I just (finally) figured out how to make a significant improvement to the Random Blog Button. Now, in a single viewing session (not closing your web browser, even if you leave the site and come back), the same blog should not come up more than once.

So, what does this mean? It means that Premium Blogs are still more likely to come up early on, but once they do, you won't see them again for that session. For example, during my final test, Skittles was the 2nd blog to come up...and Doctor Anonymous came up 15th. This is not surprising, considering they are the top 2 premium donators. However, once these 2 came up, they didn't come up again in the hundreds of more clicks I did. So, this change won't decrease the number of visitors any site has, but could reduce redundant page views.

This just makes more sense. If I spent 3 or 4 minutes at Skittles blog after randomly surfing over there, do I really want it to come up in the rotation 20 blogs later? Not really...I know Barb does a TON of posting, but it's unlikely she has anything new to see by then. However, once I close my browser and come back later that day or that week or that month, then I'll have the chance to check out some of the same blogs again...hopefully with new content!

So do me a favor and surf on over to the Random Blog Button and give it a few clicks, let me know what you think of the new setup. I'd really appreciate any input you guys might have and any more improvements you might be able to think of! THANKS!

Bag Wine Ruminations
This pick comes to us courtesy of Morgen from "It's a Blog Eat Blog World."
Interested in being a guest blogger? Click here to find out how!

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He's weird. He's twisted. He's funny. A guy
who loves loose-meat sandwiches, fried Spam, and of course, Wild Irish Rose. He's Matt-man of Bag Wine Ruminations.

His humor isn't for everyone, granted. I find him hilarious. He can take a routine thing, like a tour of his town of Springfield, Ohio, and turn it into a funny road trip.

He is a Bestest Blogger in the sense that he creates a sense of community and communication on his site -- he loves comments, and loves to comment on your comments! Frequently his wit and puns in his comments are just as funny as his blog articles.

His blog also has great reading material in the sidebar -- where most of us have ads, Matt-man has put things like Word Of The Day, This Day In History, a Quotation Of The Day, along with two games: hangman, which I thought I was good at until faced with words like "Thorax", and a vocabulary match game; again, I thought I was above average in the field of vocabulary words -- however, I am lucky to get 3 out of 5 on a daily basis with this match game, courtesy of The Free Dictionary.

Matt-man was at his best, recently, when he planned a dinner party: Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. He invited Josef Stalin, George W Bush, and Jesus to his place for a dinner. No dates were allowed, but that didn't stop Stalin from bringing Gina Lollobrigida as his dinner companion. Matt-man's pre-dinner planning with Let's Get Ready To Rumble was one of the funniest things I've read all year.
Put all these funny, discordant elements into a blender -- with a generous dash of Wild Irish Rose, of course, and you have Bag Wine Ruminations. You never know what to expect, but I'll bet it will make you laugh.

Check out Bag Wine Ruminations. Say Hi to Matt-man, and tell him Morgen and Bestest Blog sent ya!

This week's carnival has the category of "Your Funniest Post of 2006." Entries aren't due in until January 2nd at 11:59PM to BestestBlog@gmail.com, so you still have time to crank out a hilarious 2006 post. This is bound to be an amazing collection of posts, so be sure yours gets to be part of it!

The auction for "Bestest Blog of the Month" has only a mere 5 1/2 hours left. But guess what? The total is still $40 less than last month's winning bid...even though this blog has made some serious advances since the last auction such as cracking the top 1000 and starting the "Bestest Blog Carnival." So, this could be your chance for a bargain, go check it out!

The "family"-themed carnival is up and ready for your reading pleasure over at Jessie's blog "Who Are We." There are a lot of excellent posts and Jessie did an equally excellent job putting it all together. Remember, if you joined in this carnival, please do make a post on your blog directing everyone to go check it out. Even if you didn't join you could mention it too, there are a lot of good posts to read. The URL is http://hunna2.blogspot.com/2006/12/bestest-blog-carnival-12.html, thanks everyone. I hope you had a very Merry Christmas, check back here tomorrow for a new "Bestest Blog of the Day," but for the meantime just go enjoy the carnival!

Well, it's the last week of December and that means it's auction time again. Bidding for the title of "Bestest Blog of the Month" for January 2007 has commenced. As always, bidding starts at only a penny!

Remember, now not only are you bidding for a nice big link on a PageRank 5 blog with 2000+ visitors a day, but also on one of the top 1000 blogs on the internet! Plus you appear extra often in the Random Blog button for each $ in your winning bid and part of that money goes to being premium at the end of the month! That would certainly make a nice Christmas present for a blogging buddy, hehe. Thanks for looking and happy holidays!

P.S. This will be my last post before the holidays...we're packing up the car now! So Merry Christmas and I'll see you guys again soon!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve, Bestest Blog readers! This week's updates are complete and can be seen on the Recent Additions page. Thanks to all my new links (only 53 this week, not a new record, but good for 3rd place ever) and to the generous donators of the week (there were 7 new ones and a few repeats!). Below are the blogs who fell out of the top 100 and therefore off the sidebar. Sorry guys...but remember you can always add to your total!

World of Reeholio, Portfolio Reeholio, Wise and Foolish, Creative Truth, New York Bathrooms, Micro Images Blog, High Power Rocketry

Hey guys, the deadline for the next carnival is quickly approaching. All entries must be received by December 24th at 11:59 PM. The theme for this carnival is family. Here is an easy step-by-step guide to enter the carnival:
1. Join the link exchange (if you haven't already)
2. Pick out a post you've written about family, or write a new one!
3. Send an email to BestestBlog@gmail.com with the post URL and title.
4. Check out the blog "Who We Are" on December 27th to see the carnival.

Here Comes a Storm in the Form of a Girl
...a review by Jessie from "Who Are We"

My pick for Bestest Blog of the Day has to be Here Comes A Storm...In The Form Of A Girl! I am loving this blog. I think Starrlight may possibly be my twin... or at least a very distant relative. She too was kicked out of girl scouts when she was 12! I thought I was the only one.

Starrlight is a very busy blogger. I had a hard time finding a day that she didn't post at least once. Starrlight participates in Wordless Wednesday and Thursday Thirteen. I have to admit that her Thursday Thirteen makes me chuckle, often and loudly!

This blog has a good balance of fun and substance. Starrlight can go from posting about the hotties she likes to a tribute to John Lennon. She provides her readers with movie reviews and great advice about shopping RED smart.

Starrlight is on the countdown to a trip to Hawaii. She only has 14 weeks till she is basking in the sun. So until then stop by and wish her a happy time as the Bestest Blog of the Day! Make sure to tell her that Jessie sent you via The Bestest Blog Of All Time.

Bobby's addendum: Great pick Jessie! This is a great blog...not only does the content make me chuckle like you said, but the name makes me chuckle too. And Starrlight has been a great regular visitor since she stumbled onto my site not too long ago!

Valentine's Views on Sports
I was doing a little random blog surfing tonight and stumbled upon this site. The top post on the site was a celebratory one, rejoicing in the fact that one of Ed Valentine's articles had been featured on Deadspin, a popular sports blog I had actually heard of before! Intrigued by this distinction, I read on...

The post that had been featured was actually a 5-part series on the New York Giants. Now, I am not really a football fan, but I appreciate a well-written and comprehensive piece when I see one. Valentine broke down the team and wrote well-balance and well-thought out articles in 5 different parts: the defense, the offense, the special teams, the coaching staff, and the general manager.

So, I thought to myself, "That was a good read, but football's not my thing...I wonder if he has any baseball on here." So, I scrolled down 3 posts past this Giants series and not only found baseball, but found an article on the baseball story I've been closely following this offseason. The New York Mets are my team, and the big story with them right now is trying to acquire free agent pitcher Barry Zito. Well Valentine had an article on that very subject (and he shares many of my opinions on the subject!). I wonder if Ed Valentine is any relation to former Mets manager turned outcast Japanese manager Bobby Valentine...

Anyway, this is a very well-written sports blog and I am very happy to add to Ed's pile of accolades. So go check out Valentine's Views on Sports, great for fans of any sport!

You are now reading one of the top 1000 blogs on the internet according to Technorati. This is out of over 2 million! I just want to thank everyone for linking me up and getting me this far. All this in just UNDER 6 months (January 1st will mark the 6 month anniversary of Bestest Blog). Next stop: top 100 (perhaps by the 1 year mark!).

WTIT Tape Radio: The Blog
...a review by Mimi Lenox from Mimi Writes

It was the seventies.
Who knew that nearly forty years later what started as a group of teenagers talking into a tape recorder would now be an internet blog entity? Who knew? Somehow, Bud did. "Even at 15, I knew we were talking to someone, we just didn’t know who or when," he recalls. That's right. An award-winning radio station that nobody has ever listened to (Never mind the adolescent brainstorm that branded the not-so-subtle callletters. I know what you're thinking. But what could be so bad about W-Tape-Is-Tape?!)
WTIT's lifelong professional DJ and comedy writer Bud Weiser explains, "Even though I know that WTIT is a Tape Radio Station that no one can hear, I do not believe it. I believe everyone listens and they are too shy to admit it."
He may be right.
The nation's longest running tape radio station is now a blog with over 200 articles. With links to reel-to-reel tapes of music shows and comedy bits - the current group of DJs just recorded tape 566 - much more went into the evolution of WTIT. You can "hear" their brand of humor here and here for "Your Dog's Name Was Happy." It has evolved over the years - changing DJs, invisible DJs, famous DJs -as have radio stations in general; but the comradery remains intact. Read WTIT's The First Tape Radio Show. It was a moment.
Bud Weiser is a comedian to the core; but he is a DJ at heart.
Want funny? Just read his hilarious weekly series called Dating Profiles of The Week . Want serious reflection? This piece on the late Bob Steele and Bill Savitt called Drinking Songs and Gentlemen says it all. Maybe what makes Bud's blog successful is that he feels right at home with an unseen audience. "At times it is like a vacuum. But all those years on the radio I could not feel the audience either."
Forty years of nostalgic comedy and friendships and memories (still in the making) speak volumes about his unique talent. It is remarkable and commendable that he has taken the time - and had the wherewithal - to write it all down. If you were present during the late sixties and seventies, this blog is a must-read. The photographs alone are worth the price of admission. "In the mix" there's never a shortage of hilarious antics by a determined group of performers who never stopped creating comedy.
Did you ever jump into cars with strangers just to meet girls? Bluff your way into dead-end dating scenarios ON PURPOSE? Do you rely on your cab driver to maintain your social calendar? I didn't think so.
But that's a regular news day at WTIT. Bud's too busy trying to stay out of trouble to do sports and weather.

While funny dating stories, wacky memes ,
his ongoing love affair (NOT) with Britney Spears -(adult content warning label clearly marked)
and Bud's warped sense of perfectly logical humor prevail, the essence of WTIT is the pulse of something more profound: friendship.

He says, "We are just a group of friends who recorded almost every detail of our lives for almost 40 years.......the trials and convictions of a group of friends." Bud's been bloggin' a long time.

Pic: Not Abbey Lane - Bud is the leader in white.
Although WTIT is a humor blog, there are four things Bud never jokes about: family (click here to read about a little girl's uncanny aspirations and a pair of special shoes), friends, The Beatles, and his passion for world peace.
His oldest daughter, who also has a blog, grew up thinking everyone's dad had a tape radio station. I'm not sure you could convince her otherwise to this day.

But the one constant has been Bud Weiser - who is wiser - and still defined by the music.
In fact, it's always been about the music.

If you're seeking a delightful blend of humor and substance, click on over to Bud's place ..er....radio station....and tell him Mimi and Bestest Blog Of All-Time sent you.

I hear he takes requests.

Welcome to the first ever edition of the Bestest Blog Carnival! For the inaugural version, I think it's been wildly successful...we had 44 different submissions, thanks to everyone who participated! So grab a chair and a snack and get ready to read! I tried to split all the posts into different categories for your reading pleasure, here they are: Personal, Serious, Funny, Political, Internet, Sports.

If you participated in the carnival (or even if you didn't) I ask that you make a post on your blog directing your readers to come check the carnival out! That way they could see what you wrote about, as well as what everyone else wrote about. And if you do get some good traffic and have a good experience, please consider supporting the site and making a Premium Blog doantion.

Finally, the next carnival will be held on December 27th. The deadline for submission is 11:59PM on Dec. 24th. This carnival will be themed. The theme is "family." Send your submissions to BestestBlog@gmail.com whenever you're ready! Remember, before you can join the carnival, you have to join the link exchange.

Now without further adieu...

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Personal Posts...the classic blog entry

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Barb from Skittles' Place shares with us some of her Fond Memories of spending time with Grandma and Granddaddy as a child.

Julie from Flip This Body in her effort to lose 60 pounds and "flip" her body images, shares with us the 12 Diet Foods I Can't Flip Without!

Bee from Muffin53 has a post about A Date in Podunk that she says illustrates one of the "quintessential" reasons she is in love!

Gem has an entertaining post about fashion called "The Devil Wears Cape Dresses". Are Amish fashions to become the next big fashion trend?

Meloncutter has a list of the Things You Just Can't Beat a post he made especially for this carnival, since he claims he didn't have a single other "family friendly" post!

Kiyotoe from The Dragon writes a letter to a younger version of himself to let him know What I Know Now.

Jamieson from I Am the Hunter is Thinking About Past People and how people he didn't much care for (like his poopyhead ex-girlfriend and elementary school teacher) did have a lasting effect on his life.

Jana has a "Three in One" blog post. Why? They are Mini Blog Entries! (Yes-with-an-exclamation-mark), that weren't long enough for their own post. Read about stop smoking ads, the Pussycat Dolls, and a new haircut.

Masg tells us about The Creep Who Came to Visit and do some work on their house. Yikes!

Mommy the Maid has an adorable post with pictures about how making Gingerbread Men with her kids made her a very happy mom!

Twyla from Lost in the Battle creates the soundtrack of her life, choosing different songs to correspond to different chapters of her life, entitled "Songs of Your Life"

Kevin from Humble Tidbits of Vacuity has a rant about the Breakfast program at his son's school. He comes to the conclusion that compulsory breakfast is not the answer!

Pickled Eel has a post entitled "Love Lost in District 4," in which he shares his experiences visiting in Vietnam and the interesting people he met along the way.

Photoshopphlake has a breath-taking photograph of Niagara-on-the-lake at Night

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Serious Posts...

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Alphawoman from Just a Hippie Gypsy opens up and tells us about her experience as her mother had bypass surgery, entitled "My Mothers Hands."

Mimi from Mimi Writes, on the eve of her wildly successful BlogBlast for Peace project, writes of how her the memory of her grandfather unconsciously influenced her.

Sanni from Coffee 2 Go is thinking of peace as well on her Thoughtful Friday

Desert Songbird from The Ice Box has a post in honor of her deceased mother on what would have been her 82nd birthday. Her mother "Lived in Tears, and Ended with Peace." (It seems "Peace" is the unknowingly semi-theme of this section.)

Asara's Mental Meanderings get very personal as she speaks about her being put up for Adoption and now, 28 years later, trying to locate her birth parents.

Jessie from Who Are We shares with us The Beginning of her blog "Who Are We" which came at a traumatic point in her life when she needed to find and redefine herself.

Peanut has a post urging her readers to Light a Candle in protest of online child abuse.

Bond invites us to sit on the Big Leather Couch and listen to his tribute to Uncle Wade - Father, Husband, Fraternity Brother, Friend, a touching memorial to a college buddy who made a difference in his life.

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Funny Posts...my personal favorite

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Dr. Blogstein submits his 3rd edition of "Banned by Blogstein", where he chronicles things he eliminates to make the world less annoying. This time around, among other things, skimpy shirts with writing across the chest.

Morgen from It's a Blog Eat Blog World has a collection of his top 12 halloween costumes. These are hilarious photoshop jobs of Morgen into various hilarious costumes!

Antichrist from Antichrist & Minotaur Man submits his Warning of the Week, an empirical (and hilarious) study about the dangers of the new video game console.

We take a peek inside Daniel Thompson and his Junk Drawer of Thought to learn about one of his Peeves: pet peeves. Confused? Go and read this then!

Starbender from This S#%t drives me CRAZY!!! posts ANOTHER hilarious video, this time of the very funny (yet extremely lethal) Ninja Baby!

Colin from Superheroes Do Exist asks the eternal question: "What is it with Short Girls and Tall Guys?"...a funny journey into the importance of height.

Starrlight form Here Comes a Storm in the Form of a Girl does her best Mrs. Robinson impressions and shares with us the Top 13 young Hollywood studs she wouldn't mind having a private screening with (if you know what I mean!)

Woozie from The Tome of Communism uncharacteristically writes a poem called "Wacky Woozie"...go have a read, it's kinda...nauuuughty...

Shan shares with us a post entitled "The Hate Game (Rated M for Mature)" that explains why he hates that blasted Sudoku game that has become so popular lately!

Jeff has a hilarious post about what might happen if the Starship Enterprise (Captain Kirk, Dr. Spock, et al) through a wormhole travelled back to the early 21st century...special guest appearance by Kevin Bacon!

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Political Posts...

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Heather from Beautiful British Columbia has a very interesting post about her experiences with the Congressional Medal of Honor...from unknowingly moving next door to a recipient to attending the inauguration ceremony in Washnington, D.C. in 2005.

Sunni Kay from Rantings, Ramblings, and Other Miscellaneous Stuff asks the question "Is it worth the sacrifice?" in regards to limiting free speech in the efforts of fighting terrorism.

Zorak163 from Grasshopper Ramblings asks another good question "When Has Your Debt to Society Been Paid?" about when people who have committed illegal infractions should be able to be forgiven and start clean.

Simon from The Secret of Life has an intellectual post called "Thinking Outside the Illusion", where he discusses his thoughts and interpretations of a recent Time Magazine article "God vs. Science."

Sudiegirl from Musings of a Chick thinks she spies some Love and Laughter in the Beltway...a romance in bloom between George W. Bush and future speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi.

Miriam of Miriam's Ideas, a Jewish woman, explains to us why Jews don't want to run the world any more.

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Internet Related Posts...

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Chris from Thermal shares with us some tips for if you "Want To Get Your Blog Seen?" One of which is signing up with my site...thanks Chris!

Over at Monetize Your Blog there is a helpful post about a List of Blog Directories to help increase your exposure and traffic. Unlike Chris above, my site is not listed as one...ouch diss (though he did later mention me here).

LJP from SaveSaveSave tells of her Nightmare on Web Street brought on by her difficulties with CSS and HTML!

Leon explains to us the idea of Speedlinking, what it is, how it works, and how it can benefit the blogging world.

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Sports Posts...this time around, it's all about cricket!

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Pauly from Cricket 2006/2007 says Goodbye Damien to an international cricket player whose career ended unexpectedly early.

Ugyen from Bhutan Cricket Weblog has another cricket post about an Under-15 School Cricket Tournament. Apparently kids like cricket too!

I'm going to forego doing a Bestest Blog pick again tomorrow (Tuesday) because you guys are having so much fun clicking away at the carnival. Check back Wednesday for a new blog pick from Mimi. In the mean time, please try to visit ALL 44 carnival entries...each special in its own way!

As you'll remember from last week, I linked up with 57 new blogs. That beat out the previous record of less than 50. Well, this week, I linked up with 75 new blogs! That crushes 57! Check them all out in the Recent Additions. Wow, if this trend continues I may have to hire some additional help (but don't let that sway you, hehe).

With a healthy new total of Premium Blogs, there were quite a few dropped from the Top 100. Sorry guys, you lose your spot in the sidebar (but keep everything else). Here they are:
Bono Is Brian Peppers, O Mighty Isis, Purrchance to Dream, Wasting Time, The Club, The "Not-So" News, The Wonderful World of Nothing Worthwhile, Theory of Thought