Ten years ago this month was the launch of Junkyard Wisdom™. Technically my blog started 11-years ago, but it had the ridiculous name Roy Goble’s Blog. I mean really, what creative genius came up with that???
So ten years ago I started a crowdsource competition to find a good name. It was shocking how many people wanted to participate! There were over 75 different nominations in one week. Most of them were truly awful! But they were all fun, most made me chuckle, a few even made me reflective.
Eventually I narrowed it down to eight good options and I asked folks to vote on them. From there I narrowed it to three options, and then two.
At this point it was in my hands to decide, so D’Aun and I had one of our famous backyard summer dinners (with a bottle of 2007 Tofanelli Zinfandel) to discuss which title was best.
We thought about Uncorked Thoughts, which is still a great name for a blog (and I bought the domain for it just in case). It plays on my interest in wine while also embracing the randomness of my blog.
But in the end Junkyard Wisdom™ became the name. It’s different, distinctive, somewhat contradictory (which fits so much of what I embrace), and memorable. Thank you, Steve Bagdanov, for the recommendation.
Since then Junkyard Wisdom™ has become a fun forum for me to share ideas, book reviews, wine reviews, ministry and spiritual insights, life updates, an occasional rant, stories, and general randomness. It has become a book, an annual retreat in Belize, and a foundation for a second book. I’ve trademarked the name, and even the logo. And who knows what might be in the future; a podcast, a third book?
But you know what the really fun thing has been? All the cool people I’ve met — design folks who helped with the look, techies who helped with the infrastructure, writers who coached me, people in publishing who encouraged me, readers who had great insights, groups that invited me to speak, long lost family who found me on the web, old junkyard buddies who likewise came across the site, and on and on. So very cool to meet (or re-meet) all of you!
It’s been fun, and I thank all of you for joining along.
For the next couple of weeks you won’t get your weekly dose of Junkyard Wisdom™ because I’ll be taking a break. D’Aun and I rented a place by a lake for an overdue vacation. Can you believe I’ve gone no where since January? That’s unheard of for me to be home for such a long stretch.
So, see you in mid-September. And thanks for a fun ten years!
PS You can follow my daily posts on the Junkyard Wisdom™ Facebook posts if you are so interested.