The Winner Is -- The Weekly Eckstra!

Voting ended last week on the poll to name my new column on EckSpot. The clear winner is

The Weekly Eckstra

Thanks to those of you who voted. Special thanks to Mr. Matt Bachmann who came up with the winning name.

Now comes the hard part -- writing a column each week. I'll be honest in that I doubt there will be a new one each and every week week. It is a good goal and I'll pledge to do my best. I already have a running list of topics. I certainly welcome your suggestions and even guest column contributions from EckSpot regular readers. You are also welcome to start a dialogue by using the comment feature (the whole point of a blog, right?) What will I be writing about? Things that interest me in terms of things the kids are doing, sports, national/world events, pet peeves, fun stories, etc. I realize that this column probably won't be read by that many people (which was reinforced by someone from my almost immediately family who told me that he didn't vote because he doubted he would ever ready it). Perhaps more and more people will read if the columns are funny and have quality. We'll see.

Send me an e-mail (jason.c.eckert@gmail.com) if you'd like to be notified when a new column is posted.

As always I welcome feedback and ideas!

Jason Turns 34!

Jason's birthday is Monday, February 9. We had a wonderful weekend with Jason's parents, Leo and Sandy, who were visiting from St. Louis. They took the kids to see Madagascar 2 on Saturday and allowed Jason and Cari to go out for a date night. They also stayed in town to see Cassie's third basketball game on Sunday afternoon (more on that story in another blog post). Jason's big gifts were a wireless headset for work and the MLB TV package from Leo and Sandy and ski boot heater/dryers and a UD sweater vest from Cari and the kids. The cake (pictured above) is from MacArthur's Bakery in St. Louis and features the UD Flyer (thanks Mom and Dad).

We are also gearing up for our big annual ski trip. We leave for the Wisconsin Dells on Thursday morning and are skiing Friday-Monday at Cascade and Devil's Head. We are very excited to return to the Wisconsin slopes and visit with friends and family members. This year we are being joined by Todd and Nancy Burns, Brad Burns, Katie Stevenson, Johnny Eckert, the Moore Family, and the Frankovis Family.

EckSpot Turns 1!

Happy Birthday to EckSpot! A year ago this weekend I launched the blog, replacing our older family website. To date the site has received almost 1900 hits! We are very pleased with the site and so appreciate all of you for visiting and following the adventures of our family on the web. Keep visiting and by all means send me suggestions.

What will year two of EckSpot bring? I'm glad you asked:

1. The launch of the "occasional sports and life commentary" portion promised in EckSpot's header. I plan to post a weekly column on something of interest to me (and hopefully you). I asked a few creative friends and EckSpot readers (Matt Bachmann, Dave Borchardt and Matt Frankovis) to suggest titles for the column. Rather than pick one I am going to post a poll on the site and will go with the winning selection. The four finalists are:

- The Weekly Eckstra
- Eck’s Box
- Seven Days, One Thought
- I Love Cities That Begin with "S"

Stay tuned for the poll!

2. The addition of Google AdSense (which was actually live as of two weeks ago). This service places ads from Google in the lower right side of the page. When a visitor clicks on one of the ads, I earn something like one-millionth of a penny. Perhaps it will add up to enough to buy a Diet Pepsi to enjoy while writing my new weekly column.

3. Even more family updates, pictures, and videos. Now that Cassie has her own real pink digital camera, and Tommy has a nice toy version, the sky is the limit!

Thanks for reading and please watch for more EckSpot fun during year two!

Jason