What if I told you 5 years ago RandlettPark.com was an impossible dream? The dream of a man that typed with 2 fingers, wrote at a 3rd grade level and had little-to-no comprehension of the internet. What if I told you that man somehow — despite all his handicaps — created America’s most beloved neighborhood blog? What if I told you that man was me?

5 years. 16,000 visitors. 40,000 page views. 4 Facebook likes. This is a brief history of RandlettPark.com.

2012: The internet was still pretty new. I had to explain to a lot of you guys what a blog was. And possibly the internet as well. I was condescending about it. That didn’t help.

2013: Tried to get some fun stuff going like yard crawls & backyard movies. Problem was I didn’t have a lot of friends so mostly it was just me at these “events.” Andy would usually walk over to ask why I put my TV in the front yard.

2014: A great blogging year until August when Keltic Krust closed then the wheels came off. Was so bitter I spent the rest of the year chirping Judy Baby to open Judith’s Kitchen then when she opened I only went once and was very fragile emotionally.

2015: The internet becomes available on cell phones. Up until 2015 you really couldn’t. If you wanted to read the blog you had to fire up your laptop. And if I’m being honest the writing wasn’t worth the trouble. I did a blog on memory foam bath mats and maybe you shouldn’t internet if that’s gonna be your contribution.

Blogged about my kitchen addition and Ed’s kitchen renovation.

2016: The year I became neighborhood famous. Over 17,000 page views. Management legit almost rolled her eyes so hard a few times in 2016 I thought she would need a specialist. People I didn’t know would stop me and ask if I was the blog guy. Then I’d be low-key humble about it. And Management’s eyeballs would disappear for a few seconds as they went all the way up & around then just pop up from the bottom looking more annoyed if that’s even possible you guys.

Blogged about affordable housing in W. Newton, the new huge development in Newtonville and a bunch of real estate stuff.

2017: Pageviews down from record 2016. This had more to do with people discovering social media sites like Facebook, Instagram & Tinder. Not because I only blogged like 20 times. Just felt like there was more competition on the net, as we in the blog game refer to it.

Blogged about a few home sales on Randlett and going to Cold One City.

2018: Not sure what the new year holds but this is my promise: Me and my 2 stupid index fingers will continue to write this blog as long as you guys continue to read it.