Wow.  Today I realized that this past Sunday marked the one year anniversary of Jim’s Random Notes.  I guess it doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of the Universe, but it’s certainly an accomplishment for me.  The first few months it was pretty easy to come up with topics to write about, but after I’d exhausted the stuff on the surface I found that I had to actively search out and study things in order to write anything intelligent here.  Keeping up with this web site on a regular basis has been very good for me.  Just making myself write almost every day has been good discipline, and I think I’ve become a better writer in the process.  Certainly I’ve had to learn how to look at things more critically and also how to succinctly present information that is sometimes overwhelming.  It’s a hugely rewarding exercise that I’d encourage anybody who’s interested to try.