Slighted

I've complained before about my blog's position in the various nonexistent hierarchies that I make up and pretend are real and somehow important. But today my offense when no offense was intended reached a new level. I was reading Andrew McLean's blog, as I do every day, and even made a comment commending his good work and mentioning how I had recently purchased products from his sponsors, when I noticed the Wasatch Backcountry links section of his blog.

Guess who has a link in the Wasatch Backcountry section of Andrew's blog? No, not me, Dug. If you mouseover, it says "Specializing in the Southern Wasatch." Wanna know how many tours Dug's been on this year that I didn't go with him? Exactly 1, that's how many. And that's only because I had food poisoning. So instead of skiing, I was at home in the fetal position waiting for my innards to explode.

And you know who else has a link in the Wasatch Backcountry section? UTRider, that's who. UTRider just got a new pair of skis. You know who picked them out for him? Me. Except it wasn't just "you should get the Line Prophet 100 in a 186," it was more like he sent me at least 3,000 links to various pairs of skis for sale, and I kept telling him why the Lines were a better ski choice and why he should get the 186. Oh, and he doesn't ski in the backcountry, either (still working on that). Not that it matters, but I just thought I'd point that out since those links are in fact labeled "Wasatch Backcountry."

I'm really not sure how to deal with this. I mean, it could be that Andrew is just yet to discover my blog, and once he does, he'll be one of my most faithful readers, and I'll get a link and even invitations to ski with him. Or, it could be that my blog really does suck that bad and that my handful of readers are either reading and commenting because they're getting paid as part of some social experiment of which I'm unaware or because my mother asked them to so I'd feel more included or for some other reason along those lines.

I really shouldn't be offended that someone I don't know and have never met doesn't have a link to my blog. But here's the thing--blogger has this feature called "followers" where you can "follow" someone's blog. I used to have two followers, 331 Miles, and a friend whom I've known since the 6th grade. Except that the friend whom I've known since the 6th grade just dropped me as a follower, so I'm down to one again.

If you see me today, and my eyes are all red and misty, it's because of the allergies. Really it is. Even though nothing is in bloom and the smog is mostly cleared from the valley. It's just a reaction. I'm not hurt about any of this. At all.