Created in December of 2010, this blog is still quite young. It was created by myself, CheshireCat150, with the dream that I could supply a safe place for Mindstorms users (of all ages) to together learn, share information, discuss projects, and get updates on news. I hope that Mindstormers from other countries will be able to read my blog too. In order to provide an easy way for Mindstormers who speak a language other than English to read my blog, I have provided a “Translate this blog” gadget on the right side of my blog (powered by Google). My main concern is for my blog to be a safe place for children, as LEGO's products are directed toward children. For that reason, I moderate all comments. No comments with inappropriate content, bad language, or personal information will be approved. Depending on your child's skill level and age, I suggest you determine whether or not he/she can browse this blog on their own (I will not be held responsible).
It took me a while to get this blog going, as I was very busy with school at the time. I the dream of it growing and becoming a great source of Mindstorms resources; a place for teachers to find educational material, and for students to find fun activities. I wanted to advertise the NXTLog and their contests, and I wanted it to be easy to find on the web and get plenty of views a day. In the first month of this great adventure I got a “grand” total 4 page views. I was disappointed, but I also understood that it is hard to find new blogs on the internet. It is said that the more content you have on your blog, the more likely it is for search engines to find you. I only had 16 posts at the time. I knew that as a made more posts, I would get more visitors.
The next month was a little better- 46 page views. People were finally being directed to my blog! :) However, it went downhill from there; the next two months I got 31 and 24 respectively. The reason is simple, I was way too busy those months to blog much. I was in a FIRST Robotics group and I was working nonstop for six and a half weeks (literally. We met every day to work on the robot).
Then robotics ended and I got back to blogging. However, I came back inspired by how awesome the robotics program was, and I had an extreme motivation to encourage kids to pursue engineering. Being that FIRST has a program for younger kids interested in Mindstorms (FIRST LEGO League), I started including posts about it too. My motivation also resulted in me finding time in my busy schedule to make more posts. The total page count for that month jumped from the previous 24 to 168. I was thrilled.
I am now continuing to try and find a good balance between school and blogging. Blogging is an awesome hobby for me, and I love sharing what I have learned through building. However, school is also very important to me. I want to learn all that I can while I am in school, and that requires a lot of my attention. Therefore, even though I put a lot of time in it to get my blog started, I will probably slow down after a while. I still plan, however, to post no less than 3 posts a week.
That sums up my blog. I hope you enjoy reading it, and feel free to comment and ask questions if you have them. Enjoy, and may you never grow too old to be Building with Mindstorms. :)
CheshireCat150
