It’s not Beach Drive Blog’s 1st year…yet.   Do check out the count down that I added in the upper right corner of the blog.    My very first blog, which was nationally recognized this year, turned one this week.   One year in the blogo-sphere is a long time for a blog.  Many sadly fizzle out…I just can’t stop!

Anyhow…to celebrate I treated myself (and my blogs) to a Flip Video Camera.  It’s amazing!  Very small and lightweight.  This camera runs on two AA batteries and plugs directly into my computer and to simply download the video…for less than $150.  There’s a couple of models to choose from.   It’s just fun and I can’t wait to share more videos with you on my blogs!

Happy Birthday, Mortgage Porter and thanks to everyone for reading Beach Drive Blog.  Shameless plug…I know…but it’s my birthday!

I received this question via a comment earlier today…

" I see a spot on your site for Beach Drive Neighbors, what is in this section and can I access?"

Beach Drive Neighbors (located on the lower left side of this blog) is a secured site.  It has names, addresses, phone numbers and emails of neighbors who live along Beach Drive.    In order to have the login/password, your name and info must be posted on the site too.

I recently added information about the Block Watch Party for our section of Beach Drive the "secure" Neighbor List.  I decided to keep the details a little more private because I was contacted from people who wanted to attend the "block party" as well and that’s not what Seattle Night Out is about.   It’s about meeting  your neighbors in an attempt to reduce crime and to possibly start up a Block Watch.

So if you’re not on the Neighbor List and want to be added, or if you are on the list and have forgotten the login/password, please contact me.

We cruised by our 200th post sometime last week!    I’d like to take this opportunity to  thank our readers and subscribers.   And of course, our a huge thank you to our authors. 

If you’re a Beach Drive neighbor and would like to write for the blog…speak up!   I think the more writers we have, the more rich and interesting the content will be.    And, if you’re shy, you can always write under an alias or "pen name".     It’s easy and fun…you’ll be hooked!      

On the right side of this blog, under BDB How To’s is a list of helpful items to get you started being a blogger. 

Dive in!

Check it out:  West Seattle Mag, aka the West Seattle Herald compliments of Matthew Durham former Chief Photographer of the West Seattle Herald, is becoming a blog.  BTW, the photos are great!

PLEASE STAND BY-WestSeattleMag Transitions to Blog
Matthew E. Durham 10.JUL.07WestSeattleMag.com is transitioning from an online, commercially supported magazine to a blog format (Retaining Domain Name).
Contributors are still welcome and many subjects covered will be similar.
The WestSeattleMag.com will continue to cover West Seattle with a photo-journalistic approach. Additionally there will be opinion and posted comments.

The following are my reasons for transitioning to a blog format:

• Given very optimistic forecasts, ad revenue would not support an acceptable hourly work wage (based on an extensive financial analysis),
• Unlike blogs, journalistic publications must adhere to a high standard, reporting the news and not merely publishing from other’s efforts such as previously published articles and transcripts. Meeting this standard each week with sufficient content requires more capital. I plan to give my readers a mix of true journalism and blogisphere content.
• Postings will be more immediate. Commercial news publications must answer to readership and advertisers with a level of consistency with their timing of released news-resources limited my publication to a weekly. The blog format does require me to be answerable to any time line or deadline.

To all those I asked to share, collaborate or contribute to the WestSeattleMag, the invitation is still open with the knowledge that the content will be posted on a photo-journalistic blog rather than an online magazine.
The blog will start September 1, 2007, given there are no hiccups transferring the domain name.

I’ll post a reminder closer to the unveiling of the new blog in September. 

Thanks again to WSB for posting about a local business The Alki Boot Camp (ABC).  I’ve been walking with my neighbor (aka Cat Woman)  in the mornings to Tully’s for a double tall non-fat latte…but the pounds aren’t coming off how and where I would like them to.   This could be my answer!  Will I have the mental strength to get up a wee bit earlier in the morning for a boot camp on the beach??   

I’ll keep you posted…this sounds too interesting to pass up!

WSB just posted information about a bunch of trees that are slated to come down over Beach Drive, below a house on Atlas…to read more, click here.

Update June 18, 2007…I just came across this article in the Seattle PI about how Seattle is trying to protect trees. 

Some of the damaged West Seattle trees were on private land; others were within the Me-Kwa-Mooks Park southeast of Alki Point.

City leaders are trying to re-green Seattle by saving older trees and planting new ones on public and private property. But it’s an uphill battle to grow the city’s tree canopy. The amount of tree cover in Seattle has withered from 40 percent in 1972 to about 18 percent today, city officials said.

Thanks to West Seattle Blog… there is a traffic alert towards the south end of Beach Drive.   How does WSB do it?  Spies… creatures from outer space… esp?   They are EVERYWHERE…lucky for us!