Fifteen Years of Blogging
Perhaps the only thing more insufferable than a blogger is a blogger who blogs about blogging. But I hope you’ll humor me today, as I mark the 15th birthday of Hawaii Blog, which I started reluctantly, updated sometimes only sporadically, but stubbornly maintained as ongoing documentary of one geek’s life.
Join me, if you will, on a walk down memory lane, looking back at the last fifteen years as told in this space.
Liliha Bakery opens a second location on Nimitz Highway, while Maui-based mBloom draws fire for its lack of transparency.
Global ridesharing startup Uber sets up shop in Honolulu, and Uber expansion team members Paul Faguét and Tomas Campos share their plans on the day of their local soft launch.
Civic hacking is in its ascendancy, with then Honolulu mayor Peter Carlisle telling city departments to support open data, the launch of the city’s open data portal, and the formation of the Honolulu chapter of Hacks/Hackers.
The High Technology Development Corporation (HTDC) launches a new series of monthly networking mixers for developers and software engineers. “Thirsty Third Thursday” would later become “Wetware Wednesday.” I missed it, though, as I was leaving for my fourth San Diego Comic-Con.
The modern reboot of “Hawaii Five-0” begins production, Disney’s “Phineas and Ferb” visit Hawaii, and Steve Jobs leaves Hawaii to face up to “Antennagate.” And Hawaii is still a lousy place to do business.
Then Gov. Linda Lingle lets the legislature gut Act 221, a popular but controversial high tech tax credit, and vetoes a bill that would have taxed Amazon.com and other online retailers.
Father Damien is set to become a saint after Pope Benedict XVI validated a miracle attributed to him. Meanwhile, both Makiki and Palolo hold neighborhood festivals.
Hawaii’s three competing airlines were engaged in an “air war” in which interisland airfares dropped as far as $1. Meanwhile, travelers were excited at the pending launch of the Hawaii Superferry, which would bring yet another option. Sigh. Also, what’s a “tumblelog“?
The City & County of Honolulu celebrates its 100th birthday with a giant cake at Honolulu Hale, and my daughter Katie, then eight years old, is interviewed on the local news. “It’s enormous!” she says. She’s now 17, and nothing impresses her.
I’m impressed with Google Maps, although it was still in beta, Space Shuttle Discovery returned to space two years after the Columbia disaster, and my brother is in London during the London bombings. Ten years back and images are more scarce, and I was much less wordy.
Jen drops her iPod, my 10th anniversary gift to her, and I sign up for the 11th annual HeartWalk. Yeah, I guess it was a slow news month.
Getting meta, I write about how I’m running out of server space for my various websites, which include my online journal (which begat this blog), diarist.net (once the portal for online journals), and hawaiinews.com (I still miss that domain name). I also rant a lot about national politics. How embarrassing.
Rental company U-Haul adds Hawaii to the states featured on the side of its trucks, and sets up an interactive site where you can learn about the Hawaiian “happy face spider” and the history of invasive species in the islands. (You can still see it on the Internet Archive.)
My coverage of the local tech scene wasn’t always positive. In 2001 I was marveling at the implosion of WorldPoint, once a local tech industry darling, which was then being evicted from its office space and seeing its remaining assets put up for auction. I also marveled at the media circus surrounding the disappearance of Chandra Levy, which of course would still be dominating the headlines until that terrible day in September.
At so it began, fifteen years ago. Perhaps fittingly, I start my very first blog post mentioning how I don’t like “the weblog fad.” (I didn’t want to let the shortened version of the word, “blog,” to catch on.)Â My first few posts cover Disney’s “Pearl Harbor,” Ben Cayetano, and robots.
That’s still culture, politics, and technology, right? Stay tuned for the next Hawaii Blog retrospective in 2030!
Congratulations on 15 years! Here’s looking forward to many more. :-)
Congratulations!
15 years of excellence.
:)
N
What a remarkable accomplishment! That’s definitely a long time sticking with anything, and your renewed emphasis on more regular blogging demonstrates your commitment to this “fad.”
congratulations on 15 years :)
Congrats! Quite an accomplishment.
Great job! 15 years of blogging is quite the achievement.