HAPPY 100TH EPISODE!

This is my 100^th blog for the American College of Emergency Physicians.  For television shows, the 100^th episode is a cause for celebration.  One hundred broadcast episodes means that the show is a success for everyone involved, the producers, the sponsors, the actors, AND the writers. 

 

I began this “blogging” project in November of 2006, as the first official “blogger” for the American College of Emergency Physicians.  It was my idea that the leadership of the college should investigate ways to reach out to younger physicians using newer technologies and communication media.  Having a blog seemed so hip, so young, so whatever-the-word-of-the-moment is.

 

It has been a learning experience.  I learned how to host a blog.  I learned to write without an editor.  I learned that writing without an editor means everyone feels entitled to offer advice on your writing, both style and substance.  I learned that the harshest critics did not want to criticize me in the “comment” section, where others could see, but wished to make their views known via email.  I learned that being a blogger for an organization means that everyone has your email address.

 

I learned that producing three to five hundred coherent, intelligent-sounding words that will live in cyberspace forever on a consistent basis is a challenge not unlike rearing children - tedious, relentless, and unimaginably joyful.

 

I learned the distinct joy of trying on, trying out, and wearing out new technologies.  I have “pages” on every social network imaginable. I facebook, myspace, pulse/plaxo, link-in and now, I tweet on twitter.  (Writing without an editor also allows me to create brand-spanking-new verbs.)  I have thousands of friends-of-friends.  I actually believe that epidemiologists could learn a thing or two about communicable diseases from observing the spread of information through social networking devices.  I have even appeared on youtube more than once, and more than Mom watched it........or else Mom spent most of the last few months clicking and reclicking.

 

So, to my several hundred loyal readers, my occasional readers, and even my first-time readers, I say thank you.  Thank you for the chance to learn, to grow, to express myself, and to be a part of something much, much larger than myself.  Thank you for allowing me just another mature adult trying to stay connected to a rapidly changing world.  Most of all, thank you for birthing the inevitable result of 100 hundred successful episodes.......a spin-off!

 

ACEP now has bloggers from all walks of the (emergency physician) profession expressing themselves on The Central Line.  Check it out now at thecentralline.org.

 

.....and stay tuned for next season’s premiere.

 

 

 

Disclaimer:  Because I do believe in telling the truth, I have to admit that The Central Line is not my project.  It was lovingly crafted by very skillful ACEP staffers, and is written by a host of VERY talented emergency medicine professionals.  They are allowing me to link to the site and to claim credit for the idea because THIS IS MY BLOG AND THEY CAN’T STOP ME!  Seriously, they are allowing me to post to The Central Line during the debut at the Legislative and Advocacy Conference in Washington D.C. this week.  Check it out......and thanks for stopping by.