Nov. 29 marked STL’s first anniversary. I spent Thanksgiving weekend last year trying out blogging software and wondering if anyone would ever read what I wrote. I had two unique hits for the month of November — me from home and me from work. That was fine with me, because I was still developing my site and, though technically a part of the Web, I didn’t feel quite ready to go “live.” Ron Coleman outted me. He must have noticed all my hits to his site, because he very publicly welcomed me to the IP law blogging world a year ago today. Here come the flames, I thought, waiting for ruthless commentators to rip my meager efforts to shreds. But it never happened. In fact, in the last year (in response to my blog at least), I’ve never heard an unkind word. I’ve only experienced generosity. I’ve gotten more than a leg up from some true giants in this field — Ron Coleman, Marty Schwimmer, John Welch, Rebecca Tushnet, and Eric Goldman. And I’ve made a lot of friends along the way. This is what has made my first year of blogging worthwhile.