I recently reached my 500th post on Punk Rock Operations Research! I have meant to celebrate, but I haven’t figured the optimal way to do so. At this point, this post will be my 514th blog post. I still haven’t figure out how to celebrate, but a celebration is not going to happen if I procrastinate any more.
In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think my blog is very important, but I hope it provides some joy to my readers. After 500 blog posts and nearly 7000 tweets, I’ve reflected on blogging and social media. Almost all of my reflections have focused on trying to convince myself that it isn’t all a colossal waste of time. It probably would have been if I didn’t enjoy blogging and social media so much. To be honest, blogging has never been a chore for me. I enjoy coming up with ideas for the blog and wish I had more time to devote to grand ideas for being an operations research ambassador. I can always do more, but I think I have found the right balance for me.
Blogging isn’t just about writing and reading:
- I take great pride in doing my tiny part in increasing attention to our field of operations research.
- I would not be as good of a teacher if I didn’t blog. Writing helps me break down a complicated idea into a series of steps that flow together to make a cohesive point (I achieve this most of the time). I often think about my students while blogging, and I rewrite until I can envision newcomers to OR understanding my post.
- And most importantly, I’ve met so many people through this blog who I might not have met otherwise. At the end of the day, relationships with friends and colleagues are really important. I’m grateful for how blogging has helped to enrich my social network in this way. I’m not much of a hugger, but if I have to hug someone at an operations research conference, I prefer to hug fellow OR bloggers and tweeps.
Blogging tidbit: I’ve signed exactly one autograph in all these years of blogging (way back in 2007 soon after I started blogging). I still smile when I think of it, but I’m not eager to sign any more.
Thank you for reading!
Punk Rock Operations Research 
January 8th, 2014 at 3:01 pm
Maybe you should soak your fingers in champagne, to congratulate them on the work they’ve done?
January 9th, 2014 at 9:23 am
I appreaciate your column a lot. I am an OR Analyst with an organization that doesn’t want to deal with quantification very much, and this kind of blog, along with PuzzlOR, keeps my head in the game. Please keep going!