I began this blog in the beginning of 2004. I had previously written an AOHell nanoblog called ‘the love blog”, which lasted a couple of months, but in January, with the help of some very nice people, I managed to start Neanderpundit, my first real, actual blog.

I’m not into design. I mean, I like cool looking websites, but I didn’t want one. I didn’t want the design to detract from what I had to say- in fact, while I don’t often have anything incredibly important to say, I want my words to stand completely on my own. I’m gratified that one of the bloggers I like the most, Velociman, has been doing a blog for several years which is as simple as mine, sans the huge blogroll.

Of course, this morning, he posts that he’s gonna change the design.

I sometimes write about things I find humorous, I sometimes write about things I find disturbing, I sometimes write just to hear myself yap.

I have been lucky enough to attract the notice of folks like Baldilocks, a real power blogger and one of my favorite humans, Francis Poretto, who still baffles me with his wisdom, and Kim Du Toit, whose passion about firearms I share.

Lots of other bloggers have been kind enough to link to me, and I have linked to them in return, and make a point of visiting their blogs every day. All of them contain some fine writing.

One in particular, “region broad” writes a moderate left blog which is more personal than political; while we disagree on many things we can disagree without being disagreeable.

I’ve tried to run a couple of Postal matches, and been met with mixed success. I hope to resume this practice and develop it further, but it seems I must do so in summer, because the last one, around thanksgiving, I only had one actual respondent.

I love dogs. I love stories about dogs. I like reading Rachel’s blog because of her dogs. I miss Porretto’s old site because it had pictures of his dogs.

This year has seen the death of some of my inlaws; my wife had to make the drive to Canada a couple of times to bury a well-loved relative, while I stayed home, worked, cared for the oglet. I ached for the wife’s return and shared her pain, and wrote about it here.

This year has seen the vilification by the press of a lot of people I find beyond reproach. That there is a solid opposition in the press to anyone with conservative ideals is a foregone conclusion, and this year has seen a community of people willing to take those members of the press to task Impressively, that worked. Worked better than one might expect. That sort of thing is the subject of a series of essays Mr Porretto has up on his site, and on which he is taking me to school in private conversation.

This year saw the re-election of a man who is best suited to do the job at hand. A lot of people have buyers remorse about him, but the bottom line is this: Had John Kerry been elected, it would have diminished this great country, and I am pleased that did not happen.

The country has been sharply divided by this election, and in the next four years, I do not expect that division to heal. I look for the next election to be far more contentious, and only vigilance on the part of those who worked so hard in the past will keep that from becoming a big problem.

I have enjoyed the work here, the wonderful commentors, the people nice enough to link to me, the people who came here to say hello. I’ve enjoyed banning the few morons who have wandered this way, and cragerizing their comments to make them seem fools. (though that was hardly ever necessary)

I look forward to a year of personal growth and the increase of my circle of friends- there can hardly be a better way to meet like minded people than to write a blog.

Thanks for coming here, folks. Merry Christmas.