2013 State of the Ramblings

Sean's Ramblings celebrated its 8th anniversary last week. When I first started writing Sean's Ramblings, Twitter wasn't around yet and Facebook was less than a year old and only available on college campuses, so if you wanted to share your thoughts online, you had to do it through a blog. Of course, less and less people want so spend time writing blog posts now when you can share immediate thoughts in 140 characters or less instantly. Therefore, I am a dinosaur in the blog world.

When I started Sean's Ramblings, I was in my very late 20s and newly married. Now, I'm in my mid-30s (though some people would say late 30s) and have a child. Having a kid has been an amazing experience (see my fatherhood updates here and here). The only downside is that I don't write nearly as much as I did in the past. Although 203 posts in 2012 seems like a significant number, this is the least amount of posts I wrote in a year since this blog's inception by far. While I can't promise that I'll write more in 2013, I have no plans of retiring. I still enjoy sharing my thoughts on a wide variety of topics, and I hope that you enjoy reading this blog.

So what happened in the past year? I was introduced to an amazing and supportive Pittsburgh Bloggers community. I just wish that I was able to attend some of the events, which is difficult seeing that I live in Northern Virginia. Staying with the Pittsburgh blog topic, I think I'll continue the Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament in 2013 making it the 5th annual event. It's a lot of work, but I like being part of the Pittsburgh sports blog community, even if I don't write much about Pittsburgh sports anymore.

In case you missed it, here are some of my favorite/best posts of 2012:

- Since it was an election year, here is my political platform.

- I looked back at a shooting at my high school 20 years ago.

- I interviewed Laurie Koozer, author of What Happens on Sunday

- My escape from South Florida before Tropical Storm Isaac

- The best London Olympics preview.

- I tried to revisit my 1997 road trip, but I didn't get very far.

- I had my first Twitter battle.

- I ran a 5K without trying.

- I saw Van Halen in concert so naturally, I wrote a concert review of the opening act, Kool & The Gang.

- I applied to be on MTV's The Real World.

- I shared my memories of Pittsburgh's Civic Arena.

Thanks again to everyone for reading and commenting. I really appreciate your support!

My Application for The Real World

MTV’s The Real World is holding a casting call at Town Tavern DC this Saturday from 10-5. Although the requirements state that candidates must be between the ages of 20 and 24, I think that I would make the perfect candidate for MTV and The Real World's Casting Directors. Here are my qualifications:

• MTV has had significant success with the Teen Mom series. Therefore, MTV should want to incorporate more young children and their parents in their shows. A guy in his mid-30s with his kid (that’s me) and a group of 20-somethings would make fascinating television.

• To my knowledge, The Real World has never featured someone who regularly falls asleep on his couch between 9:30 and 10:00. I could be a trendsetter!

• Forget iPods. I can help return MTV to its roots by playing my Stone Temple Pilots, Dave Matthews Band and Rusted Root cassette tapes for my new roommates. Maybe I’ll bring my mix tapes to the casting call!



• Has The Real World ever featured a cat in the house? Ziggy would be a reality superstar and finally earn his keep.

• Even though I haven’t been to a club in over a decade, having the cameras follow me while I argue with my roommates about not going to the club could cause some drama. Watch an older guy complain that the club is too loud! I can’t wait to see the promos of that!

• Watching me watch Pittsburgh sporting events while Tweeting my thoughts about these events is ratings gold. I could be the new Timmy Beggy minus the getting arrested for open lewdness and losing my job as the Pittsburgh Pirates mascot.

• I could start the first ever fantasy football or baseball league in Real World history. A keeper league might be difficult to organize though so we’ll just use a straight draft.

MTV, I look forward to hearing from you (particularly since I can’t make the casting call due to fatherhood duties. This will just be like an episode of Teen Mom!).