One Year Anniversary

All:

April marks the one year anniversary of this blog. Whew! How time flies!

The founding of this blog was mainly due to the limitations on having a one-page webpage (Armand's Corner of the Net) that AOL used to provide through AOL Hometown Pages. Plus, AOL announced that they were dropping AOL Hometown Pages. It was a good eight-year run for the ol' homepage. This blog format affords virtually unlimited space for articles and images.

Essentially, this blog reflects my general interests, which include current events (there's always something interesting going on), politics (I was once a Reagan area chairman and convention delegate. Once it gets into your blood, you never really get rid of it.), travel (one of my biggest passions) and entertainment (everyone loves entertainment, right?).

This also affords a conduit for making announcements of interest.

I chose the name, Armand's Rancho del Cielo, as a tribute to President Ronald Reagan's ranch near Santa Barbara, California. I took the mountain photo at top at Zion National Park in Utah about 6 years ago. You will note that some of the cliffside cracks on the mountain wall seem to form the shape of Darth Vader's helmet.

On the subject of comment approvals, I an generally lenient about it. But some people can't discipline themselves to refrain from being snarky and argumentive. Those kinds of comments won't be approved. It's as simple as that. I don't mind counter-views, but there's a way to present your point-of-view without sounding like you're frothing at the mouth.

2009 also marks the midway point of the forced hiatus of Godzilla by Toho Co., Ltd. As you recall, due to slumping ticket sales at the boxoffice, Toho decided to put Godzilla on a ten-year rest back in 2004, hoping that absence makes the heart grow fonder. So we have five more years to go before the Big G is dusted off for a return to the silver screen (if he is dusted off for a return).

This definitely has been an interesting year. This recession is the worst I've experienced (although the recessions during the late 70s-early 80s were actually worse) personally. Although I am working two jobs, both combined don't pay nearly as well as the job I was laid off from in November 2007. The main effect was that I haven't been able to return to Japan since April 2007. It's a good thing I made that one a 12-day trip!

Thanks for checking in this past year. This blog registered nearly 20,000 hits since I added the counter last July. I'm looking forward to another interesting year to write about.

Armand.