Commuterdaddy's 2008 Readers' Choice Awards

Chalk this up to me being in a New Year's Eve, 2008 wrap-up frame of mind.

So give me a drum roll, please. Introducing the inaugural Commuterdaddy 2008 Readers' Choice Awards. We'll spare you the droll acceptance speeches. No shiny statuettes either, but the votes are in and the readers have spoken. Here's the most popular Commuterdaddy posts in 2008:

1. Commuter rail linking Scranton, Poconos with NYC receives fed money
   This was a lazy item, part of a temporary experiment with linking to commuter-related stories at various Ottaway newspapers. The post still gets some search-engine referrals -- nearly all of it from Google. Go figure. Guess the issue of commuter rail in the Poconos still has legs. And Commuterdaddy ranks number 4 for that exact seach term. WooHoo!
2. Check Engine Haiku
   I should have been more explicit that I had hoped other commuters would join in the haiku frivolity. Not a single comment was left on this post, despite its popularity. Perhaps my commuter haiku skills are too intimidating? Incidentally, I rank number 5 in Google for the term "haiku checker." Not a term I ordinarily would have associated with Commuterdaddy, but I'll take it.
3. In-flight wifi? You'll likely have to pay to play
   Not a bad ranking for this one, considering it was posted on Dec. 17. Of course, it also speaks to the fact that this blog is not generating a lot of traffic and clearly is not my day job, for which I remain very grateful given the state of the media industry these days. In case you were wondering, this blog was originally conceived as a potential contributor to a blog network that would feed content into the shared automotive verticals of Ottaway. A variety of circumstances put that plan on hold, though the idea to focus on commuter-oriented content as a niche that could serve many of our markets is still very much alive. Meanwhile, I use this and my personal blog as equal parts amusement -- for me and for you -- and laboratory. Can't very well ask people to be stretching themselves online if I don't do so myself, right?
4. Side effects may include gray hair, heart palpitations, fainting and ulcers
   19 percent of the referrals came from Facebook. I'll infer from the high ranking of this post that I am connected to lots of like-minded fathers. Most of the rest of the traffic came from Google. The keywords that drove the most traffic? "Side effects of commuting," for which Commuterdaddy ranks number 2, behind a Washington Post article on the wear and tear commuting places on the body. While my headline was not intended to describe the side effects of commuting, it does that double duty quite nicely as a description of the impact a lengthy round trip can have on working humans -- though I am going to start praying a little more each night that I never experience the fainting while driving.
5. Working from Logan International Airport
   As commuter travelogues go, this was a good one. It also was one of the most commented entries of 2008, thanks to a comment conversation I had with Joe Michaud, who at first I confused with Joe Alba, based on the initial beer observations.
6. The Blogfathers: Sexism in baby daddy land
   This is the lone 2007 post that persisted in the top 10 for 2008. It rings as true today as it did when I wrote it. Brandy and I were just discussing this topic earlier tonight. She's reading Dinner with Dad, which I recently finished, and there's a theme throughout about the husband and wife coping with their previously well delineated roles becoming hybrid thanks to Dad being around the house more. It fascinates us that couples would struggle with this. Sure, after returning from a road trip I may from time to time undo an instruction that Brandy had given in my absence. I also have been guilty of needless redundancy in reaction to something Brandy has already handled while I was away. In the end, though, my more frequent presence around the home office is more beneficial to the well-being and equilibrium of the household. In the brief period this summer when I was commuting daily to Waltham, my consistent and lengthier absences were not a positive element in our family dynamic. While I may have been home every night -- as opposed to the every other week travel schedule I've been maintaining lately -- I was not present for the most important events. Had I still been on that everyday commuting schedule, it would not have been possible to recently attend Benjamin's first Christmas concert, or to help with Mason's gingerbread house construction project. Presence and participation is far preferable.
7. 70 mph speed limit voted against in N.H.
   This was easily my shortest post, being even shorter than the haiku. Perhaps I should have done a speed limit haiku? I'll work on it.
8. Setting the right example with bike helmets
   I'm happy to report that I've not forgotten to wear my bike helmet since writing this entry. For what it is worth, I've made 63 rides totaling nearly 548 miles since then. Not as much as I would have liked, but certainly more than the year before. The 2008 total was 615 miles. I'll take this opportunity to publicly declare that my 2009 resolution will be 1,000 miles for the year. My usual ride is a paltry 8 miles round trip, primarily because that's what I can accomplish in a half hour of exercise. So sticking to that goal, I'd need to average a little more than 10 rides a month to achieve 1,000 miles. That should be doable, even if I have to do some small percentage on a stationary bike at the gym or in a hotel. I'll further pledge to provide monthly progress reports on this blog, if only as a means of further self motivation.
9. RSS powers product evangelism
   During the brief period that I left Ottaway earlier this year, I let the Ottaway Online Editors blog go dormant. Had I still been with the company, this would have been much more apropos for my RSS collection there. So please, consider it as part of that set.
10. Contents under pressure
    I've been remiss in reporting that I got a new car at the end of November. Long live the tricked-out Saturn! And please welcome a 2006 Volkswagen Passat to the Commuterdaddy transportation stable. It really deserves its own blog post, so I'll try to catch up on that soon.

Happy New Year, friends and fellow commuters!