CITY. A few articles focused on important historical areas of Oklahoma City, past and present.

TRAINS & TROLLEYS. Oklahoma City's trains and trolley history is a work-in-progress and will be substantially expanded after this post, including updates to at least a pair of posts and the final installment of OKC Trolleys. But, a lot was done during the past twelve months:
  • Trains & Trolleys Introduction
  • Trains Part 1 — the earliest days & train maps
  • Trains Part 2 — more train maps; 1920s through present; a downtown divided; the 1923 great floods; Union Station; Santa Fe Station; No Trains; Trains Return (Amtrak); Remnants & Train Museum
  • Part 3 — my introduction to the Dean Schirf Collection, his articles, Greater Chamber of Commerce photos of Union Station and Rock Island images, and Amtrak
  • Part 3A — Photos & history by Dean Schirf, train afficionado extra ordinaire (to be updated in a few days)
  • Trolleys & Interurbans Part 1 — from the earliest days to around 1910 or so; Part 2 will be done during blog year 3
BIOGRAPHIES & SUCH. Sometimes famous, sometimes not, these stories focus on people who have significantly contributed to Oklahoma City's history. This past year, these items were done:





MISCELLANEOUS OTHER STUFF. Articles not falling into any of the above particular groups were done, also. They include:
That's about it for Year 2 in review, and my thanks go out to those of you who visit and comment and have supported this endeavor. The past twelve months have been a heck of a great year for Oklahoma City's history, past, present, and that which is yet to come! By the time Year 3's summary is posted, the OKC "somethings" will have enjoyed its first NBA season, we'll have an image of that great new Devon skyscraper, biggest in the state, and much more! Stay tuned ... Doug Dawgz prediction is that Year 3 will be even better than this fantastic year has been, and that's saying a heck of a lot!

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1 comment:

Jason said...

Congratulations Doug! Thanks for all the great writing and research. Looking forward to many more years!