It’s crazy to think that I started this blog a year ago. Of course my first substantial post took a few more days to get up. It had started with just wanting to have a link I could send people from college or the seminary who were surprised that I had somehow turned into a vile atheist. Now, almost 400 posts and a year later it’s…uh…some place where people come to read my occasional profound thoughts and more common random dribble.

As this post goes live I will be in the middle of the desert of Eastern Oregon likely with no cell service and certainly no data coverage. My last chance to check cyberspace will be when I gas up in Bend, but then it will be three glorious days being free of technology and disconnected from the world.

It’s important to disconnect every now and then. So I’m actually quite excited. I expect it to be very therapeutic. Hanging out with family, playing in the water, fishing, and sitting by the campfire. It’ll be nice.

I should celebrate the year mark with a fine cigar and I just might, but it’s kind of iffy considering that I headed out early, I’m traveling with my 15 year old niece and her boyfriend (so no cigar while I drive), and once I get to the reunion I’ll be with my heavily Adventist extended family.

Before launching the blog very few relatives knew I was an atheist. Now just about all of them do and some even read it on occasion and at least one or two have found it offensive. This should be interesting… Actually, knowing my family, since it would be “controversial” it won’t even come up. The exception would likely be a few family members who actually agree with me talking to me about it on the side.

The thing that will actually have the potential of testing my sanity will be the backlog of articles and alerts in Google Reader. My subscriptions easily bring me 200 – 300 items each day, so by the time I get home Sunday night or get around to it late Monday morning I could easily have 1000 articles to sort through. If it’s too overwhelming I’ll post a screenshot for all of you to see. Fortunately I know how to sort out the good stuff and then hit “Mark all as read.”

For those of you who will be spending the weekend with an internet connection, don’t worry, I have posts scheduled through Monday, so if I hadn’t said anything you wouldn’t have even known I was gone.