11 years ago I wrote my first blog post. I have published over 3000 posts since on over 10 different blogs. As I look back on the last 11 years of blogging I can’t help but feel nostalgic for some of the blogs I’ve started and never finished, some that never took off the way I thought they would and some that went strong!
As I reflect back on all the posts I have published, a few rise to the top. Here are some of my favorites.
My first blog post
I remember my friend Hadley Stern telling me he started an Apple blog (AppleMatters.com) and asked if I would write for it. I never considered myself a writer let alone a good one. But I took a leap with this post and the excitement of hitting the “publish” button is one I still can’t get enough of.
Top 10 reasons to give someone you love the gift of Apple
by Gregory Ng Dec 23, 2002
Whether you celebrate Hanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or Winter Solstice, this time of year is a time to give and a time to receive. And what better gift to give or receive, than a product from Apple. Here are the top 10 best reasons to give someone you love the gift of Apple:
10. Your PC loving friends and family members would never do it.
9. No matter what the gift is from the XServe, to the ipod, the white and silver colors will match the winter season.
8. The OSX look evokes feelings of ice and snow.
7. Walking out of the Apple Store with the white bag can be the proudest moment in a person’s life.
6. With all the product’s “Ready-to-go out of the box”, you’ll have time for egg nog and mistletoe.
5. An Apple box looks better than a box with cow spots on it.
4. With Apple’s package design, unpacking the Apple product is an event in itself.
3. With the iPod topping most Top Gadget Gift Lists, they will be the envy of all their friends.
2. You will crash after your big holiday dinner, but your G4 running OSX won’t.
1. Everyone deserves to own something truly beautiful once in their life.
Happy Holidays!
It’s so neat to see this post 11 years later. A sort of time capsule back to the time before Apple’s resurgence and the beginning of the true PC vs. Apple War.
The first time I got trolled
A couple of years into my blogging career at Apple Matters I started to get the hang out of the way Apple-themed content worked at at the time. You could have opinions on things but unless you took those opinions to the extreme side of the spectrum, it wouldn’t be shared or commented on. On November 19, 2004 I wrote this post called “Whacking My iPod”.
In it, I wrote: “I’m thinking of doing something unthinkable. Never in a million years did I imagine it could come to this. I’m thinking about whacking my iPod. See, I want the new color screen iPod. I want it. I want it. I want it. I can’t stop thinking about it. But I can’t justify having 2 iPods. I only have one set of ears. There are only 2 things in the way of my happiness with another iPod: Justification to my wife that I need one and the death of my 2G iPod”
In this post I plotted how I would accidentally destroy my iPod to justify buying the new one. What can I say? I was writing with a sense of desperation for the latest Apple must-have device? The interesting thing, however, is when it got picked up on the site iPodLounge.com (Now iLounge) and I saw this comment:
I wrote him an email and I got this reply.
To this day I still don’t know why getting called a thug got censored. LOL
The first time I exposed my faults
Retelling stories in my life is now commonplace on my blog. But it took me a few years before I started to feel comfortable documenting things that happened to me. But once I did, the floodgates opened with my content creation. Everyday life is packed with bloggable moments! On November 10th, 2005 I had an “event” on the commuter train I took to work every morning. I called this post “A Personal Victory”. It was the first time I published something that exposed my faults. In this case it is my vindictiveness.
A Personal Victory
This morning I had a personal victory. And that personal victory came in the form of a successful box-out and slight hip check in the vestibule of my commuter train.
See there’s this guy who rides the same train every morning. I know this of course because it is my train and I ride the same one every morning. Every morning despite where he sits on the train, he works his way up to the door to be THE first one out. He then runs up the escalator and tries to be first in line at the local train stop. I find this funny of course because if he is in such a hurry, why doesn’t he just take one train earlier?
Personally I don’t care if he’s in a hurry or not. But what gives him the right to leave the train before anyone else?
So this morning I decided to sit at the very last seat right next to the door. There’s no way this guy is going to butt in front of me today. Right when I saw him stand up and make his move, I stood up and made my shoulders real big like the way you are supposed to do when you confront a bear. He started to work his way through the pack. (I know this because I could see the reflection off the window). I stood firm. He had the audacity when he got to me (the first one at the door mind you) to say, “Excuse me”. I replied “what.”
Please note: this is a “what.” like what the hell do you want. Not a “what?” like pardon me?
He said again, “Excuse me” motioning like he wants to squeeze by.
I said, “where are you gonna go?” and stood firm.
Maybe I am imagining things or maybe I am just trying to find the justice in people but I saw an old guy smile a little. Now I was pumped. I had to leave this train in front. Not because I was in a big rush. See I plan ahead for these things unlike Firepants standing behind me. No. I needed to get out first because I had to be in front of this guy.
So I boxed him out. And then when the train did come, I gave him a slight hip check for good measure. Boy did that feel good. Now the plan is tomorrow to act like nothing ever happened and dont even get up when we meet the stop. I want this guy to think HE was imagining things.
Hope you were late to wherever you were going sucka!
The first time I truly felt like an expert
In 2006 I embarked on a Daddy blogging journey with my friend SchneiderMike. We launched a blog called Noodad.com as a sort of support group for us and to spread some knowledge to other new dads out there. At the time my second child was just born and I was filled with new found knowledge. Some book knowledge but mostly in-the-trenches with a Lego piece in my foot and a trashcan full of diapers type of knowledge.
On May 31, 2006, the day before my 31st birthday I published The Top 10 Myths of Fatherhood Debunked.
You may be contemplating fatherhood and are scared to make the decision. Or you may have a kid on the way and are worried your life is over. If you watch television or movies you will have a very twisted idea of what fatherhood is. And just because your friends might go through hell, and can’t stop talking to you about it, it does not mean you should take it as fact. That is why I, Noodad, am pleased to present to you, the Top 10 Myths of Fatherhood Debunked! Listen to the truth my friend, and then decide whether you want to join me in fatherhood. You will see, that you can’t believe everything you see on TV. Read more…
It was the first time I truly felt like an expert and it was so rewarding to share my expertise with others in need.
The first time I felt I was onto something
You know how they say when you meet your soul mate, the one you are going to marry, you just “know”? That happens with blog ideas too I think. In 2008 I moved to North Carolina after spending 15 years in New England. I had a new job, a new environment, and was starting to make new friends. I decided to shut down a few blogs that had started to falter because my fading passion for them. As my kids started getting older, I wanted to share less about their lives. Noodad.com was dwindling and SchneiderMike and I decided to shut it down. I also decided to shut down my Get Contagious blog which covered digital marketing and social media topics.
I jumped headfirst into a new concept: owning a niche with video. On October 4th, 2008 I shot and published my first episode of Freezerburns, the Internet’s Only Frozen Food Review Show. While this episode is pretty raw compared to how it has evolved 600+ episodes later, it was a concept that I believed in from the moment I turned on the camera.
Thank You
Publishing something on my blog has never lost it’s luster. I get the feeling of excitement every time. In the beginning of my blogging career I would hit publish and then email my family to go check it out. Now, each post brings the execution of a more strategic plan to share across various channels. I post here on FollowGreg.com not to make money or to gain notoriety. (Those things are goals for some of my other projects) I publish here to archive my thoughts, my activities, my life.
I’m proud of the 109 posts I have published on this blog this year. Thank you so much for spending a few minutes out of your day to read it!
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Gregory Ng
GOAL: Visit 100 National Parks as a family by 2020. Favorite Parks: Zion National Park, Mt Rainier National Park, Valley Forge National Historical Park
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