Rambling Rhodes

They probably won't see the next decade

I actually feel sorry for a lot of the newspapers struggling today. The Internet really hit them like a perfect storm.

Newspapers traditionally prided themselves on knowing a little about a lot of things, which was fine when they controlled the information. But, with the Internet, very specialized sites and forums offer Web surfers with countless outlets that know a hell of a lot about one or two specific things. Why would you turn to a newspaper that knows only a portion of a topic, when you can go to a specialized forum, blog or other online outlet and learn everything you ever wanted to know about that topic?

So, some newspapers tried to shift gears and become more locally focused and personal, but then the Internet went and spawned FaceBook and MySpace and Twitter and others, which all excel at being local and personal, so why would you possibly want to turn to a newspaper?

I hope newspapers can find some sort of footing, but the Internet just evolves far faster than they do.

Danger! Falling Ice!

This picture and caption appeared in the local Post-Bulletin.

"Ice falling from the sky?"

Back in my day, we called it "snow." Get off my lawn.

Not my fault

I apologize for the lack of childhood mugshot updates. My home Internet has been out since Tuesday, and it won't be back up until a Charter tech arrives tomorrow afternoon. Childhood development drama will commence thereafter.

Entering The Public School System

A respite from the cruelty of horizontal stripes! I actually skipped ahead a couple years, since the photo record is strangely quiet regarding my fourth year of existence. Perhaps my parents were more focused on verifying my genetic match with them to be bothered with pictures. Whatever the reason, here I am at age 5, in kindergarten. Still ridiculously cute, as you can see, but that will take a major turn in just a few short years.

Phoning It In

One year later, and a new outfit consisting of horizontal stripes. Here the photographer has opted to tap into my bright future as a telemarketer. If I remember that toy phone correctly, it was a rotary. I was no fool, of course; I knew, deep down, that I was holding onto a facsimile of a communication technology that would one day be transformed by a global network of sattelites beaming down cellular signals so people could type out such inane texts as "IDK, my BFF, Jill? LOL!" I knew all this, but I was just being nice to the photographer. Poor fool.

How is Ryan Formed?

Well, as I mentioned in my previous post, blogging for the sake of blogging just doesn't cut it any more. Nowadays, blogs need a hook, and it's not as simple as referring to your blog as a ThunderJournal, which was cool in 2006, but I've come to terms with the fact that just won't catch on.

So, I started thinking: "what should I do with my blog," while at the same time I was thinking about what a shame it is that all my old childhood photos aren't in digital format. And so it hit me! Rather than just scan in my old photos for the sake of having them in digital format, why not post them on my ThunderJournal and make fun of them? Together, all five of my regular readers can witness my transformation from adorable toddler to disgruntled postal worker/kid toucher. It's a WIN/WIN idea, really.

So, let's get started!

Here I am at the age of two, and this is the first of several outfits that highlights my mother's apparent obsession with horizontal stripes. What remarkable about this shot is how the photographer managed to get me to hold a Rodan's Thinker "thoughtful fist under the chin" pose, while at the same time apparently neglecting to wipe a hardened smear of snot from under my right nostril. Yeah, yeah, I was cute. As we go through the years, however, this blond little Hitler Youth will transform in ways you can't possibly imagine.