Wednesday will be the one year anniversary of this blog. According to PBS, most babies, by the age of one, can sit without support, stand under their own power, toddle forward, roll a ball, pick things up, express recognizable emotions, cry loudly, play peekaboo, smile spontaneously, laugh aloud, enjoy books with pictures, distinguish between animate and inanimate objects, and say a couple words aloud.
This blog can do none of those things.
So on that level, I'm not doing so hot. However, very few children are purchased by LA Weekly before they turn two. Which brings me to my next point: I've been purchased by the LA Weekly. We've been working on this for approximately forever, but it only emerged from double super secret background status today, when they rolled out their new design that lists me under the "blogs" category.
In terms of what that means for this site, not a whole lot. I'll soon be moving to ezraklein.com (and soon after that be undergoing a spiffy redesign), but for all you virtual elves keeping my hit counter fat and happy, little will change save the quality, which should go up a bit. As Tapped shows, I tend to be less halfassed when I'm getting paid. I'll also be writing a monthly column for the print edition, and probably focusing a bit more on California.
In more blogging news, Josh Marshall has asked me to head up a new, temporary blog on the Medicare Part D Disaster. That'll be over at TPM Cafe. Tomorrow will also see me playing Wonkette for a day, as I take over the beltway-gossip site in some sort of tribute to Ana Marie Cox. Since I'm known far and wide for not being an excruciatingly dull health policy wonk, you can see what an inspired choice they've made. Also, for those playing the home game, that'll leave me with four blogs for a day, one more than cubicle mate Matt. So take that: I truly am king of the internets.
As for the requisite sappyness, I've run through three hankies while writing this post, and I just...loveyouallsomuch. This site has been much more than I could've possibly hoped, and blogging has propelled me much farther than I could've ever imagined. At 8:30 tonight, I'll be on Air America's Majority Report doing pre-State of the Union commentary. I'll be phoning in from the offices of The American Prospect, where I work. And I owe it all to this blog, and everyone who reads it.
Thanks.
Also: Special thanks to my awesome weekend bloggers, who make it possible for me to have a social life without feeling guilty about it. Those folks rock, and they keep me from getting burnt out.