What’s Wrong With Me

Before we begin you should know that I’m taking some very powerful medicine. I’m also in a fair bit of pain, and that has a tendency to make be a bit extra persnickety. Actually, the pain started right before the Yelp event on Tuesday. And the longer it goes on, the grumpier I get.

But today’s post isn’t entirely about my physical and psychological issues. Because last night, instead of writing new content for the FLB, I was engaged in a bit of housekeeping, inspired by a tweet from an old friend and fellow pizza judge.

Joe found the X-Files on the FLB. They aren’t quite hidden, but I have a feeling they go unnoticed by most. I don’t even think there’s a way I can link to that section of the blog. Which is fine. Because the X-Files aren’t really all that interesting in and of themselves. But they do leave me asking the titular question.

For starters, the back is acting up. Again.

Actually, I think my injury from the mountains never quite healed, and I somehow re-pulled the weakened muscle  Stupid body. So now I’m moving slowly. Luckily I have my muscle relaxers on hand, and those help the back. However, they wreak havoc on coherent thought.

So last night, instead of trying to write a post, I went and cleaned up the X-Files.

If you scroll down the blog looking at the right sidebar, and keep on scrolling, you’ll pass the comments, the tag cloud, and the FLB categories. And then you’ll be at the top of the blogroll. My other writings are at the top, followed by links to regional farms, followed by other important food resources. Only then would you see the list of regional food blogs. After those come regional non-food blogs and wine and beverage blogs. And at the very very bottom are the X-Files: Blogs on Hiatus.

Sometimes I talk about being an optimist. Occasionally, I’ll say I’m a prisoner of hope. And my hope is that our regional food blogs never truly go away. Mr. Dave has pulled down his blog and relaunched it so many times, I can hardly count.

But I think it’s important for my blogroll of regional food blogs to be weeded through periodically. That way, it’s easier for readers to find other compelling content about food in the Capital Region.

More than anything, I want more people writing about food in the area. The more voices, the better. And to encourage those taking on the task, I want to try and help promote their efforts as much as possible.

The X-Files isn’t a place of shame. It’s an acknowledgement that sometimes life gets crazy, and blogs need to be put up on the shelf for a while. And for those of us who have been active in the local blogosphere for many years, looking at the names of the blogs on indefinite hiatus is a lovely stroll down memory lane.

Still, I’m left asking myself, what’s wrong with me?

I don’t know if it’s some form of insanity that I keep coming back to the computer every day to post words about food. Or if I’m just one stubborn bastard who refuses to give up. Maybe it’s an addiction.

And in my heart of hearts, I know that the blog won’t be forever, because nothing is. So the X-Files remains a constant reminder that one day, the FLB will end up in there as well. And that’s another reason why I want to make sure there are other voices on food being heard in the area. I think it’s important.

So today, I’m encouraging you all to check out some of those other blogs if you haven’t recently.

The blogroll is now totally clean. Those blogs that haven’t posted in the past couple of months are now officially on hiatus in my eyes. And that includes some beloved long time voices in the community. On the plus side, there is a refreshed version of The Ridiculous Food Society of Upstate NY available to all of us, so that makes me smile (even though it just squeaks by the two month mark).

If you know of any regional blogs I’ve missed, please share them. I’d love to help give those writers some attention. And one of these days, I’ll go back and scour through the X-Files to check if anyone has taken their parked blogs off the shelf.

Perhaps I can even do that today. It seems like an easy task while resting in bed with hot pads.