Reader Appreciation Day

I wanted to take a moment to thank everybody visitng this blog so far for checking it out. It's not the most ambitious project on the web as of yet, but I love writing, and it feels great to be doing it again. Even moreso, it's gratifying to have people that care enough - that are interested enough - to read this blog. So once again, please know how much it's appreciated.

I do feel that The Easy Outsider has its wheels off the ground - that I have a good idea of what the blog is and what I want it to be. I'm aiming to write more frequently, and to cover subjects that extend beyond accounts of my day - such as commentary on sports, culture, technology, social media (and maybe politics?) here. While the first weeks we're very much about wandering and discovering, and I tried to avoid making rash assessments, I now feel familiar enough with the landscape to make some critical assessments. So that is a goal moving forward, but there will still be plenty about what I'm eating and where I'm swimming,

Also, I am going to attempt to begin responding to some of the comments. Despite the casual tone, I'm trying to view this project as seriously as possible, like I'm auditioning for a lifestyle blog on Yahoo! Sports or The Washington Post or whatever. Thinking about it in those terms keeps me focused in the direction I always intended for my writing. So even though it's fairly common for bloggers to carry on one-to-one conversations with readers in comment sections, I find too much of it can be a bit discrediting. That has been my thinking, but I don't want it seem like I'm ignoring the interest and support, so I'm going to try to respond to most comments moving forward.

However, please feel free to email me direct questions and feedback at shift78@gmail.com. Not being facetious at all when I say I would love to get more emails.

Furthermore, I also have abridged inane observations for you consumption on Twitter. If you want to follow me, I'm @steelydwill.

Now I need to make up for lost time on the comments people have already left, so here goes...

Brett - Latest update has me making my summer visit for two weeks around The Fourth of July, so looks highly unlikely that I'll be back for Labor Day.

Will - Coincidentally enough, Abu Dhabi Week just ran a fishing article. The article is written in the Will Leitch second person, which I find incredibly annoying, but there are some details about area fishing at the bottom.

Uncle Steve - Now notable progress toward becoming the UAE's next great soccer ref.

Aunt Nancy - The price of eating out is a mixed bag, but it's not necesarilly as ultra-expensive as we thought six months ago. It's easy to spend $60 a meal at one of the hotel restaurants - even more depending on the alcohol - and the quality is just as hit-and-miss as the $10 meals, in my opinion.

Barret - You are an excellent soccer player and I would personally vouch for you to replace one of the Brazilians for my nearby club, Al Wahda. However, your comments are scaring my family.